In article
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Uncle Fuzzy wrote:

I just put together a REALLY cheap system for budding LVVSA XC pilots
to use. Here's the breakdown:
iPAQ 3870 - ebay $22.50 including shipping (I bought a 'lot' of 5)
New battery - $20.00
Bluetooth GPS from Semsons $23.60 including shipping
http://www.semsons.com/amabg108blgp.html
XCSoar - Free
I haven't determined if I can make OLC valid files yet.

That's a good setup. How do you power the IPAQ for the duration of a
x-country flight?

Here's a comparable system I like, and have used for the last 5 years or
so here in the USA:

Palm Tungsten T: usually around $35 on ebay
Power To Go battery pack (clips onto the Palm): $20
The same bluetooth GPS from Semsons $23.60
SoaringPilot - Free

Cheap enough to keep a spare PDA in the side pocket. This system will
run for at least 8 hours (assuming the Power To Go is not worn out). I
have flown flights of over 7 hours with no sign of battery exhaustion.
Also, for less than $5, you can buy an AA battery pack that will run the
unit for hours in flight. Of course, a Goddard power converter will let
you run off ship's power. The Palm Tungsten T is very readable in bright
sunlight. In fact, the brighter, the better. Best of all is SoaringPilot
is mature software that is very well supported. Has all the features one
would expect for x-country/contest flying. It is easy to set up on the
PDA, easy to load waypoints, polars, and airspace, easy to enter and fly
tasks. Automagically loads the igc file onto the card at the end of the
flight if you like. Go to: http://www.soaringpilot.org/

Oh, and you can run SoaringPilot on the IPAQ with a Palm emulator called
"Styletap".

I haven't gotten around to trying XCSoar yet. I have a 5 inch screen
Windows CE car gps that I may try to hack for XCSoar.