Volkslogger Question

"Ray Lovinggood" wrote...
Upon downloading the flight log, I found only the aero-retrieve
was logged and not the 'lawn-dart' flight that got
me to the place where I needed to be recovered from.
In both cases, there was plenty of memory available
because with a four second recording interval, the
memory is somewhat over eight hours. The recorder
was never on for that amount of time.

What software did you use to download the flight?

Marc

I used the 'VL to IGC' software from Henry Bilecki
(sp?) to download from the VL to a Compaq Aero 1520.

Ray

At 14:42 24 September 2003, Marc Ramsey wrote:
'Ray Lovinggood' wrote...
Upon downloading the flight log, I found only the
aero-retrieve
was logged and not the 'lawn-dart' flight that got
me to the place where I needed to be recovered from.
In both cases, there was plenty of memory available
because with a four second recording interval, the
memory is somewhat over eight hours. The recorder
was never on for that amount of time.

What software did you use to download the flight?

Marc

"Ray Lovinggood" wrote...
I used the 'VL to IGC' software from Henry Bilecki
(sp?) to download from the VL to a Compaq Aero 1520.

Henryk writes some fine code, but I would suggest that if you are having a
problem downloading logs from an approved flight recorder, you should try the
manufacturers software, or the short programs that can be found on the FAI web
site at:

http://www.fai.org/gliding/gnss/freeware.asp

Marc

I didn't say I was having a problem downloading the
file. I'm wondering what happened to the 'gliding'
portion of the recorded data. Even when I bring the
Volkslogger home and use my desktop confuser and Stre
Pla, the only file I see recorded on the unit is the
aero retrieve.

Where is the soaring flight data?

Ray


At 15:30 24 September 2003, Marc Ramsey wrote:

'Ray Lovinggood' wrote...
I used the 'VL to IGC' software from Henry Bilecki
(sp?) to download from the VL to a Compaq Aero 1520.

Henryk writes some fine code, but I would suggest that
if you are having a
problem downloading logs from an approved flight recorder,
you should try the
manufacturers software, or the short programs that
can be found on the FAI web
site at:

http://www.fai.org/gliding/gnss/freeware.asp

Marc

"Ray Lovinggood" wrote...
I didn't say I was having a problem downloading the
file. I'm wondering what happened to the 'gliding'
portion of the recorded data. Even when I bring the
Volkslogger home and use my desktop confuser and Stre
Pla, the only file I see recorded on the unit is the
aero retrieve.

Where is the soaring flight data?

Possibilities:

1. Soaring flight data is in the VL, but for some reason is not being downloaded
by third party software (and StrePla is third party software).
2. Soaring flight data is in the file you have, but is not being displayed by
StrePla (or whatever software you are using).
3. Soaring flight data is in a separate flight data file that has not been
downloaded.
4. You cleared the memory prior to retrieve.
5. There is a bug in the VL firmware.

I'd be happy to try to help out. I suggest you obtain the short download
programs from the FAI website, make sure you download everything in the VL, and
send whatever you get to me via email.

Marc

Thanks,

I'll try to download sometime this week with the DOS
program that came with the VL. I believe it is the
IGC-approved software. If not, I'll download it and
try it. The only reason I use Stre Pla at home is
that I have NEVER gotten the desktop (using Windows
Me) to communicate with the VL. Nor have I gotten
a notebook, with Windows 98 Second Edition, to communicate
via the DOS program. The Stre Pla works like a champ.
I also bought Paul Crabb's software for uploading
waypoints, and it works fine, too.

If the weather permits flying this coming weekend,
I'll make a short pattern flight, than relaunch. I
might do this sequence a couple of times. I wonder
if the VL overwrites a file if the power is not switched
off. If the VL detects two takeoffs, does it save
only the latest file? Now, I can see that a separate
file should be created if power is turned off and then
back on again.

But, if I wouldn't land out and get an aero-retrieve,
there wouldn't be a question!

Ray

At 16:54 24 September 2003, Marc Ramsey wrote:

'Ray Lovinggood' wrote...
I didn't say I was having a problem downloading the
file. I'm wondering what happened to the 'gliding'
portion of the recorded data. Even when I bring the
Volkslogger home and use my desktop confuser and Stre
Pla, the only file I see recorded on the unit is the
aero retrieve.

Where is the soaring flight data?

Possibilities:

1. Soaring flight data is in the VL, but for some reason
is not being downloaded
by third party software (and StrePla is third party
software).
2. Soaring flight data is in the file you have, but
is not being displayed by
StrePla (or whatever software you are using).
3. Soaring flight data is in a separate flight data
file that has not been
downloaded.
4. You cleared the memory prior to retrieve.
5. There is a bug in the VL firmware.

I'd be happy to try to help out. I suggest you obtain
the short download
programs from the FAI website, make sure you download
everything in the VL, and
send whatever you get to me via email.

Marc

Hi Ray,

I agree with Marc's assessment. The data for both flights must still be in
the Volkslogger and it is just the software that is either not retrieving it
or not displaying it.

I wonder
if the VL overwrites a file if the power is not switched
off. If the VL detects two takeoffs, does it save
only the latest file?

