"Rob Thomas" wrote in message ...
What a great idea! I have a tablet that I use in my day to day work. I
never thought of yoke mounting it!

How did you go about mounting it? What tablet do you have?

r.


I have a Fujitsu tablet. These were produced before the "Microsoft wave"
hit, and are much smaller than a standard tablet without a keyboard,
about the size of an approach plate.

There (apparently) is no commercial mount for it, so I created my own
from aluminum channel stock using a drill and an existing yoke plate
holder. I put plastic rigid foam underneath it to hold it up off the yoke,
and tied it in using wire wrap ties. This was necesary because the plate
mount was not designed for a 1 lb weight, and would vibrate.

I power the unit via the 12v plug (Cessna 172 12v system), and a "battery
starter" unit that has a lead-acid battery sealed into a unit with auto
power plugs going in and out (it was designed to help start your car),
for $36. The airplane can keep it charged, and it provides complete
self-contained backup for the whole system without needing a battery
on the tablet itself, which makes the tablet both smaller and lighter.
The battery is mounted on the floor between the seats.

For the GPS, I choose a USB "all in one" GPS/antenna. These units are
hard to find, but have only one cord and no external power connection,
because the USB itself carries power. The entire GPS fits in the antenna,
which is double sided taped to the window at the top. The wires are taped
to the side of the cockpit, so it still qualifies as "add on" equipment.
Probally the only problem with that is they keep ripping it all out
at annual time, and I have to redo everything.

I have an in-panel GPS as well. This system is essentially a complete
dual backup with its own display, GPS and power. I run Jepp Flightmap
and Flightdeck on it. The only serious problem is that these two
peices of software don't cooperate, so you have to cancel out of one
to get the other. Jepp has promised to fix this, but so far nothing.
The system will be worlds better when it can switch to "approach mode"
and start showing you plates after the enroute mode. I have essentially
let the flightmap subscription lapse and kept the plates because of
this.

To use this system under real IFR, it takes lots of practice, and I
always keep the paper plates nearby. If I find myself arguing with the
unit, I get the plate out and forget about it for a while. I find the
best use of the unit is to get absolute situational awareness of
terrain at night, since Flightmap gives you your profile over the
ground and AGL at any time.

Luck !