Glider Independent Palm Nav Setup

Hi All,
I am looking for some advice on a palm nav setup,
my situation is this:
I don't own a glider, I fly club gliders, so I can't
rely on a glider having a particular wiring setup,
I already have a modern Garmin GPS, and am looking
to create a glider independent setup to switch between
gliders as needed. I've been looking at old r.a.s
threads and have sort of come to the conclusion that
an iPaq 36/3800 is what most people like, has anyone
tried running these off batteries other than the glider?
Does anyone else have any experience with this sort
of setup? Budget is quite limited (so £2000+ pieces
of equip are out of the question ;-) )

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jamie Denton

p.s. to contact me directly, use the form on www.deviantpenguin.co
uk as the email address above is completely fake

John Doe wrote:
Hi All,
I am looking for some advice on a palm nav setup,
my situation is this:
I don't own a glider, I fly club gliders, so I can't
rely on a glider having a particular wiring setup,
I already have a modern Garmin GPS, and am looking
to create a glider independent setup to switch between
gliders as needed. I've been looking at old r.a.s
threads and have sort of come to the conclusion that
an iPaq 36/3800 is what most people like, has anyone
tried running these off batteries other than the glider?
Does anyone else have any experience with this sort
of setup? Budget is quite limited (so £2000+ pieces
of equip are out of the question ;-) )

Any help greatly appreciated.

The cheap but effective setup is a used Palm III off eBay, $100 (less?),
a $25 cable, a $40 suction cup mount from RAM http://www.rammount.com
and Soaring Pilot software http://www.soaringpilot.com/ for free.
This setup runs on PalmOS. It can show tasks, waypoints, nearest
airports, STF, final glide etc. Works for me (until I upgrade g)

Shawn

John Doe wrote:
Hi All,
I am looking for some advice on a palm nav setup,
my situation is this:
I don't own a glider, I fly club gliders, so I can't
rely on a glider having a particular wiring setup,
I already have a modern Garmin GPS, and am looking
to create a glider independent setup to switch between
gliders as needed. I've been looking at old r.a.s
threads and have sort of come to the conclusion that
an iPaq 36/3800 is what most people like, has anyone
tried running these off batteries other than the glider?
Does anyone else have any experience with this sort
of setup? Budget is quite limited (so =A32000+ pieces
of equip are out of the question ;-) )

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jamie Denton

p.s. to contact me directly, use the form on www.deviantpenguin.co
uk as the email address above is completely fake



Jamie:

I'm in the same situation as you--needing a gps/nav setup that can be
moved between club gliders without tapping into the glider's battery.
I use a Palm OS PDA--the Tungsten T (140 mhz processor, good screen,
compact with relatively low power consumption, no longer in production
but available on ebay for less than $100) in a compact Palm "battery
sled" ($50 from Palm) for over ten hours of run time. I use a
bluetooth GPS, so I don't have to fuss with wires ($100 on ebay) and I
run SoaringPilot on the PDA--it's free from soaringpilot.org.
Soaringpilot is comprehensive (wind calculation, STF, etc) and includes
GPS-derived AGL capability if you load it with the appropriate terrain
data. The moving map and final glide screens are easy to read and
intuitive (track up, reachable airports turn to bold letters, etc). The
only item I wished SoaringPilot had was topo information on the moving
map. I mount the PDA in its sled on a two-suction cup radar detector
mount with velcro. As long as you keep the suctions cups clean they
don't fail. You could also epoxy the battery sled to a RAM mount with
an adjustable arm and a giant suction cup, though I wonder whether the
RAM suction cup, such as the one sold through Cumulus-Soaring, is too
large (4 inches) for the curved surfaces of a glider canopy. If you go
the Palm OS route you won't have any other software choices down the
road--everything else is written for MS-based pdas. Neither will you
be able to use a Palm pda for downloading IGC logs from a legal logger
using ConnectMe, though, of course, SoaringPilot has its own non-IGC
approved logger and support for transfer to a PC. The screen shot of
SoaringPilot on Paul Remde's site is from an old B&W Palm--the screen
on the Tungsten is white, and the graphics are mostly black with
tracklines, sua boundaries and whatnot in color.