The VL is a relatively "dumb" logger and does not detect take off's etc. It
writes one file as long as it is turned on. If it gets turned off and on
again, it starts a new file. It never overwrites anything in its memory. If
the memory is full it just stops recording.

I am using SeeYou to download my VL and I noticed that the software makes an
intelligent choice of what is a flight and what not. It is quite
conceiveable that Strepla looks at the file and determines that the "Flight"
is the section of data between the take-off and the last landing.
Downloading through the VL software should get you the entire file.

Have fun,

JS

Joerg Stieber wrote:
The VL is a relatively "dumb" logger and does not detect take off's etc. It
writes one file as long as it is turned on. If it gets turned off and on
again, it starts a new file. It never overwrites anything in its memory. If
the memory is full it just stops recording.

If this is the case, you can check that. Open the .igc file with notepad
and you will see something similar to:


B0910175243051N01031574EA0000000089
B0910255243051N01031575EA0000000089
B0910335243051N01031576EA0000000090
B0910415243051N01031575EA0000000091
B0910495243051N01031575EA0000000096
B0910575243051N01031575EA0000000096
B0911055243050N01031575EA0000000096
B0911135243050N01031574EA0000000097
B0911215243050N01031574EA0000000096
B0911295243050N01031574EA0000000096

A line that starts with "B", but others exist, is a log of one point.
The B lines above show a log at 09:10:17 hrs, 09:10:25 hrs, etc. So in a
B line, character 2 to 7 displays the time of the log. This way you can
manually inspect, and be 100% sure, which moments in time are logged.

The complete format is documented at www.igc.org,

David
NL

Ray,

Did you turn power off while you were waiting for your tow plane to arrive?
If not then it should all be on the same log file. If you did turn it off
there should be 2 flight logs. If you have trouble give me a call. Sen dme
an e-mail at home and I will give you my new phone number here in DC.


Harold Ennulat
ENTEC

"Ray Lovinggood" wrote in message
...
Thanks,

I'll try to download sometime this week with the DOS
program that came with the VL. I believe it is the
IGC-approved software. If not, I'll download it and
try it. The only reason I use Stre Pla at home is
that I have NEVER gotten the desktop (using Windows
Me) to communicate with the VL. Nor have I gotten
a notebook, with Windows 98 Second Edition, to communicate
via the DOS program. The Stre Pla works like a champ.
I also bought Paul Crabb's software for uploading
waypoints, and it works fine, too.

If the weather permits flying this coming weekend,
I'll make a short pattern flight, than relaunch. I
might do this sequence a couple of times. I wonder
if the VL overwrites a file if the power is not switched
off. If the VL detects two takeoffs, does it save
only the latest file? Now, I can see that a separate
file should be created if power is turned off and then
back on again.

But, if I wouldn't land out and get an aero-retrieve,
there wouldn't be a question!

Ray

At 16:54 24 September 2003, Marc Ramsey wrote:

'Ray Lovinggood' wrote...
I didn't say I was having a problem downloading the
file. I'm wondering what happened to the 'gliding'
portion of the recorded data. Even when I bring the
Volkslogger home and use my desktop confuser and Stre
Pla, the only file I see recorded on the unit is the
aero retrieve.

Where is the soaring flight data?

Possibilities:

1. Soaring flight data is in the VL, but for some reason
is not being downloaded
by third party software (and StrePla is third party
software).
2. Soaring flight data is in the file you have, but
is not being displayed by
StrePla (or whatever software you are using).
3. Soaring flight data is in a separate flight data
file that has not been
downloaded.
4. You cleared the memory prior to retrieve.
5. There is a bug in the VL firmware.

I'd be happy to try to help out. I suggest you obtain
the short download
programs from the FAI website, make sure you download
everything in the VL, and
send whatever you get to me via email.

Marc

On 24 Sep 2003 12:54:11 GMT, Ray Lovinggood
wrote:

Volklogger Users:

I've flown with a Volkslogger for two seasons now and
only recently had two flights where I landed out and
got an aero-retrieve. While on the ground, I did not
cut the power to the Volkslogger.

Upon downloading the flight log, I found only the aero-retrieve
was logged and not the 'lawn-dart' flight that got
me to the place where I needed to be recovered from.
In both cases, there was plenty of memory available
because with a four second recording interval, the
memory is somewhat over eight hours. The recorder
was never on for that amount of time.

Assuming I didn't do anything stupid (big assumption)
like CLEAR MEMORY of the recorder while waiting on
the towplane, why did the recorder only give me the
aero-retrieve flight?

Thanks for any advice,

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
LS (DG?) 1d, 'W8'




Ray,

There is a software switch in the VL DOS software that doesn't show
short flights. You can set this to all flights.

I'm not sure if Strepla does this.

Maybe the power got interrupted long enough during ground roll in the
fileld(loose connection?) so that the first short flight wasn't shown.

You can get the VL DOS software to run in ME by booting in safe mode.
ME's help files aren't much help as they appear to be the same as Win
98 and didn't get changed, at least in the one case I saw.
The VL DOS software may run better booted in DOS than in a DOS box
under Windows where I have seen communications problems.

Mike Borgelt