eastmeg2

It might well be worth asking the Aussie importer for a revised price, since last time we asked AUD = 0.45 GBP approx and it's now about GBP 0.60

Hi IB,

What you suggest in post #264 is what I tried with my cheap chinese 4.3" GPS which is basically a touch-screen PDA running windows CE6.0 with a GPS built in.

It turned out the 4.0GB SD card had some sort of copywrite protection. Not only could I not back it up onto my PC (although at first it appeared I did as all the folders appeared in the backup destination, its just that they were empty), but I also could not write OziExplorerCE onto the 4GB SD card even though it had more than 2GB of free space. My futile attempts eventually corrupted the card and I had to order a replacement SD card from the eBay vendor for $40 to be able to continue using it as a road GPS.

In the end I have to swap cards to change from road to aviation use or vice versa. Just something to be aware of, unless you have the hack for the road GPS card.

Cheers,

Glen

Here's a couple of shots of the Buzzard radio installation I took on the weekend. I don't think I'll be fitting much more onto the panel. There's a matchbox-sized microphone pre-amp velcroed and cable tied to the side of the radio behind the panel. and I suspect it's the source of the oscillation.

I've seen i couple of Airborne SST's with similar antenna mountings on their keel tube extensions.

Panel still looks a bit untidy as I'll be modifying the gain in the mike pre-amp as soon as I can get some more bits from Jaycar and make another visit. Then I put the trim around the edges again.

Cheers,

Glen

I forgot to mention that the volume of the modulated oscillation remained constant when I adjusted the radio volume during transmission - so it's potentially an issue with the microphone pre-amp I'm using, which I'm going to lower the gain on at the next opportunity.

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your thoughts, there are photo's of the keel extension and aerial in post #8 of this thread.

I'll see how I go with grounding it and go from there.

I've finally gotten around to installing the Microair in the instrument panel of the Buzzard and the Antenna on the keel extension.

It receives fine, but produces a modulated oscillation when transmitting. I suspect it's due to the keel extension not being very well connected electrically to the rest of the wing, producing a very poor ground plane. It seemed to improved when the motor was started but never completely went away - I suspect due to engine vibrations intermittently improving the electrical connection of the keel extension.

Len, I saw a keel extension mounted aerial on your trike but not sure if I remember if you did anything special to earth your keel extension tube, or am I imagining.

Cheers,

Glen

Seemed like a case of "Writing Under the Influence", of some substance that started hitting his brain cell (singular) half way down the 2nd column. ;-(

Isn't WingTech a separate company that makes all the sails for Airborne HG's & Trikes?

If you could get the sail detailed design from P&M they might be able to make one up for you.

I've had a GRS450 on my trike for about 5 years now.

There was some wise advice in the manual, "treat like a loaded gun". Then a good analogy could be, would you go hiking in Alaska without a firearm?

I'm personally not satisfied with RAAus fatal crash reports, both in 3-axis and trikes (This sentence is self-moderated and very truncated, have seen a friend take off on a flight he didn't complete - even though a BRS was fitted).

The areas I regularly fly over don't always have really big open paddocks within glide.

So the GRS has been considered a good insurance policy, though one that needs to be treated with respect. When it expires I'll finally be able to answer the question most asked, "have you tested it yet?"

Cheers,

Glen

Another way to be legal with 3 POB in RAAus is for one of them not to be born yet.

Here are a few of my favourites in order. Remember that you will have to pay GST on the purchase price PLUS Freight.

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North Wing Design · Quality Light Sport Aircraft, Weight Shift Control Ultralight Trikes & Wings, Hang Gliders

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The POV camera unit is great so if anyone out there knows of or can make a switching box I would appreciate your comments.

I assume your talking about camera selection by "switching box". If you are, I have used a video switch box in the past and it worked great. They typically switch the connector on one side to any one of 3 or 4 connectors on the other side. I velcroed mine to the inside floor of the pod on my trike.

They can be had for $10-$20 from Dick Smith, Jaycar and probably anywhere that sells TV's like Harvey Norman, Big W, Kmart etc . . .

Cheers,

Glen

Should we be holding our collective breath?

:kboom:

Some of the photo's from last months fly-away to Murray Bridge.

Bluey,I take my hat off to you guys in Trikes. I don't know how you could possibly navigate with a map, rule and protractor in an open cockpit in smooth air let alone turbulence. How the hell do you plot a new heading in turbulence, you can't hold the bar between your legs while you work it out. You must have been exhausted just hanging on to the bar without trying to do anything else.

