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Author Topic: ShipXplorer AIS dongles keep failing  (Read 5536 times)

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davemcallister

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ShipXplorer AIS dongles keep failing
« on: May 08, 2026, 07:07:13 PM »
Hi everyone,

I have had two ShipXplorer AIS dongles fail on me in the past 6 months.  The first one failed last December after years of use, so I replaced it.  The next one worked fine until yesterday, but now it is no longer recognized by the computer.  I have tried different USB ports, multiple reboots, reinstalled Powershell, etc. with no luck. 

These are the same symptoms that the first dongle displayed.  I tested the first dongle on the computer and the behaviour is still the same.

The Powershell command line I have been using is:

cd c:\Radio\AISCatcher
.\AIS-catcher -d:0 -gr TUNER 45.0 RTLAGC off BIASTEE off -a 192K -v 10 -u 127.0.0.1 10110 -M DT -N 8100 LAT 49.7 LON -123.1 REALTIME on SHARE_LOC on FILE stat.bin BACKUP 10


and the error I get is:

usb_open error -12
Error: RTLSDR: cannot open device.
UDP: close socket for host: 127.0.0.1, port: 10110


It does not show up in Device Manager - when it is plugged in, Device Manager re-enumerates, but no new devices appear.

The dongle is isolated from the antenna with a lightning arrestor and a multicoupler, and none of the other equipment connected is having issues, so a surge isn't the cause.

Has anyone else experienced this?  Is it possible that a Windows update has done something to my access to the ports?  Or is it just bad luck?

Any suggestions would be welcome.  Thanks in advance!

de VE7HUN

Runway 31

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Re: ShipXplorer AIS dongles keep failing
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2026, 06:55:07 PM »
Are you using another dongle and have you numbered them,  Looks like another service is grabbing your dongle first before ship explorer

Alan

davemcallister

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Re: ShipXplorer AIS dongles keep failing
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2026, 07:04:42 PM »
No, I am only attaching one dongle at a time, and I am rebooting between each attempt.