Steve Fossett missing?

Scott wrote:
I believe the new 406 MHz ELT's can be hooked to a GPS and transmit
lat/long when activated. Unfortunately, the ELT may not have activated.

There is also at least one 406 MHz ELT on the market that has a integral
GPS. www.acrelectonics.com is the one maker I know of, there may be
others.


I admire the poster who created his own flight tracking system. However,
I am inclined to go with one of these GPS enabled 406 PLBs. They are
lighter, less than 1 AMU in costs and are made by made by people who
know which end of the soldering iron to hold (unlike myself).


--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Boise, ID

Bill,

Didn't use this technology at an Ephrata soaring contest few years ago? I
seem to remember an article in Soaring (or the SGC Towline news letter.)

Wayne
HP-14 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/
Ham Radio - W7ADK


"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote in message
. ..
This is seriously cool stuff.

Please post this to rec.aviation.soaring. We need this in a big way.

Bill Daniels

wrote in message
oups.com...
Fossett had a typical ELT that apparently did not turn on or was out
of range.

I have a APRS tracker that continuously sends position/velocity info
on the ham frequency. Worked very well so far and gives peace of mind
to relatives - and useful to FAA on a flight plan. If Fosset had a
continuous tracker, the job of finding him might have been a lot
easier.

You can build an APRS tracker for about $250. A basic ham license is
easy to get.

For more info http://www.abri.com/sq2000/GPStrack.html
------------------------------------------------
SQ2000 canard, http://www.abri.com/sq2000/

On Sep 4, 2:13 pm, "Rob Turk" wrote:
CNN reports Steve Fossett is missing.
"
Fossett took off from a private air strip known as Flying M Ranch, near
Smith Valley, 30 miles south of Yerington, Nevada, on Monday, with
enough
fuel for four to five hours of flight, according to the Civil Air
Patrol.
Yerington is south of Carson City, near the California border."

Let's hope for the best

"Frank Stutzman" wrote in message
...
Scott wrote:
I believe the new 406 MHz ELT's can be hooked to a GPS and transmit
lat/long when activated. Unfortunately, the ELT may not have activated.

There is also at least one 406 MHz ELT on the market that has a integral
GPS. www.acrelectonics.com is the one maker I know of, there may be
others.


I admire the poster who created his own flight tracking system. However,
I am inclined to go with one of these GPS enabled 406 PLBs. They are
lighter, less than 1 AMU in costs and are made by made by people who
know which end of the soldering iron to hold (unlike myself).


--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Boise, ID


The 406Mhz ELT/PLB units are great and I suggest anyone traveling or flying
backcountry areas should have one. HOWEVER, if you activate it, be prepared
for the official full emergency response which may be quite a bit more than
you need - or want. Plus, as the the present unfortunate case, they
sometimes don't work.

Real-time tracking units offers the ability to track an aircraft right up to
a crash. Even if nothing in the aircraft works afterwards, you would still
know where to look for it.

Ultimately, real-time tracking will be the standard. ADS-B or whatever
replaces it will eliminate the need for ELT's as well as radar.

Bill Daniels

Can you explain how this works, like we're a class of 8th graders? We'll,
7th graders, really. See, 8th grade just started, but we're still reviewing
from last year...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ummm, okay. Let's start by taking apart a GPS unit. Get rid of the
display, keyboard and housing, the guts boil down to a circuit board
about the size of a business card. You still need the antenna and a
source of power but the heart of the GPS unit is that single circuit
board, which has been available as new-surplus for at least ten years.

Whenever there's power to the circuit board -- and the antenna can see
the sky -- the circuit board spits out a constant stream of data. The
data would normally go to the GPS units display.

What hams have done is to make an equally small circuit board that
takes that stream of data, encodes it in a usable format and feeds it
to a ham radio -- typically a 'walkie-talkie' that uses the 2-meter
ham band. The ham radio broadcasts the data in short bursts for all
to hear. We call it our 'Automatic Position Reporting System' and it
has proven very useful in keeping track of things. (Indeed, a few
years ago I posted a message here suggesting it be used to keep track
of friends at Oshkosh, since the unit is small enough to put in your
pocket.)

On the ground, hams have covered the nation with receiving stations
tuned to the frequency used for automatic position reporting. Connect
a computer to a suitable radio, load the free software, and you can
track your friends -- or your cars, airplanes or whatever -- on a
nifty moving map display. It doesn't have to be a big computer --
there's software available for those palm-sized units.

'Tiny Trak' is one such unit and there's a Google group devoted to
automatic position reporting.

-R.S.Hoover
-(KA6HZF)

Frank Stutzman wrote:
Scott wrote:
I believe the new 406 MHz ELT's can be hooked to a GPS and transmit
lat/long when activated. Unfortunately, the ELT may not have
activated.

There is also at least one 406 MHz ELT on the market that has a
integral GPS. www.acrelectonics.com is the one maker I know of,
there may be others.


