OLC - Action Needed

So how come OLC is rejecting my Volkslogger files? No Cambridges in my
cockpit.

Mike

Mike the Strike wrote:
So how come OLC is rejecting my Volkslogger files? No Cambridges in my
cockpit.

Mike

Because your file doesn't pass the validity check. I downloaded and ran
vali-gcs on it, and it gives the same message you see on the OLC. Either
one of your computers hiccupped, or your Volkslogger is homesick and
wants a trip back to Germany.

-Dave
ZL

Mike the Strike wrote:
So how come OLC is rejecting my Volkslogger files? No Cambridges in my
cockpit.

Question: What type of download are you using? The Garrecht
Volkslogger is a late 1990s design when processor speed and memory size
were not as easy to obtain cheaply as they are today. Therefore
Garrecht proposed two types of data download, a rapid one that had
little or no security encoding and a slower one that has IGC-standard
public/private key encoding embedded in the downloaded IGC file. The
IGC GFA Committee rather reluctantly accepted this, mainly to make it
quicker to deal with downloading in large gliding competitions. The
IGC-approval document for the Volkslogger says:

2.4. Data Transfer from the FR to a PC
The DATA-GCS.EXE file menu provides two modes of transfer, a "Test"
mode and a "High Security" mode. Only the High Security mode
provides the electronic security signature which is required for
validation of FAI/IGC record and badge flights. Data transferred by the
"Test" mode will not be accepted for such flights, and it will not
pass the VALI check (para 5), although competition organizers may allow
it for competition flights where rapid data transfer rather than
security is a priority in well-supervised centralized competitions.

--------- end of extract ----------

Two points:

(1) With the increased availability of cheap rapid processors (as
spin-off from the games industry), non-IGC security is no longer
allowed in an IGC-approved recorder. The Garrecht system above is
therefore a one-off, reflecting the conditions in April 1998 when the
IGC-approval was originally issued.

(2) Not being part of the OLC organisation, I do not know whether they
ask for Volkslogger flights to have the IGC security standard or not.
However, without it the free VALI-GCS.exe validation program will
reject the flight data file concerned.

Ian Strachan
Chairman IGC GFA Committee

Thanks for the comments, Ian. I am aware of the two modes and use the
fast unsecure method for casual flights. I have been using ConnectMe
to download secure logs from my Volkslogger since participating in the
OLC and have previously had no problems. In this case, there does
appear to be a problem with my file and maybe the issue is not the OLC.

It is frustrating, though, having made a great flight and having to
spend longer downloading and fixing the log than the flight time!
Clearly the security issues are causing more problems than they were
designed to prevent. Like many other glider pilots, I wonder how many
bogus logs there are and even if it would be possible to get away with
one, given so many people watching the forum?

Mike

It is interesting that the OLC page shows a flight yesterday by Andrej
Kolar (the SeeYou guy) at Ridge Soaring, and it has the red mark, with
the explanation that the Volkslogger file failed security. If Andrej
gets red marks, what hope do the rest of us have?


Mike the Strike wrote:
Thanks for the comments, Ian. I am aware of the two modes and use the
fast unsecure method for casual flights. I have been using ConnectMe
to download secure logs from my Volkslogger since participating in the
OLC and have previously had no problems. In this case, there does
appear to be a problem with my file and maybe the issue is not the OLC.

It is frustrating, though, having made a great flight and having to
spend longer downloading and fixing the log than the flight time!
Clearly the security issues are causing more problems than they were
designed to prevent. Like many other glider pilots, I wonder how many
bogus logs there are and even if it would be possible to get away with
one, given so many people watching the forum?

Mike

Yes - it looks like he has the same problem as me! At least he has an
incentive to fix it now!

Mike

No Andrej is testing a problem we found with this particular log file.
Because the claim time window has psassed, he had to deliberaly hack
the date to test it.

This shows one of the reasons why the security check is important. I
think many people are questioning the need for security checks because
it is hard to imagine someone going to all the trouble to completely
fabricate a flight log. That would be very difficult, and it would take
a very sick mind to do something like this. But it is not that hard to
imaging someone taking a little creative license by "fixing" an
airspace bust, or some other "minor" problem in the flight log. It is
also possible to take an old log and recycle it, especially if it was
never claimed to OLC before.