Kevin Parker

you can use most GPS receivers (or GPS mouse) connected to a PDA with
FlywithCE "Navigator" http://www.flywithce.com/index.html software now
offered for FREE (in basic version)
see: http://www.wingsandwheels.com/lx_nav...ies_for_ip.htm
add as many pilots and glider polars as you'd like. You can run most PDA's
from internal or external battery set-ups with power cables or even simple
battery sleeves
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at:
www.wingsandwheels.com



"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I am looking for some advice on a palm nav setup,
my situation is this:
I don't own a glider, I fly club gliders, so I can't
rely on a glider having a particular wiring setup,
I already have a modern Garmin GPS, and am looking
to create a glider independent setup to switch between
gliders as needed. I've been looking at old r.a.s
threads and have sort of come to the conclusion that
an iPaq 36/3800 is what most people like, has anyone
tried running these off batteries other than the glider?
Does anyone else have any experience with this sort
of setup? Budget is quite limited (so £2000+ pieces
of equip are out of the question ;-) )

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jamie Denton

p.s. to contact me directly, use the form on www.deviantpenguin.co
uk as the email address above is completely fake

John Doe wrote:
Hi All,
I am looking for some advice on a palm nav setup,
snip

I'm using a Palm M500, SoaringPilot, and a Haicom HI-204S (~US$100)
serial GPS mouse with a 4xAA battery supply. A fully charged M500 gave
me over 8hrs operation with charge still remaining in a driving based
trial.

I keep the Palm in the glider pocket or my Camelback during flight but
plan to use a velcro patch to attach it to my trouser leg as a
"kneeboard" when I want it as a part of my flight instruments. I velcro
the GPS mouse to my sunhat.

I use this system as a barograph and for flight logging rather than
navigation or tasks at present. SoaringPilot has an altitude vs time
plot screen.

The main problem I found was ensuring the GPS cable connector stays
connected to the Palm throughout the flight. After trying several
third-party cradles and some quick serial cable prototypes, I solved the
problem by modifying a clip-on PalmModem to "pass through" the serial
data lines to the RJ11 port where I connect the GPS using a custom
adapter cable. My external 4xAA battery for powering the GPS is plugged
into the power input socket on the Palm Modem. I understand some iPAQs
have a good latching/retaining mechanism on their connectors.

Cheers
Neil
Christchurch, NZ

I use an iPAQ 3800 with an expansion sleeve and a CF card GPS (Teletype).
I use the free GPS-LOG software. By using a sleeve, I have 2 batteries
available. I have successfully gotten 4 hours of time on just the internal
batteries. I keep the backlight turned off. My primary use to date has
been as a logger so I can review fligths later. However, I am beginning to
use this setup for navigation and in-flight information. Using the GPS in
the sleeve, there are no wires to deal with.

If neccessary, an external battery could be made with 4 rechargeable NiMH AA
cells that would significantly extend the time. They could be connected to
the same connector as the AC recharge adapter.

I had tried the Velcro-to-the-leg approach. I encountered some problems with
this approach. The primary problem was it was much harder to see the screen
quickly and easily. The second was when flying a 1-26E, I had a difficult
time with maintaining GPS signal with the GPS reciever on my leg and down
inside the fuselage. Finally, at times it was hard to get sufficent light on
the screen to enable it to be read.

I purchased one of the simple RAM cradles from Cumulus Soaring for the iPAQ
and Sleeves along with the the 4" suction cup kit. This holds the iPAQ up
next to the instrument panel where it is very easy to glance at the screen
for data. I use the 1" balls for the arm ends. These seem to have good
grip and don't slip. I've fastened the suction cup to the canopy of both a
1-26 (for 3 hours) and a 2-33 with no problems. I find this solution vastly
superior to the having it strapped to my leg.

I liked the RAM cradle and arms so well, that I bought a second setup for my
tow vehcile. I used a ball bolted to the dash in place of the suction cup.
This holds the iPAQ near the steering wheel where it is easy to take a quick
glance at the display for map information. I use this set up for road
trips, but also use it with the GPS-LOG software to pratice flying tasks to
learn to use the in-flight software in an environment where I can pull over
and stop if I need to figure something out.