I admire the poster who created his own flight tracking system.
However, I am inclined to go with one of these GPS enabled 406 PLBs.
They are lighter, less than 1 AMU in costs and are made by made by
people who know which end of the soldering iron to hold (unlike
myself).

Add to that the fact that the NTSB is suggesting to the FAA that 406 MHz
ELTs be required.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._196080-1.html

Basically the APRS tracker is a small gps receiver / 2M ham
transmitter which sends digital position signals to nearby digital ham
station, which in turn send the info to internet servers and you can
see your last reported position on google (or other) maps on sites
like www.findu.com. It is simplicity itself for end user.

I also suggest you invest $15/yr in a MyPlanexxx.com website where
your relatives (and FAA) could easily click to link to findu.com with
google map to see your location.

If some of you want the finished product I am willing to put it
together for you - you pay for expenses and labor - see
http://www.abri.com/sq2000/GPStrack.html
But you still need a ham license, which is easy to get.

APRS is superior to 406 unit since it is real time and does not depend
on "going off" in a crash.

On Sep 5, 11:32 pm, "Montblack" Y4_NOT!...
wrote:
wrote)

You can build an APRS tracker for about $250. A basic ham license is easy
to get.

For more infohttp://www.abri.com/sq2000/GPStrack.html

http://www.abri.com/sq2000/APRSBasics.txt
Interesting...

Bring a Pilot to School Day:

Can you explain how this works, like we're a class of 8th graders? We'll,
7th graders, really. See, 8th grade just started, but we're still reviewing
from last year...

Paul-Mont

"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote in message
. ..


Ultimately, real-time tracking will be the standard. ADS-B or whatever
replaces it will eliminate the need for ELT's as well as radar.

Bill Daniels

I don't think it can eliminate radar. How do you know where I am when my
ADS-B dies?

wrote:

APRS is superior to 406 unit since it is real time and does not depend
on "going off" in a crash.


BUT.. in the way you propose to use, APRS involves you being recognized
as overdue by someone, and them initiating the search by reporting an
overdue aircraft and giving the last known coords.

Or do you think that filing a VFR flight plan with your own personal
findu.com emulation page address would suffice?

An impact activated ELT at least lets SOMEONE know you are down.
Particularly a 406 mhz one, since it broadcasts last known position as
part of its data burst.


I've not used APRS in the air, but I do realize its fairly easy to rig
up with a little handheld portable and tinytrack three, and the setup
can take a data feed from ANY NMEA gps, such as any of the portable
Garmins (aviation or not). On the ground, I use a APRS ready Mobile with
a GPS3 feeding it.


Dave

On Sep 6, 2:05 pm, Dave S wrote:
wrote:
APRS is superior to 406 unit since it is real time and does not depend
on "going off" in a crash.

BUT.. in the way you propose to use, APRS involves you being recognized
as overdue by someone, and them initiating the search by reporting an
overdue aircraft and giving the last known coords.


True, but it is typically a long time before S&R gets into action
anyway - and after FAA verifies that the signal is not an accident in
itself. My relatives watch my flight movements and would be anxious to
get into action if I did not report at end of the leg.

Thanks!!!! This APRS system is outta-sight. As a retired EE, I've toyed
with getting a ham ticket since I was a kid...and this might just do it.
This has wide coverage....and does not depend on a G-switch like an
ELT.....even the new 406MHz units depend on a G-switch to trip if the victim
cannot trigger the unit manually.

I like the continual tracking feature.....just look where the signal
stopped.

I've spent some time in the past half-hour and understand the electronics.
But has someone put together a small transmitter with an embedded GPS, to
make the whole unit a "one box" solution? I have no problem building a APRS
transmitter myself, but it seems a single small package has a better chance
of always being in the plane, say mounted on a door post or under a glass
turtledeck. Maybe with a rechargable battery, external power plug (to keep
it charged from the ship's power).

OK..... tell me more. What class ham license do I need?

John Severyn
KLVK Livermore, Ca.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Fairly simple. The (2m) tracking unit has a small gps that feeds
digital signals to the attached transmitter. The signals include
latitude, longitude, speed, altitude, direction and are picked up by a
host of volunteer ham towers - digital repeaters and/or iGates. That
info is transferred to internet servers and you can easily see the
results on a Google (or other type) map on places like www.findu.com -
simplicity itself for users. I suggest that you pay another $15/yr for
a private website YourPlaneName.com where your relatives or FAA can go
to find the latest tracking.

A lot of automobile users use the system so their wives can tell where
they are (hmm?) . But their signals are often blocked by terrain. The
best performance is from aircraft - any ham digi or igate tower within
couple of hundred miles can see the signal. I have flown cross country
- remote areas - and there is rarely a break in 1 or 2 minute
reporting intervals.

Are you still gawking around. Memorize answers to some 100 ham
questions, pay the $20? fee and get a APRS tracker. It may save your
life.