Standalone Flight Recorders for Club Use

I am the electronics maintainence chairman for my glider club. As
the club members interests in cross country soaring grew, I was tasked
with creating a flight recorder that everyone could use in our club
ships. While the club had several mechanical barographs, they were
deemed not viable as they were difficult to use and needed to be
calibrated once a year. Therefore some form of electronic flight
recorder was to be used. The goals were;

- Simple to use. Turn it on, mount it and forget it.
- Simple to download log files.
- Self contained, self powered and portable for use in multiple
gliders.
- Ruggedized so that normal use by pilots with a variety of skill
levels would not easily damage the unit.

I came up with one design in 2006 based on the Cambridge 302A and
another design in 2007 based on the new EW Microrecorder.

See http://geocities.com/jhderosa/aviati...recorders.html for
details and pictures.

Fly Safe!

- John "67R" DeRosa

What is the cost of the smaller unit? Where are they available?

Mike Schumann

"ContestID67" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am the electronics maintainence chairman for my glider club. As
the club members interests in cross country soaring grew, I was tasked
with creating a flight recorder that everyone could use in our club
ships. While the club had several mechanical barographs, they were
deemed not viable as they were difficult to use and needed to be
calibrated once a year. Therefore some form of electronic flight
recorder was to be used. The goals were;

- Simple to use. Turn it on, mount it and forget it.
- Simple to download log files.
- Self contained, self powered and portable for use in multiple
gliders.
- Ruggedized so that normal use by pilots with a variety of skill
levels would not easily damage the unit.

I came up with one design in 2006 based on the Cambridge 302A and
another design in 2007 based on the new EW Microrecorder.

See http://geocities.com/jhderosa/aviati...recorders.html for
details and pictures.

Fly Safe!

- John "67R" DeRosa




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Please note that the link to the EW Avionics on the site is now
incorrect. The correct address is http://www.ewavionics.com
Graham
EW Avionics

Glider Pilot Network wrote:

----------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup: rec.aviation.soaring
Subject: Standalone Flight Recorders for Club Use
Author: Mike Schumann
Date/Time: 21:10 20 April 2007
------------------------------------------------------------
What is the cost of the smaller unit? Where are they available?

Mike Schumann

"ContestID67" wrote in message
oups.com...


I am the electronics maintainence chairman for my glider club. As
the club members interests in cross country soaring grew, I was tasked
with creating a flight recorder that everyone could use in our club
ships. While the club had several mechanical barographs, they were
deemed not viable as they were difficult to use and needed to be
calibrated once a year. Therefore some form of electronic flight
recorder was to be used. The goals were;

- Simple to use. Turn it on, mount it and forget it.
- Simple to download log files.
- Self contained, self powered and portable for use in multiple
gliders.
- Ruggedized so that normal use by pilots with a variety of skill
levels would not easily damage the unit.

I came up with one design in 2006 based on the Cambridge 302A and
another design in 2007 based on the new EW Microrecorder.

See http://geocities.com/jhderosa/aviati...recorders.html for
details and pictures.

Fly Safe!

- John "67R" DeRosa










--

Hi Mike,

The EW microRecorders sell for $795. I have them in stock just a few miles
from you. It is a great little logger.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"Mike Schumann" wrote in message
.. .
What is the cost of the smaller unit? Where are they available?

Mike Schumann

"ContestID67" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am the electronics maintainence chairman for my glider club. As
the club members interests in cross country soaring grew, I was tasked
with creating a flight recorder that everyone could use in our club
ships. While the club had several mechanical barographs, they were
deemed not viable as they were difficult to use and needed to be
calibrated once a year. Therefore some form of electronic flight
recorder was to be used. The goals were;

- Simple to use. Turn it on, mount it and forget it.
- Simple to download log files.
- Self contained, self powered and portable for use in multiple
gliders.
- Ruggedized so that normal use by pilots with a variety of skill
levels would not easily damage the unit.

I came up with one design in 2006 based on the Cambridge 302A and
another design in 2007 based on the new EW Microrecorder.

See http://geocities.com/jhderosa/aviati...recorders.html for
details and pictures.

Fly Safe!

- John "67R" DeRosa




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

The Tucson Soaring Club recently purchased two of the EW units and are
very impressed with them. I haven't personally flown with one yet but
they seem to be ideal for club environments, and set the standard for
ease of use.

