On May 7, 11:56*am, jeplane wrote:
OK, talk to me like I am a 4 year old:

From A to Z, what do I need to buy to be able to send my flight to
OLC? And how much am I looking at?
Thanks

Richard
Phoenix, AZ

First, stop hitting your sister and sit up straight.

Okay, now...

- For well under $100 you can have a logger that is acceptable to
the OLC. I'll assume for the moment you are NOT interested in FAI
badges or records.
- There are two general categories of cheap loggers:
* PDA based wherein you stick a GPS card into your IPAQ (or similar)
while running a program designed to provide you with some sort of
navigation and logging. Some of these programs are free. Some
aren't.
* Commercial Off The Shelf loggers designed for hiking, fishing,
etc. These are self-contained units that combine navigation, display,
and logging functions in one unit. These are typically the simplest
to use as they are designed for John Q. Public.
- Since there are proponents of both of the above, I'll just pick
COTS (since I use one); not suggesting that there aren't wonderful
PDA-based options.
- IF you go COTS, something like a Garmin GPSMAP76 on the used market
(e.g. eBay) can be had for around $75 or less.
- Learn how to use the Garmin to capture the log file. For the most
part, you just turn it on, and it records.
- Go fly somewhere.
- When you've finished a flight, you need to use a computer (I'll
avoid specifically saying "PC", as you could potentially use a MAC, a
mainframe, a VAX, iSeries, whatever)
- You typically need a special cable to connect the GPS to your
computer.
- You also need software running on the computer that knows how to
talk to the GPS. Two options that work with the Garmin example I'm
using:
* G7toWin is free. http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/
* SeeYou isn't free, but does lots of other cool stuff. http://www.naviter.si/
- If you use G7toWin, you will end up with an .IGC file on your
computer. Then, you would log-in to the OLC and manually submit the
flight following the instructions.
- If you use SeeYou, you can directly submit the flight from
SeeYou.

To summarize what you need for the COTS example:

- COTS GPS device with logging capability.
- Cable to connect GPS to computer (supplied by GPS manufacturer)
- Computer
- Software that knows how to talk to the GPS from your computer.

Now finish your vegetables and wash your hands.

P3