Q: Best possible portable GPS to be used with FalconView?

[jir]

JT: You are so right! Very important. Keeps up the sugar level and the mood ;-)

busdriver: When I asked about AvMap I was refering to www.avmap.us and thinking about the kneeboard type GPS EKP-IV PRO (http://www.avmap.it/index.php?swt=12&sec=1&ipr=9). I know most of you say, stay away from the kneeboard type versions, but if you get power from the helo and maybe a Yoke Mount System, it would be pretty cool if it could work with FalconView/PFPS.

Unanswered questions, so far:
1) Is FalconView using standard NMEA sentences? If so, it should be possible to use PFPS/FalconView with AvMap GPSs.
2) Is Google Earth Tool for PFPS good and usable?
3) Who makes helicopter/low level specific user courses in PFPS/FalconView? I heard the norwegians makes something and I bet you can get it within the US armed forces somewhere, but leed me in the right direction, please

New questions:
4) To use PFPS/FalconView with Garmin (396/496) you need a plug-in/piece of software to make them "talk" together, right? Where do I get that, if we choose Garmin?

 

[JT Eagle]

Danish inflight rations

JT: You are so right! Very important. Keeps up the sugar level and the mood ;-)

And you can use the jar as a flotation device in an emergency. The Salty Fish Snacks only attract sharks, but at least the passengers don't want to eat them!

JT

 

[lowflier03]

I have used the tool to import google earth "snapshots" into Falconview. It actually worked reasonably well. The other method is to import and "georectify" google earth imagery as satellite images.

I haven't heard of a decent Helo Specific course. Most of the ones taught (in the Navy at least) just teach you how to add points and do routes. All the good stuff you learn yourself. Ie how useful Skyview is for planning, using the Timeline tool for LFE's and doing overlays of WEZOT and Threat data for pre-mission SA.

For the Garmins, PFPS will talk to all of their units and can download and upload data. All of the units I have used required you to install the maps on the GPS seperately, but PFPS uploads all the points and tracks. Not sure if someone else has an easier way to get map data directly from Falcon to GPS.

 

[Pags]

So, it sounds like there's 2 ways to do this...one is to upload map info onto a Garmin and the other is to use a Garmin as a source of GPS info to turn a PFPS equipped laptop into a moving map. Anyone have experience with both and prefer one over the other?

Also to Skid, how'd you manage to get Garmin to donate to you?

 

[busdriver]

Falconview does use NMEA data.

Using Falconview in conjunction with the Avmap tablets I think would be a problem unless they run on windows XP. (falconview doesn't work with vista)

The program that allows you to transfer points and routes from Falconview to a handheld gps is called handheld AWE and comes with the software package. But as I said before, does not work with USB, you have to get an older GPS that uses a serial cable.

If a 10" screened CF-19 (replaced CF-18) is too big for your use, you can get a smaller tablet PC like one from fujitsu. We used to use these, but upgraded due to the improved processor in the toughbooks. With the tablet PCs, you would often have them freeze if you tried to do too much. The CF-18/19 is much less prone to problems, and if all you want is a moving map it would give you no problems. Once you start adding some other stuff that I can't really talk about we get into the freeze problem again. The added benefit to the toughbook is that you can use it to mission plan on when TDY. The Alaska guard guys have a different purely tablet pc that has a built in NVG compatible feature. (we have to use a filter) But I don't remember what it's called. The other thing to keep in mind is that imagery is very storage intensive. We had to upgrade all our CF-18s to 160GB drives, and they're very close to full. That only really applies if you want satellite imagery, down to JOG only and you can cover the entire planet with that much space.

As far as training, there are courses out there. However, the program was designed to be useful without it. If you are a computer literate person, you can spend a couple days screwing around with it, and with nothing more than the help file you can learn most of what you need to know.

 

[lowflier03]

(falconview doesn't work with vista)

The program that allows you to transfer points and routes from Falconview to a handheld gps is called handheld AWE and comes with the software package. But as I said before, does not work with USB, you have to get an older GPS that uses a serial cable.

I disagree on both of those points. I run Falconview on my HP tablet that uses Vista. I also transfer routes and points to my Garmin via USB connection. What version of Falconview are you using?

 

[busdriver]

News to me, I recently bought a Vista computer and my computer guy told me that Falconview might fuck up my computer since it makes many registry changes that vista doesn't allow. As to the USB thing, I tried making the dumb thing work when I bought a new GPS and couldn't figure it out. My world is still using falconview 3.3.1 service pack 2. We can't upgrade to 4.0 due to our aircraft AWE not being compatible, not to mention our MAJCOM hasn't approved the new version yet. This has produced a lot of ass pain since the SOF world is using 4.0, and they're not backwards compatible in many respects, or so I've been told.

I'm pleasently surprised about you successfully installing falconview on your vista machine, means I can do more mission planning at home the night before. Did you have to resort to any tricks? This is seriously good news to me.

EDIT: how did you get the USB GPS to connect to handheld AWE? Also good news.

 

[Zissou]

This is a great thread, I hope people don't cruise past it because the dont recognize Falconview. I've learned alot from these posts, Thanks fellas.

Anyone who Nav's in the badlands should know this stuff.

BZ!

 

[bert]

For Navy guys, be sure you read your flight clearances before you change SW versions on anything you are introducing to the aircraft - even if you are not taking it directly to the aircraft and just loading info on your cards you can find all kinds of unexpected ways to fornicate the system by using things that haven't been tested.

 

[lowflier03]

Busdriver: No tricks required to make it run on Vista. At least not that I experienced. As for the USB thing, I didn't really try any tricks there either. I just plugged in the gps and exported the data set with no problems. (Although I have also exported the data to the Garmin Mapsource and uploaded it to the GPS that way. It's an extra step, but it works.)

Also, has anyone tried editing the kneeboard cards to get a more useable format? I created one specific to our squadron CSAR/TERF needs after the H60 CSAR one got left out of the newer versions. (Though I'm still tinkering and trying to make it as useful as possible.)

Another question, just curious how many people use FPM for preflight number crunching? In my experience I've found that the Navy H-60 models in the program have been accurate to 1% of Tq values seen in flight.

 

[busdriver]

What do you guys need for kneeboard a kneeboard card? I've got a couple different ones.

 

[jir]

First of all: Yes, this is a great thread and I'm glad to hear that I started something not only I can learn from. I really appreciate your kind help, gents. :icon_mi_1

A couple of questions:
I've noticed, in a version of the the program used in Denmark, that only older GPS's are supported, not like the Garmin 496. Who makes the drivers for the program an how do we get it, if we get the 496 or an AvMap GPS?

A few of you suggest toughbooks, and I must admit that I did not know about these gadgets, but I have noticed that there is a small one - Toughbook U1 - which does not take much more space in the helo compared to the 496. Have any of you guys tried the program on this toughbook, the U1, and have anything to say about it?

A guy, who is used to work with PFPS, told me, that you really need a powerful PC/laptop to run PFPS/Falconview decently. As I can read on the Net, the toughbooks all have old and slow stuff inside it. But is it good enough to run the moving map stuff with multiple overlays in the aircraft?

 

[busdriver]

I've never used the U1, but the CF-18, now 19 Toughbook has enough inside to run the moving map and some basic overlays, things like CHUM, airspace boundaries, drawing files of your own, a local point file. There's a smooth scroll option on the moving map tool, that is what usually causes Falconview to crash in my experience. Sometimes, even having the heading up option turned on can cause problems if you're using the threat editor tool.