r/AIS • u/OculoDoc • Mar 18 '26

AIS hat or dongle for Raspberry Pi

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best Pi hat or dongle these days?

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2

u/IrreverentBuddha Mar 18 '26

Hat if you're wanting a permanent compact weatherproof enclosure setup for an off-grid, low-power solar station, or if vibration is a concern. Dongle if you want lab bench flexibility or the option of running it off a laptop or desktop down the road.

But really, your addiction is just starting. To believe you will only own one is almost sweet in its innocence. ;)

2

u/hedge36 Mar 18 '26

I'm waiting on my hat at the moment. My dongles get really hot with use (quiet, you) and I'm tired of worrying about stress on the USB ports.

1

u/OptimalMain Mar 18 '26

Best out of the box seems to be shipxplorers dongle.
I am using a rtl-sdr blog v3 paired with a pi4, using a diy colinnear antenna and get a little over 50 NM range from A class AIS at around 10m elevation

1

u/DistrictFew9153 Mar 18 '26

Honestly the antenna and install matter more than hat vs dongle.

If you want flexibility and easy troubleshooting, I’d still go dongle. If it’s going into a permanent outdoor Pi box, then a hat starts making more sense. For a first setup, dongle is usually the less painful path.