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Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 00:09:26 -0500
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From: Tom Thibault <tthibaultsprint@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Tom Thibault <tthibaultsprint@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: WXWORX
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I also have a Fujitsu 4121 Tablet PC.  The size of the PC works fine for me=
 in a 360, but my wife is very accommodating.  Daylight readability is grea=
t.  The brighter the sun is the better.  I regularly fly at 13-17.5 Kft and=
 have once been at FL190 without any disk problem.  Wonder if the Fujitsu d=
rive is a little more tolerant than Motion PCs?

This is combined with BT WxWorx and BT GPS recvrs using the WxWorx OnWings =
S/W and Flight Prep ChartCase Standard Ed.  GPSGate S/W simulates the requi=
red two GPS inputs for the applications.  I much prefer OnWings display of =
weather data compared to ChartCase Pro (which I have used also).  The Pro d=
isplay has very low contrast colors to depict NEXRAD and IR SAT, so they ar=
e very hard to see.  OnWings is perfectly balanced, in my mind, between the=
 weather depiction colors and intensity vs. the vector map background.

The only problems are getting the BT connections established before the app=
lications run.  Once connected, BT is no problem.  Usually starting the XML=
ink S/W (before starting OnWings) finds and connects to the WxWorx Rcvr.  S=
ometimes it won't.  Then you have to "explore" the BT connections and try t=
o "connect" there first.  Sometimes that S/W will even tell you to re-do th=
e password "pairing" before connecting OK.  I did have to go to the BT card=
 manufacturer=E2=80=99s web site to get the latest BT device drivers before=
 things worked this well.  Before that, good BT connections were less than =
50% on the first try.

The GPS connection behaves similarly.  Usually GPSGate finds the BT GPS jus=
t fine, other times you explore BT connections like with the WxWorx.  I alm=
ost never have the BT connection drop later on.  The Holux BT GPS is a litt=
le orientation sensitive in the cockpit.  It will drop the satellites and m=
oving it around will bring them back.  Meanwhile my Garmin 430 never breaks=
 lock unless I am in a NOTAMed outage area.

Overall, I am very happy with this setup.  At most, it costs me 2-3 minutes=
 to get the WxWorx connection going after engine start.  This is because th=
e receiver is avionics bus powered and that bus is off during engine start.=
  Since the GPS is battery backed up, that connection happens before engine=
 start.

Tom