New Owner - advice on configuration

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Pehu
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by Pehu »

Octavian wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 2:41 pm I have checked ADL coverage. Just like garmin, it covers western and half of central europe.

Too bad about poor and expensive satellite connectivity. Having a tech company, it would be very tempting to install a directional 4G cell phone antenna outside the plane....but probably I would void the certification of the airplane and also still would not be very reliable over 10.000 feet and over large mountain areas.
I did contemplate on this option, but a friend who "knows his stuff" (read: antennas and mobile networks) said it is not going to work well. The ground antennas & transmitters are "aimed" horisontally to cover as big areas as possible, so the transmission doesn't work that well upwards. makes sense. Also the external 4G/LTE antennas are not that good it would seriously help in flight levels. Yes, you would get better coverage than without the external antenna, but the costs are not worth the gains here.

To my understanding you can add external antennas outside the plane if need be and there are some aviation antennas that could work nicely (and look good). At least you can put extra iridium antenna outside a DA40NG, that I know :)

The next gen internet is coming in the upcoming years, be it then starlink or some other technology. Or iridium next. Then you will have the speeds.
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ultraturtle »

Current Iridium satellite data is not as good as it's next generation replacement. True. But, that is the same truth of any technology. In its current form, it is tremendously useful and is relied upon by massive fleets of corporate and airline aircraft. It is incredibly reliable, and I have never had it fail, nor render slow speeds in any environment, including piloting a B777 over the Arctic Circle numerous times in the middle of winter. The replacement of the previous satellite constellation with NEXT has resulted in clearly observable improvements in communications from legacy devices. Anecdotally, my handheld sat phone calls have been distinctly clearer since the NEXT constellation replacement was completed over a year ago.

The reason cellular data antennas are not commercially available for aircraft is simply that cellular data is illegal for use above the surface of the earth. That's not to say that millions of pilots do not use it while airborne, just that it is illegal - and largely impractical if you are not within a couple thousand feet of the surface, and close to a dense population center.

The Garmin GSR 56 is the only current practical solution to integrate datalink weather information into the panel mounted G1000 NXi suite in which you are heavily invested. That its subscription costs significantly less per month for 10 hours (10 minute updates) of flying per month than an awkward external box and external display solution, while giving you the additional benefit of making and receiving 30 minutes of voice calls per month should make the less than 1% of your initial purchase cost almost a no-brainer upgrade decision.

There is not a single corporate or airline operator out there that is holding off purchase of Iridium datalink devices in the hope that Certus datalink devices will soon be available. Suggest you do not either.
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ultraturtle »

Look at it this way: If your iPhone were to get crushed today, would you do without any communications, waiting until late next fall to get an iPhone with 5G, simply because it is technologically superior to 4G?
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ememic99 »

There are two main advantages at ADL side for GA pilot flying in Europe:
1. ADL (unlike GSR56) shows infrared imagery which is used to determine cloud tops. Combining it with radar images and looking them separately you can better understand weather phenomena in front of you. E.g. even heavy precipitation is not important if you can overfly it which you can’t simply conclude watching only 2D radar image (however airborne radar and changing tilt will help you).
2. ADL radar coverage in Europe is slightly better.
https://www.ing-golze.de/weather_radar_europe.jsp
https://static.garmincdn.com/apps/fly/i ... dar-eu.png
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ultraturtle »

ememic99 wrote: Wed May 27, 2020 3:31 am 1. ADL (unlike GSR56) shows infrared imagery which is used to determine cloud tops. Combining it with radar images and looking them separately you can better understand weather phenomena in front of you. E.g. even heavy precipitation is not important if you can overfly it which you can’t simply conclude watching only 2D radar image (however airborne radar and changing tilt will help you).
GSR56 shows infrared imagery. From the Garmin G1000 Pilot’s Guide for the Diamond DA62:
Screen Shot 2020-05-27 at 12.37.34 PM.png
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by dgger »

Yes, infrared images are there. However, tbh I never managed to derive useful information from the way the grayscale data is displayed on the G1000. But then, it might just be me...
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ememic99 »

Thanks for the info. It wasn’t the case in the past and it’s not specified at GSR56 web page.
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ememic99 »

dgger wrote: Wed May 27, 2020 6:54 pm Yes, infrared images are there. However, tbh I never managed to derive useful information from the way the grayscale data is displayed on the G1000. But then, it might just be me...
ADL shows infrared image with four colors - light gray, dark grey, blue and cyan, each corresponding with certain range of cloud tops. I guess it’s similar with GSR56 presentation at G1000.
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by dgger »

The problem for me really was that tiny variations in the greyscale presentation on the G1000 could mean quite a difference in cloud tops. Colors would have been really nice.
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Re: New Owner - advice on configuration

Post by ultraturtle »

While technically the GSR 56 displays about 16 gradients, they are not immediately useful to determine at what altitude cloud tops exist, since they only express temperature of the tops, and each shade of grey represents almost 5,000' of altitude. They are very useful, however in determining the position of strong thunderstorms with massive vertical development, and therefore great temperature contrast from surrounding air.

The display is also useful when evaluating relative cloud tops when used in conjunction with excellent pre flight briefing cloud top depictions such as those found in Foreflight, can help give a pretty good picture of where or how high you might break out of the soup:
Screen Shot 2020-05-27 at 3.36.04 PM.png
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