SDR AIS available in OpenPlotter 2

[Loxon]

Hi,

Just want to say what a fantastic project and community this is!  I hope to be able to contribute to it in time!

I had a couple of questions that might be useful for other members as well.  Apologies if it's been asked before.

I have a cheap DVB-T/DAB/FM dongle from china:  "RTL2832U R820T2".  It comes with a tiny little ~15 cm antenna that I've been testing it with.  After a few false starts I've managed to get it configured and receive some targets, but my range is very poor. 

Any help / advice on the following would be much appreciated!

1. Whenever I do an "Initial PPM" or "Gain Check" I always see the line "Lost at least xxx bytes".  Is this normal or an indication of a problem?
   
2. When I do the channel scan, the vast majority of entries say "No valid PLL combination found... tuning to xxx failed".  I typically get less than 10 channels, and the rest will show that message.  Is this to be expected?
   

I attach screenshots of both 

Thanks