PIREP: WxWorx w/Bluetooth

As some of you know, I run a Fujitsu ST4121 tablet PC in my plane, and
use it to display moving map software as well as XM/WxWorx radar.

I had grown tired of cables dangling from the tablet, so when WxWorx
offered a Bluetooth upgrade to their receiver, I went for it.

To support the Bluetooth upgrade I also order a Garmin GPS10 Bluetooth
GPS receiver and a Belkin PCMCIA carrier/compact Flash card to add BT
to the tablet.

Before ordering I was a bit concerned about how BT would integrate and
pull the data into the applications. Fortunately, Bluetooth has a
serial port emulation mode, so the bluetooth devices appear as COM
ports to the applications running on the PC, which is exactly how the
GPS and USB based WxWorx receivers operated.

As a communications path is established to the BT device, the Belkin
driver assigns a virtual COM port number to the device. In my case,
these happen to start at COM8. So as long as I always turn the GPS on
first, it will be assigned COM8. The WxWorx receiver is then assigned
COM9 as I turn it on 2nd.

WxWorx's XMLink software works perfectly with the BT connection, as
does my moving map SW.

My tablet PC has a 3+ hr battery life, so I can actually go completely
wireless to the tablet on shorter flights.

So far it appears to be a worthwhile investment... Next step - I need
to decide the best way to eliminate the massive array of cigarette
plugs in the plane.

-Nathan