OpenCPN question

[boathead]

Good evening, at the risk of being tedious could anyone tell me if I can use OpenCPN around the U.K. I ask this because I don't seem to be able to find free charts for our waters, it must be noted that I am not good with technology so it is possible I am simply an idiot. I do have paper charts and Navionics and, as most know, Navionics is pretty good but I would like to try this OpenCPN 'thing' so please set me straight. Thanks.

 

[GHA]

official charts for the uk are available >
British Isles 2022 - o-charts shop

But enough free stuff around if you want to have a play first.

If you do buy from Ocharts it's worth buying a dongle as well, the chart providers will only allow the charts to be installed on 2 systems, if one is the dongle then you can use that on any laptop/raspberry pi etc.

PS - if you want a play I can send a little area so have a look at. Satellite images can be a really useful addition to nav charts, one of the many pluses of Opencpn

 

[ylop]

Yes you can.
If you want decent charts you'll want to pay a little money though - but not overly expensive. Given your location you might want Antares charts too (can't recall how far north they go).
What are you going to run it on? The Android app has a paid version with some support which is much more up-to-date than the free version still lurking in the app store.

 

[PaulRainbow]

No free, current charts. I use charts from Visit My Harbour.

 

[boathead]

Going to run it on a Samsung Galaxy S7 Tablet. I have downloaded the free app via Amazon, I think the paid version on Google Play is £7.50 or am I delusional? If I pay for charts is this a subscription type payment which needs yearly renewal. I sail mainly Northern waters, Faroe, Norway and whilst Navionics is great it can be expensive if I am being lazy as the auto routing only works if I keep up the yearly subscriptions which are expensive for the areas I sail. Again, I am both old and stupid and the above may be nonsense. So to try to keep on point, how exactly do I find available charts to download, this could be an adventure. Thanks for your tolerance.

 

[boathead]

official charts for the uk are available >
British Isles 2022 - o-charts shop

But enough free stuff around if you want to have a play first.

If you do buy from Ocharts it's worth buying a dongle as well, the chart providers will only allow the charts to be installed on 2 systems, if one is the dongle then you can use that on any laptop/raspberry pi etc.

PS - if you want a play I can send a little area so have a look at. Satellite images can be a really useful addition to nav charts, one of the many pluses of Opencpn

Thanks, the link looks very useful. I would like to play first but am happy to pay and try. I will investigate.

 

[boathead]

official charts for the uk are available >
British Isles 2022 - o-charts shop

But enough free stuff around if you want to have a play first.

If you do buy from Ocharts it's worth buying a dongle as well, the chart providers will only allow the charts to be installed on 2 systems, if one is the dongle then you can use that on any laptop/raspberry pi etc.

PS - if you want a play I can send a little area so have a look at. Satellite images can be a really useful addition to nav charts, one of the many pluses of Opencpn

I downloaded a free OpenCPN app via Amazon, would it be wise to go for a paid version from Google Play as I notice advice from O-charts that you need an up to date version of the app.

 

[GHA]

I downloaded a free OpenCPN app via Amazon, would it be wise to go for a paid version from Google Play as I notice advice from O-charts that you need an up to date version of the app.

Yes!! The free version is complete garbage, ancient & lots just doesn't work on it. The world would be a little better if it vanished off google play.
Though if yiu have a windows laptop for a first look it might be easier to get charts into & a mouse is handy.
Google changed android so apps need to have data stored in a specific place, opencpn has a little utility to do this but it's still another hoop to go through.

edit:
couple of wick harbour chart files here which opencpn can open if it's any use for something to play with.
https://github.com/boatybits/kap_files/raw/master/wick_bing_satellite.mbtiles
https://github.com/boatybits/kap_files/raw/master/wick_navionics.mbtiles

 

[boathead]

Yes!! The free version is complete garbage, ancient & lots just doesn't work on it. The world would be a little better if it vanished off google play.
Though if yiu have a windows laptop for a first look it might be easier to get charts into & a mouse is handy.
Google changed android so apps need to have data stored in a specific place, opencpn has a little utility to do this but it's still another hoop to go through.

edit:
couple of wick harbour chart files here which opencpn can open if it's any use for something to play with.
https://github.com/boatybits/kap_files/raw/master/wick_bing_satellite.mbtiles
https://github.com/boatybits/kap_files/raw/master/wick_navionics.mbtiles

Thanks very much indeed, I shall play with these tomorrow and see how I get along. I shall also get the up to date version in place of the free version, I couldn't download via Open CPN website, perhaps it was just me but unless you have either Windows or Mac it doesn't seem to work. I will stick with the tablet and figure it all out as it is what I will be using. Cheers.

 

[Stingo]

For your tablet, you can download the paid version from here:
OpenCPN - Apps on Google Play

 

[GHA]

Here;s one to try.. if you are online ,, set a connection to tcp 153.44.253.27 port 5631
Then you get live AIS feed for Norway ?

Just under 3000 targets does slow things down a bit though