Without the security check, deception like this would be completely
undetectable. In this case, the security checks worked, and the hacked
file was red flagged.

"Mike the Strike" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the comments, Ian. I am aware of the two modes and use the
fast unsecure method for casual flights. I have been using ConnectMe
to download secure logs from my Volkslogger since participating in the
OLC and have previously had no problems. In this case, there does
appear to be a problem with my file and maybe the issue is not the OLC.

It is frustrating, though, having made a great flight and having to
spend longer downloading and fixing the log than the flight time!
Clearly the security issues are causing more problems than they were
designed to prevent. Like many other glider pilots, I wonder how many
bogus logs there are and even if it would be possible to get away with
one, given so many people watching the forum?

Mike


Mike, as I mentioned in another post, I just bought a new and expensive
($70) high-speed serial port card for my new winXP desktop. Secure
Volkslogger files now download in seconds using SeeYou and no problems (so
far) with the OLC.

Bill Daniels.

Hi Bill,

I must be missing something. If the VL has its comm port set to 4800 baud,
or even 19,200 baud, how can a high speed comm port speed up downloads? My
experience with RS-232 serial communications is that 4800 to 19200 baud is
about as fast as it can go without errors, depending on the cable length.
Sync-serial communications can be much faster but most devices don't support
that. I'm very curious.

Sincerely,

Paul Remde

"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote in message
...

"Mike the Strike" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the comments, Ian. I am aware of the two modes and use the
fast unsecure method for casual flights. I have been using ConnectMe
to download secure logs from my Volkslogger since participating in the
OLC and have previously had no problems. In this case, there does
appear to be a problem with my file and maybe the issue is not the OLC.

It is frustrating, though, having made a great flight and having to
spend longer downloading and fixing the log than the flight time!
Clearly the security issues are causing more problems than they were
designed to prevent. Like many other glider pilots, I wonder how many
bogus logs there are and even if it would be possible to get away with
one, given so many people watching the forum?

Mike


Mike, as I mentioned in another post, I just bought a new and expensive
($70) high-speed serial port card for my new winXP desktop. Secure
Volkslogger files now download in seconds using SeeYou and no problems (so
far) with the OLC.

Bill Daniels.

I set SeeYou parameters on 'AUTO' and my flight downloaded quickly with no
problems. I'm no expert on serial communications so I don't know the actual
baud rate. Possibly the card and SeeYou self-optimized the comm rate. The
manual that came with the "CyberPro PCI 2S" serial port card isn't very
helpful in answering your question.

Bill Daniels

"Paul Remde" wrote in message
news:_79%f.94947$oL.27242@attbi_s71...
Hi Bill,

I must be missing something. If the VL has its comm port set to 4800
baud, or even 19,200 baud, how can a high speed comm port speed up
downloads? My experience with RS-232 serial communications is that 4800
to 19200 baud is about as fast as it can go without errors, depending on
the cable length. Sync-serial communications can be much faster but most
devices don't support that. I'm very curious.

Sincerely,

Paul Remde

"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote in message
...

"Mike the Strike" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the comments, Ian. I am aware of the two modes and use the
fast unsecure method for casual flights. I have been using ConnectMe
to download secure logs from my Volkslogger since participating in the
OLC and have previously had no problems. In this case, there does
appear to be a problem with my file and maybe the issue is not the OLC.

It is frustrating, though, having made a great flight and having to
spend longer downloading and fixing the log than the flight time!
Clearly the security issues are causing more problems than they were
designed to prevent. Like many other glider pilots, I wonder how many
bogus logs there are and even if it would be possible to get away with
one, given so many people watching the forum?

Mike


Mike, as I mentioned in another post, I just bought a new and expensive
($70) high-speed serial port card for my new winXP desktop. Secure
Volkslogger files now download in seconds using SeeYou and no problems
(so far) with the OLC.

Bill Daniels.