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Old October 29th 18, 12:56 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Roger Burghall[_2_]
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Posts: 7
Default Top Hat Question (XCSoar?)

At 21:15 28 October 2018, 6PK wrote:
On Monday, July 16, 2018 at 11:48:16 AM UTC-7, Brian wrote:
Maybe a bit off Topic. I have been using Tophat for a few years now. I

st=
arted running it on a Nook Simple Touch. I loved the black and white
sunlig=
ht readable display, but after a couple years the Nook seem to be getting
s=
low. So I tried a Nexus 7. I liked the color display (hint turning the
Terr=
ain display off helps a lot) but it is not near as sunlight readable as
the=
Nook was, but was good enough 95% of the time or better. Only when the
sun=
was behind me would I occasionally get a glare on it that made it
unreadab=
le until I turned or shaded it with something. After a year or two I
upgrad=
ed to a Nexus 2 - 2013 which had a slightly better display and was

faster.
=20
The other thing I really like about the Nexus is it is a totally self

con=
tained unit, It has it's own GPS so you can literally just carry it to

the
=
airplane and go fly. I had K6 Bluetooth adapter attached to my FLarm so
wit=
h a bit of configuration it was receiving Flarm Data as well. I do
sometime=
s connect external power to it, but the Nexus usually will last a 5 hour
fl=
ight just fine.
=20
Last year I put a S80 in my glider and added the Bluetooth module, It

wor=
ks pretty well but the bluetooth module is not quite as robust as the K6
mo=
dule. The S80 bluetooths occasionally(almost Rarely) requirs a restart of
t=
he tablet or S80 to get it to link up, but once linked I never have any
tro=
uble during the flight.
=20
A couple weeks ago flying the Region 8 contest about 9am I discovered

my
=
Nexus 7 touch screen had died, it would not respond to any touch

commands.
=
at 10:30 after the pilots meeting I went to the local Walmart and
purchased=
a Samsung Tab 7 8gb for under $90. (they only had a display model
availabl=
e, normally $120). By the 1pm launch I had updated the software on the
Tabl=
et, installed Tophat, the Waypoint, airspace, and terrain files and had
con=
figured it to communicate with my S80 and had a working flight computer
for=
the day. In summery I went from no flight computer other than the (S80
tha=
t I use for a backup) to my normal working flight computer in under about
2=
hours and under a $100 investment. Try that when your dedicated flight
com=
puter dies, it may cost you more than that in just shipping and won't

be
=
a same day fix.
=20
I am actually very pleased with the Samsung, The display is as good or

ev=
en slightly better than the Nexus and it is faster. I wish it had a bit
mor=
e memory than 8GB but does have a place for a MicroSD card if I need more
s=
pace. I ran it with power connected, so not sure how the battery life is
wi=
th it standalone, but It seems like it would be as good as the Nexus.
=20
I think Tophat works very well, I only wish it did a bit better job a

pro=
viding tactical Flarm traffic information. I don't use it for traffic
avoid=
ance but it would be nice if it kept track of Flarm traffic a bit

better.
=
Something like LK8000 or some other displays (Avionic) that show where
traf=
fic was or might be even though the signal is gone. With the right

display
=
it could even show Statistical climb information about the other gliders
th=
ermal and even mark a likely location to intercept the same thermal even
af=
ter other glider has left the thermal. That way I don't have to be

looking
=
at the display as much or take near as long to trying and calculate
informa=
tion that computers are very good at doing.
=20
To the original question, with nothing other than the minimum required

ch=
anges Tophat, on the Nexus and Samsung, automatically switches between
Ther=
malling and Cruise mode with and retains the zoom level for each screen,
us=
ually zoomed in for thermalling and zoomed out for cruise for me. I have
ne=
ver had issues with this no not sure why others seem to be having issues.
=20
Brian


I recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7 tablet and tried Bluetooth connection
with=
the k6bt2 but was not able to connect.
I contacted the k6 folks and I was advised that the k6bt2 is needing
"profi=
le SPP" which my Tab does not support and it will not work. So... what am
I=
missing here? Wrong Tab??

When I was unable to connect my Galaxy A5 phone via bluetooth, I installed
"BToolkit" and used it to make my phone visible (the Settings option said
it already was; it wasn't) after which I was able to connect. Your problem
could well be different - then again it might not. Good luck.