Weather for wireless PDA

Do any of the new weather services like WXworx work on a wireless PDA like
the Palm Tungsten or the Blackberries?

How about plain old downloads from the net to these devices- is it usable or
practical? I'm thinking about getting either a Tungsten or color Blackberry
primarily for business email, but would also like to use it in flight to get
nexrad data and updated weather briefings online.

TIA.

Jim N

The Tungsten W won't work at all above about 2000' MSL, from my
experience. This is due to the fact that it uses the cellular network
(specifically, AT&T's GSM/GPRS network) as opposed to the Palm i710
which uses the Mobitex network. Since Mobitex uses omnidirectional
antennas (it is more of a paging network), those antennas have lobes
that allow coverage up to FL410 in certain spots. The cellular
hnetworks use corner reflectors which focus a lot fo the signal energy
on the horizon and lower angles (some of the antennas have downtilt,
depending on how they are trying to contain that particular cell's
coverage.

However, the Tungsten W is a great device and I believe there are some
decent sales on it right now. Great for picking up weather on the
ground and at low altitudes. I use Adds (from NCAR) and CBAV for
weather radar.

-Dave

Will the Tungsten W pick up the CBAV and display the weather radar in color?

I already use satellite radio in the plane, which is unbelievable for the
quality of sound. However, I don't want to go to WXWorx yet, since it makes
a rat nest of cables, etc. I would rather wait and see an interface with a
panel mount like the Garmin 530.

In the meantime, I was hoping for something easier that I could use at work
for email and imaging like the Palm or Blackberry.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message news
Will the Tungsten W pick up the CBAV and display the weather radar in color?

No. CBAV is a webclipping application that goes through Palm.NET (via
the mobitext pager netowrk). The W is just a GSM cell phone.

In a previous article, "Viperdoc" said:
quality of sound. However, I don't want to go to WXWorx yet, since it makes
a rat nest of cables, etc. I would rather wait and see an interface with a
panel mount like the Garmin 530.

A guy in my flying club put together a really neat little tupperware box
with the WXWorx satellite reciever, USB hub, GPS, etc, etc, and a cable
conduit coming out of it. The cable has two plugs, one which goes into
the USB port of his laptop and one which goes into the ships power plug
(cigarette lighter). Looks very neat. I'm trying to convince him to put
some pictures up on the club picture gallery.


--
Paul Tomblin , not speaking for anybody
"I've gone through over-stressed to physical exhaustion -- what's next?"
"Tuesday."
-- Simon Burr and Kyle Hearn

Ron Natalie wrote:

No. CBAV is a webclipping application that goes through Palm.NET (via
the mobitext pager netowrk). The W is just a GSM cell phone.

CBAV works fine on the W. The W is not "just a GSM cell phone." It
also does GPRS data. You need the Web Clipping libraries installed on
it and you can run PQA applications (the old palm.net apps). You can
also run a web browser on it. And it's not all that bad at web
browsing. The PQA's are all black and white apps...so no color. But
you can get the radar weather through the web browser, which does have
color.

-Dave

If the Tungsten W won't get CBAV, is there any advice out there regarding
Palm versus Blackberry for downloading weather graphics from the usual
weather sites on the net? It's obvious I really don't know anything about
either device.

TIA

Jim N

Don't hold your breath. Garmin was VERY non-committal regarding WxWorx for
the 430/530, despite its selection for the Gucci G1000. The reason? I was
told it was due to the existing contractual relationship with EchoFlight. I
told them the "customer is always right", and this customer does not want an
unreliable, strategic-only view, "request-reply" system. They said "too bad"
in so many words. I asked them how nice it was to spend all that development
money on a product customers don't want because of lack of perceived
value... No response!!! Surprise!!!

I suspect Garmin will eventually come out with some form of interface for
the 530 when EchoFlight goes belly up, and all the GDL-49 suckers get ****ed
at spending almost $10K for the hardware and installation...

For now, I was told Garmin's sole efforts on the 430/530 was the promised
upgrade to meet the TSO 146 WAAS spec. This is something Garmin promised
from day one of the 530 (WAAS "upgradeable"), but they still haven't worked
out the hardware mods.

Rumor on the street is it will take Garmin at least another year to work out
the WAAS upgrades. Only then will they devote any resources to "fixing" the
weather issue with the 530, and only if the newly acquired UPSAT CNX80 does
not outsell it...

For now, I am going with a PDA option on WxWorx. It is here, it is now, it
is the right price, and it performs, in addition, I don't see XM going out
of business anytime soon, and WxWorx seems to have their **** together.
COMANT is even coming out with a dual VHF/XM antenna mast (very nice!)

I gave up on the CBAV solution when I couldn't get NexRAD when I really
needed it... It ALWAYS worked when I NEVER needed it!!!


"Viperdoc" wrote in message
news
Will the Tungsten W pick up the CBAV and display the weather radar in
color?

I already use satellite radio in the plane, which is unbelievable for the
quality of sound. However, I don't want to go to WXWorx yet, since it
makes
a rat nest of cables, etc. I would rather wait and see an interface with a
panel mount like the Garmin 530.

In the meantime, I was hoping for something easier that I could use at
work
for email and imaging like the Palm or Blackberry.