We have been flying with the microRecorder for a few flights now and
have these comments;

1) The antenna needs a good clear view of the sky. I put the antenna
under my turtledeck in my fiberglass glider and found that I missed a
few GPS fixes during the flight. Nothing major and wouldn't have
invalidated the flight. No problems when I mounted the antenna to the
canopy. This problem did not occur on the Cambridge-302A version so I
can only imagine that the EW GPS receiver isn't quite as sensitive as
the Cambridge.

2) I was using the defaults for the configuration. After two flights
separated by 20-30 mins I found that there was only one log file
(which contained both flights). I am unsure if this could be a
problem for multiple flights with different pilots. Looking into this
I found that there was a 90 min auto-off timer. I reset this to 10
mins.

Otherwise the unit is working out well.

- John

I would concur with John. I have the antenna on top of the EWMR and
that sits behind my head (under fiberglass) in my 19. Has worked just
fine there so far. One thing about the auto-off timer though. I was
down at Perry at the XC Camp. We were gridded and I was near the
back. I turned the unit on so that I wouldn't forget to do it once
strapped in. However, I sat in the grid for longer than 30 minutes
(which is the default value) and the unit shutoff (as it should). I
didn't notice and when I came back, no log file. Luckily I had the
one from SoarPilot so all was right with the world. :-) Just
something to keep in mind.

Later!

-Mark
On Apr 23, 10:51 am, ContestID67 wrote:
We have been flying with the microRecorder for a few flights now and
have these comments;

1) The antenna needs a good clear view of the sky. I put the antenna
under my turtledeck in my fiberglass glider and found that I missed a
few GPS fixes during the flight. Nothing major and wouldn't have
invalidated the flight. No problems when I mounted the antenna to the
canopy. This problem did not occur on the Cambridge-302A version so I
can only imagine that the EW GPS receiver isn't quite as sensitive as
the Cambridge.

2) I was using the defaults for the configuration. After two flights
separated by 20-30 mins I found that there was only one log file
(which contained both flights). I am unsure if this could be a
problem for multiple flights with different pilots. Looking into this
I found that there was a 90 min auto-off timer. I reset this to 10
mins.

Otherwise the unit is working out well.

- John

John,
I sent an email direct to you but my guess is that it got lost as
spam. Do you have a source for those nify lexan boxes you have for
the EWMR on your webpage? Our club is getting one as well and that
would be a nice thing to have. The surgical tubing idea is VERY good
as well.

Thanks for the info.

-Mark
On Apr 23, 10:51 am, ContestID67 wrote:
We have been flying with the microRecorder for a few flights now and
have these comments;

1) The antenna needs a good clear view of the sky. I put the antenna
under my turtledeck in my fiberglass glider and found that I missed a
few GPS fixes during the flight. Nothing major and wouldn't have
invalidated the flight. No problems when I mounted the antenna to the
canopy. This problem did not occur on the Cambridge-302A version so I
can only imagine that the EW GPS receiver isn't quite as sensitive as
the Cambridge.

2) I was using the defaults for the configuration. After two flights
separated by 20-30 mins I found that there was only one log file
(which contained both flights). I am unsure if this could be a
problem for multiple flights with different pilots. Looking into this
I found that there was a 90 min auto-off timer. I reset this to 10
mins.

Otherwise the unit is working out well.

- John

Hi John,

I don't recommend setting the auto-off timer to 10 minutes. It may turn-off
while you are waiting for an aerotow. I recommend a much longer time.

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"ContestID67" wrote in message
ups.com...
We have been flying with the microRecorder for a few flights now and
have these comments;

1) The antenna needs a good clear view of the sky. I put the antenna
under my turtledeck in my fiberglass glider and found that I missed a
few GPS fixes during the flight. Nothing major and wouldn't have
invalidated the flight. No problems when I mounted the antenna to the
canopy. This problem did not occur on the Cambridge-302A version so I
can only imagine that the EW GPS receiver isn't quite as sensitive as
the Cambridge.

2) I was using the defaults for the configuration. After two flights
separated by 20-30 mins I found that there was only one log file
(which contained both flights). I am unsure if this could be a
problem for multiple flights with different pilots. Looking into this
I found that there was a 90 min auto-off timer. I reset this to 10
mins.

Otherwise the unit is working out well.

- John