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Old October 23rd 08, 03:57 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Posts: 140
Default Broke Airline Pilot needs "stuff" for an ASW-15B

On Oct 22, 8:06*pm, wrote:
I need a:

1. GPS data logger thats contest worthy

2. PDA device and connections


Current US contest rules require "category 1" (IGC blessed) or
"category 2" (see the list) recorders except for sports regionals
where "category 3" recorders meaning just a pda software are allowed.
See the rules

http://www.ssa.org/files/member/Rules2008Regional.pdf

There is a proposal before the rules committee to allow some
Commercial Off The Shelf (typcially Garmin) units, plus G7towin or
similar software, as category 2 recorders. These would cost about $150
and seem to provide adequate security.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how long category 3 will last, even in
sports class. It's just too tempting to open the file with notepad,
elminate those two fixes in the restricted area, change a few
altitudes from 18101 feet to 17499 feet etc. Loggers that don't make a
G record, which can be too easily spoofed into making one on fake
data, or for which winscore can't verify security via DLLs may not
last long.

With that in mind, if you suspect you'll be in contest soaring for a
while, I'd recommend blowing the bucks on a category 1 or 2 recorder.
This will avoid what everyone else goes through, blowing 3 times the
money on a sequence of "cheap" alternatives that you then abandon.

Otherwise, I'd wait until December to see what the RC comes up with in
the ongoing logger saga.

John Cochrane BB