New Garmin 396

In article 1121205900.b0302f294c5161e55dd5619862543283@teran ews,
"Richard Kaplan" wrote:
big picture view. For tactical applications, it probably won't be much
of a problem. For strategic purposes, not as practical as WxWorx or a
VGA PDA.

This issue is valid but I have never seen any PDA which is optimum for
strategic purposes. A laptop, tablet, or panel-mount MFD is needed to
optimize strategic weather planning.


The newer VGA-capable PDAs actually present a pretty nice big picture,
though on smaller display than a laptop or TabletPC.


JKG

In article 1121204022.4aa10b5a2edbb1bcd2266fd346218c74@teran ews,
"Richard Kaplan" wrote:

My understanding is that the activation issue occurs when the XM receiver is
not used for 90 days and the XM system thus suspends the account.


I'm not sure about this particular "feature," but all of the pilots I've
heard mention this issue claim that it can change from day to day.
Activate it today and receive weather, and tomorrow it shows as
unactivated and needs to be re-activated. This seems to be a problem
that's been mentioned on a number of different forums by users with the
WxWorx receiver. However, some users seem to experience it and others
don't, and some of those who have experienced it chronically have had
their XM receivers replaced and no longer have the problem. I've heard
various theories as to what the problem is, but it sounds like it could
be an XM problem that the newer receivers are working around.


JKG

"Richard Kaplan" wrote:
My understanding is that the activation issue occurs when the XM
receiver is not used for 90 days and the XM system thus suspends the
account.

It's happened to me one week after a previous use. Very disconcerting
when there's convective stuff about.

I believe this is an XM, rather than WxWorx issue.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Dan Luke" wrote in message

I believe this is an XM, rather than WxWorx issue.

Yes, that is disconcerting. But how can it be an XM issue if it only
happens with certain brands of hardware?


--------------------
Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com

"Ron Lee" wrote

Handheld = not IFR approved.
Panel mount GNS 430/530 allows VOR, GPS and ILS approaches.

Hypothetical situation.

A guy is on an IFR cross country flight, in and out of IFR conditions. His
latest weather reports indicate that his destination has ceilings that might
be 1000 and 1/2 mile, but also might be better. An alternate within his
comfortable fuel range is mostly clear. His departure airport is also
mostly clear.

Halfway there, his IFR approved GPS suddenly craps out, but his 396 with XM
is doing great, and has plenty of power.

What should he do?
--
Jim in NC

Halfway there, his IFR approved GPS suddenly craps out, but his 396 with XM
is doing great, and has plenty of power.

What other IFR approved navigation equipment does he have?

If he has VOR, and there's a VOR approach at the destination, I see no
reason not to continue on and shoot the VOR approach with the IFR
certified VOR equipment on the aircraft, using the handheld GPS for
situational awareness.

Jose
--
Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jose" wrote

What other IFR approved navigation equipment does he have?

If he has VOR, and there's a VOR approach at the destination, I see no
reason not to continue on and shoot the VOR approach with the IFR
certified VOR equipment on the aircraft, using the handheld GPS for
situational awareness.

His destination and all options only have GPS instrument approaches, or all
his other IFR instruments crapped out.

What he is thinking of doing, is not telling anyone that his other stuff
crapped out, and go ahead shooting a GPS approach to high minimums, and if
the weather does not let him decide early to go visual, go missed.
--
Jim in NC

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 03:02:32 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:


"Jose" wrote

What other IFR approved navigation equipment does he have?

If he has VOR, and there's a VOR approach at the destination, I see no
reason not to continue on and shoot the VOR approach with the IFR
certified VOR equipment on the aircraft, using the handheld GPS for
situational awareness.

His destination and all options only have GPS instrument approaches, or all
his other IFR instruments crapped out.

What he is thinking of doing, is not telling anyone that his other stuff
crapped out, and go ahead shooting a GPS approach to high minimums, and if
the weather does not let him decide early to go visual, go missed.

Wouldn't that violate the "must report equipment malfunction that
affects navigation" FAR?

Isn't the "right" answer in this case to report the malfunction and go
to the airport which allows descent from enroute VMC and get it fixed?

The best solution is to fly to VFR.

If he still has a working com, an acceptable alternative is to fly an ASR
approach at the destination if that is available.

Using the handheld for an approach is acceptable only as a last resort of no
other options remain; that is not the case here since there is an available
alternate with clear weather.

--------------------
Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com

"Richard Kaplan" wrote:

I believe this is an XM, rather than WxWorx issue.

Yes, that is disconcerting. But how can it be an XM issue if it only
happens with certain brands of hardware?

Is that so? A WxWorx person on the phone led me to believe it is
something to do with the XM system.

I do not understand the technical issues. I'll call WxWorx again and
see if I can get more details.

BTW, re. Bluetooth issues: I just got my WxWorx receiver back from being
converted. I spent a couple hours setting the system up, including a
Holux 230 Bluetooth GPS. WxWorx kindly includes a 120v power supply
with the conversion so this can all be done at home. That was a good
thing, as it took considerable fiddling to get everything to work,
although I never had to resort to calling WxWorx.

Everything seemed to be working fine at last, but I failed to make a
critical test before I put it all in the airplane: I did not do a cold
start of the whole system. Upon starting everything up in the airplane,
I found that WxWorx could not communicate with the GPS. Nothing I tried
worked until I deleted the GPS from Bluetooth devices in the Windows
Control Panel and added it back again. Then, everything worked fine
until I cold started again, whereupon WxWorx again could not find the
GPS.

*sigh* That will be the other thing I'll be talking to WxWorx about
today.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM