In-Flight Weather / GPS

I've searched the threads on Google, but given the emerging technologies
involved, I'd be interested in any thoughts or recent experience that
anyone can provide regarding the in-flight satellite weather in
particular.

We have a Cherokee with StrikeFinder (which works to avoid the big
stuff) and a handheld Garmin GPSMAP 195 (which is a fine GPS), but we've
been considering the added benefit of in-flight weather uplink.

I see that the AnywhereMap folks have an iPaq 4700-based system that
uses Bluetooth for connectivity between the receivers (both XM and GPS)
and the iPaq, but I am unsure about whether the iPaq will be adequately
sized (though it is yoke-mountable). I am also concerned about the
practicality of this system due to the small size of the PDA and the
battery life of the units involved.

The other option that we were considering is WxWorx on a Tablet PC.
This route would be more expensive because of the Tablet PC, but the
advantage would be that we could use the Tablet PC for other things, and
it would provide a much larger screen and easier targets to hit with the
pen in flight. I am not sure if the AnywhereMap folks have software
that will work on a Tablet PC, but they only appear to sell the PocketPC
bundles. I'm unclear on what WxWorx can provide other than the weather,
and how the GPS mapping functionality compares to AnywhereMap.

Or, we could just bag the whole thing right now and land when we
encounter questionable conditions, and continue to rely on the GPSMAP
195 for situational awareness. I'm not sure how much improved the GPS
functions of a PDA-based system would be, or whether in-flight weather
is worth the investment at this point.



Thanks,
JKG

In article ,
wrote:
I don't know about the other stuff, but your concern is well placed -
the battery is inadequate.

You need an external source, - either DC from the aircraft, or you can
use an auxiliary battery source.

I figured this, particularly with Bluetooth going. I've been told about
2-2.5 hours before the iPaq is dead. The idea of Bluetooth is to
eliminate all the cables, and I suppose that it's still a win if you can
eliminate the data cables, but then I'll have to figure out a solution
to the requirement to plug in 3 cigarette-lighter cords (1 GPS, 1 XM WX,
1 iPaq).



The screen size is not all that bad, however. The IPAQ screen is
comparable to a Garmin 430 if I am not mistaken.

I think you are right, plus the 4700 screen is a VGA screen from what I
understand -- much superior to the 430. I think that the 4700 screen is
supposed to be decent in sunlight, but I had a few minutes to play with
one recently and I thought that it was almost unusable in direct
sunlight. Not sure if a good Tablet (like the Motion M1400) would be
any better in that regard.


My real debate is whether I stick with the iPaq or go TabletPC, or just
stick with the GPSMAP 195 for now. Approach plates would be more
practical on the Tablet I think, I'm not sure that I could get rid of my
paper if I had to mess with them on the iPaq.



JKG

I have the AWmap system. It's great when it works, and the screen is
plenty large for flight (though too small IMO for approach plates), but
I wouldn't bet my life on its reliability. Right now I'm trying to
fiddle my way through a software upgrade which has caused my weather to
disappear. They do have an XP version that you can run on their Raven
system or a Windows display unit, but that's a lot of bulk in a
cockpit. Once you get it running, it stays stable for the flight,
though the pressure-fit 12VDC connections are not entirely robust with
all the vibration inherent in light plane design. Some people
semi-permanently install the wiring, but that means you either have to
have duplicate wires at home or do all your trouble-shooting in the
airplane.

On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 19:41:11 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
wrote:

The other option that we were considering is WxWorx on a Tablet PC.
This route would be more expensive because of the Tablet PC, but the
advantage would be that we could use the Tablet PC for other things, and
it would provide a much larger screen and easier targets to hit with the
pen in flight. I am not sure if the AnywhereMap folks have software
that will work on a Tablet PC, but they only appear to sell the PocketPC
bundles. I'm unclear on what WxWorx can provide other than the weather,
and how the GPS mapping functionality compares to AnywhereMap.

I run WxWorx with the XMWeather Aviator-Lite package on a Fujitsu
ST4121 (daylight viewable) tablet PC. It is an awesome setup. The
ST4121 has a large HDD, so it also acts as an MP3 player for the
plane.

WxWorx software is not a good moving map tool, you would need to put
separate moving map SW on the tablet PC. I use my Garmin 295 for
moving map guidance, and limit the Tablet PC to displaying radar and
metars.

-Nathan

Nathan Young wrote:

I run WxWorx with the XMWeather Aviator-Lite package on a Fujitsu
ST4121 (daylight viewable) tablet PC. It is an awesome setup. The
ST4121 has a large HDD, so it also acts as an MP3 player for the
plane.

How much high altitude flying do you do?

I've been told by some folks who ought to know that most consumer level
hard disk drives have a shorter life when used at over 10,000 feet in a
higher vibration environment (i.e. an unpressurized plane).

The rational is that the disk heads float on a cushion of air and that at
high density altitude the cushion is much reduced. This causes head
crashes and asorted other problems.

Does this mean that your 10,000 MTBF disk drive gets shortened to 5,000
MTBF? Dunno. How many flight hours do you have on your Fujitsu?

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

paul kgyy wrote:

RightÂ*nowÂ*I'mÂ*tryingÂ*to
fiddle my way through a software upgrade which has caused my weather to
disappear.

How much help are you getting from the vendor? I'm also considering this
product, and the quality of support is a major factor.

Another concern that I have is data entry. A turbulant IMC flight is not
the time to be struggling with a stylis. How does the Anywhere product get
around this?

Another product I'm considering considering (there's no price on the web
site, which scares me {8^) is the Cheetah product. I like that one can
display both EFIS-like content with weather and the solid-state AI
concurrently.

- Andrew

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:34:29 +0000 (UTC), Frank Stutzman
wrote:

How much high altitude flying do you do?

Depends on what is 'high altitude' I usually fly above 5k and below
12k.

I've been told by some folks who ought to know that most consumer level
hard disk drives have a shorter life when used at over 10,000 feet in a
higher vibration environment (i.e. an unpressurized plane).

Interesting, I had not heard this. I have a friend that works in the
HDD industry and is a pilot. I will ask him.

The rational is that the disk heads float on a cushion of air and that at
high density altitude the cushion is much reduced. This causes head
crashes and asorted other problems.

Does this mean that your 10,000 MTBF disk drive gets shortened to 5,000
MTBF? Dunno. How many flight hours do you have on your Fujitsu?

Flight hours on the ST4121 = ~100. Still going strong. Of course,
HDD crashes tend to be 1 time catastrophic events rather than a
degradation over time.

-Nathan

"Nathan Young" wrote:
I run WxWorx with the XMWeather Aviator-Lite package on a Fujitsu
ST4121 (daylight viewable) tablet PC.

Seen this announcement?
http://www.wxworx.com/news_pdf/wxworx_bluetooth.pdf

I'm thinking of getting the upgrade (I already have the Aviator package),
buying one of these:
http://semsons.com/holbluetgpsr.html

And a Fujiitsu like yours with the big battery and adding one of these:
http://www.outpost.com/product/3575074

That would give me a totally wireless, large format WxWorx MMI. The XM
receiver and battery could ride on the hat shelf in the back of the baggage
compartment and I could rig a little platform for the XM antenna and the GPS
under the rear windows. Much cleaner than the Sony notebook with USB GPS and
XM receiver I'm using now.
--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:05:47 -0500, "Dan Luke" wrote:


"Nathan Young" wrote:
I run WxWorx with the XMWeather Aviator-Lite package on a Fujitsu
ST4121 (daylight viewable) tablet PC.

Seen this announcement?
http://www.wxworx.com/news_pdf/wxworx_bluetooth.pdf


Cool - I had not seen this.

-Nathan