On-Star*

Just saw an On-Star commercial, went something like this:

Mrs. Jones, This is your On-Stat advisor. I show an air-bag deployment and
automatic activation of your on-star system, on Route 16, north of Albany, are
you all right?

Mrs. Jones, Nooooooo!

On-Star advisor, I'm calling the State Police and your husband.

Mrs. Jones, Thaaaank Youuuu.

I let this percolate in my fertile mind, over a cup of coffee and came up with
this:

Mr. JJ, I show a sudden stoppage, resulting in a G-switch activation of your
On-Star system, 10 miles south of Callahan. I show no airports in that area.
Are you all right?

No answer.

On-Star advisor, In accordance with your instructions, dated 6/6/03, I am
notifying the Siskiyou County Sheriff, Contest Headquarters and your crew. I
show your location as; 40-53.3 north and 123-05.6 west.
Good luck!

Does anybody know how much On-Star costs and would they consider taking on
aviation customers? It's got to beat ELT.
JJ Sinclair

JJ,

I like the concept, but if On-Star uses the cell-phone
system, won't that render the service useless in areas
without coverage? Or does On-Star use satellite(s)
for communication/data transfer? I guess they use
satellites, thus the name 'On-Star'?? (Or, is it a
combinaton of both: cell phone for voice and satellite
for data?)

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
LS-1d 'W8'

At 18:12 18 November 2003, Jj Sinclair wrote:
Just saw an On-Star commercial, went something like
this:

Mrs. Jones, This is your On-Stat advisor. I show an
air-bag deployment and
automatic activation of your on-star system, on Route
16, north of Albany, are
you all right?

Mrs. Jones, Nooooooo!

On-Star advisor, I'm calling the State Police and your
husband.

Mrs. Jones, Thaaaank Youuuu.

I let this percolate in my fertile mind, over a cup
of coffee and came up with
this:

Mr. JJ, I show a sudden stoppage, resulting in a G-switch
activation of your
On-Star system, 10 miles south of Callahan. I show
no airports in that area.
Are you all right?

No answer.

On-Star advisor, In accordance with your instructions,
dated 6/6/03, I am
notifying the Siskiyou County Sheriff, Contest Headquarters
and your crew. I
show your location as; 40-53.3 north and 123-05.6 west.
Good luck!

Does anybody know how much On-Star costs and would
they consider taking on
aviation customers? It's got to beat ELT.
JJ Sinclair

Would be a nice feature for the GPS mfg's to incorporate into their handhelds.
Just press a button, or sudden stoppage would activate the unit, coordinates
then go to the big screen somewhere.

I looked into the UK system earlier this year and spoke
with a company rep. Several companies offer a similar
service to track commercial vehicles and manage the
fleet.

Briefly as I understand it, the system here works on
a GPS reciever and logger in the vehicle and this transmits
data via ground cell telephone systems back to base.
The cell phone system has numerous 'spare' channels
not used for the 'phone system. The problem is that
trying to use the cell phone in the air, unless low
down on a ridge, or behind a mountain, causes the
cell phone to shut down.

The basic cost was about £700 for the vehicle kit and
then a further load of cash to get kit to manage the
data.

So at present not practical and expensive

On 18 Nov 2003 19:35:42 GMT, Dave Martin
wrote:

I looked into the UK system earlier this year and spoke
with a company rep. Several companies offer a similar
service to track commercial vehicles and manage the
fleet.

Briefly as I understand it, the system here works on
a GPS reciever and logger in the vehicle and this transmits
data via ground cell telephone systems back to base.
The cell phone system has numerous 'spare' channels
not used for the 'phone system. The problem is that
trying to use the cell phone in the air, unless low
down on a ridge, or behind a mountain, causes the
cell phone to shut down.

The basic cost was about £700 for the vehicle kit and
then a further load of cash to get kit to manage the
data.

So at present not practical and expensive



CDMA cellphones work great in the air unlike that piece of Eurotrash
GSM system.

Mike Borgelt

link to a U.S. coverage map in pdf format
http://www.onstar.com/us_english/dow...age_map_us.pdf


Canada map
http://www.onstar.com/us_english/dow...ge_map_can.pdf


Quoted from
http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp...mp%3B+Hardware

Made shorter link
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R6CC12396

Q. How does OnStar work?
A. OnStar uses existing emergency service providers, cellular telephone
and satellite technologies. It operates alongside the electrical system
in your vehicle and is powered by your vehicle's battery. If your
vehicle's battery is damaged or disconnected, our service will not
function. Onstar currently uses the analog cellular network maintained
by separate cellular companies. This provides the broadest geographic
coverage of any current wireless system in the United States and Canada.

JJ Sinclair wrote:


Does anybody know how much On-Star costs and would they consider taking on
aviation customers? It's got to beat ELT.
JJ Sinclair

There is a satellite based system developed by Orbcomm (Orbcomm.com)
that has a data link for weather graphics, email, and so forth. For
aviation use, the system is incorporated into products by Avidyne, Echo
Flight, SKytrac, and Garmin. The system can provide automatic flight
following, so that the flight can be followed on a web site. It'd be
great for locating a downed pilot or following contestants during a
conttest, but the unit look big, complicated, and expensive.
--
-----
Replace "SPAM" with "charter" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Dave Martin wrote in message ...

... The problem is that
trying to use the cell phone in the air, unless low
down on a ridge, or behind a mountain, causes the
cell phone to shut down.

Not really an issue if you've landed out or crashed, is it?

This system might be usefull in countries where, unlike in the U.S.,
you can reliably get coverage more than 5 miles outside a major city.

At 21:42 18 November 2003, Eric Greenwell wrote:
JJ Sinclair wrote:


Does anybody know how much On-Star costs and would
they consider taking on
aviation customers? It's got to beat ELT.
JJ Sinclair

There is a satellite based system developed by Orbcomm
(Orbcomm.com)
that has a data link for weather graphics, email, and
so forth. For
aviation use, the system is incorporated into products
by Avidyne, Echo
Flight, SKytrac, and Garmin. The system can provide
automatic flight
following, so that the flight can be followed on a
web site. It'd be
great for locating a downed pilot or following contestants
during a
conttest, but the unit look big, complicated, and expensive.
--
-----
Replace 'SPAM' with 'charter' to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA


Looks like just the thing from Avidyne!

FlightMax EX500

High resolution 5.4' diagonal display with integrated
datalink, terrain and water base map with man-made
obstacles, curved flight paths when interfaced with
a Garmin 400/500 series GPS, traffic awareness when
interfaced to the Goodrich Skywatch/HP TAS, the Ryan
TCAD 9900B/BX or the Bendix/King KTA-870 TAS, and a
Goodrich WX-500 Stormscope interface.

Retail price $8,995

guess you have not seen some of the early Garmin hand helds.. contained a
pre recorded message with your N number and would broadcast your coordinates
on the radio freq.

BT

"Lord Struthers" wrote in message
...
Would be a nice feature for the GPS mfg's to incorporate into their
handhelds.
Just press a button, or sudden stoppage would activate the unit,
coordinates
then go to the big screen somewhere.