It's true that it's just not practical to have loose items like rulers and protractors in an open cockpit enviroment, but we can at least have access to maps and ERSA pages in our kneeboards which can still be glanced even while the control bar is going the full 12 rounds.:black_eye:

There are knee-boards in the Clear-Prop shop, though I use the one from Punkinhead.

Accessories Cont..

I have even slipped my Slarti-aviation-converted-automotive-GPS into the front sleeve as a backup GPS on one occasion.

Cheers,

Glen

I don't own a 296, but it would surprise me if it wasn't easy to add your own airfields from the safe file as Slarti uses, which most likely is almost identical to the one I use in my hiking GPS.

Hi Bluey,

That's great to hear that you made it somewhere and am still here to tell the story. I've had GPS's fail on two occasions while flying trikes x-country but fortunately had other navigation means I could revert to in both instances.

While we can't always rely on GPS's, it's nice to know that if we do encounter low cloud blocking our way there's a "Find Nearest" button to list distance and bearing to the 20 or so nearest airports. Slarti's converted Automotive units can do it too but it's not the same single press of a button as on a Garmin 296. In favour of Slarti's units though his list of Australian airstrip waypoints is more comprehensive than the Jeppesen database in the Garmin.

I was also flying my trike out of Cootamundra on Friday & Saturday on the Easter weekend as a base for flying to Temora and some other flying we did. Just wondering if we met at Cootamundra. . .

Cheers,

Glen

It was nearly even, but I see I've extended the lead for "Natfly".

I think that "Aus-Kosh" would project the image of larger GA and up type aircraft whereas Natfly is about the recreational end of the spectrum and run by RAAus.

Natfly is enough of a success to make its own name without having to borrow from somewhere else.

Hi Tomo,

Reading your post #6, it sounds more like you encountered a headwind gust rather than a thermal and it was the extra airspeed that provided the extra lift rather than any rising air. Seeing your ASI spike like yours did is the usual giveaway for the gust rather than lift scenario. I'm a bit suprised that none of the glider pilots have pointed this out yet since they aim for total energy management.

Then there are other tricky things to try to work out, like whether the turbulence you're experiencing is due to thermals, terrain or wind sheer.

Cheers,

Glen

Hmmmm that is interesting as I've experienced something like that with my (nearly) 2 year old P series Micro M760, but so far its always come good again after a short time or a reboot on the couple of occasions it occurred.

As I'll be away flying ALL next week I think I'll take a spare with me. (JR's old Microair M760)

Somewhere in the past I'd gotten the impression that you could not register more than one wing with your trike under RAAus and that only HGFA would accommodate this.

Does anyone have more than one wing registered with their trike under RAAus?

Also, RAAus seemed rather adverse to swapping wings between your trikes even if all the trike/wing combinations are manufacturer approved.

Hi Alf,

Congrats on ordering your new wing. I've not flown an SST yet and maybe I shouldn't since my S3 has only 180hrs on it and for the time being I'm happy to "chug" along at 60-65kts or fly my Wizard-3 Tundra Outback Buzzard 503 at 35kts.

I've just upgraded my XT to a Mark-2 on the weekend by fitting a disk brake upgrade kit from Airborne. You might want to do the same. It does cost a few $k's but includes all the new rear undercarriage struts to replace the Mark-1 items and other up to date goodies.

Cheers,

Glen

I'm in a syndicate in a 2 seater and own my own single seater.

In this Americas Cup it was much more about the design of the boats, or rather the sails. Alinghi never stood much of a chance with its conventional sails against the Wing Sail of it competitor. Winged keel ain't nothin compared to that.

Hi Ozzie,We just have a sticker about 40mm square with the HGFA logo printed on it and the reg number and due date written in pen. It is stuck on the dash.

I haven't said anything cause I'm not RAAus but I don't see the need for stick on pouches in special spots, it has been said that the way police do it would cost too much, well why can't the person/persons charged with the job of making sure rego's are correct sit at the airfield with a lap top reading the (easily legible from a distance) reg numbers, type them in and see if the details for that number match the aircraft and that it is current. No great cost there and they probably already have the laptop anyway.

 

Regards Bill

My HGFA Rego sticker must have been written up by HGFA with a whiteboard marker. As soon as I touched it the writing came off on my fingers. With that in mind I couldn't see the point sticking it on the trike and I haven't seen any directive from HGFA making it mandatory, yet. For the other trike the writing didn't come off when touched so I have attached it to the trike.

I suppose I could re-write the first one with permanent marker, though it's hardly fool-proof as one could write whatever date one wants . . .

:kboom:

Cheers,

Glen