- The basic variometer resolution is about 0.01 knots on a B500 and about - - 0.04 knots on a B400. I can't tell the difference. An LCD pointer would - - have meant a best resolution of 0.4 knots and some seem to use about 1 --- knot steps. I consider this unacceptable"
Nothing wrong with LCD pointers, the Tasman vario made in Victoria works very nicely - the audio is great, watching needles is not what we do, at least I don't, a responsive audio is the heart of our thermalling skills. Hank Kaufmann blocks off the top half of his vario!! i.e no needle, just audio. The Vega Vario in the Altair system has audio only and voice, no needle, needle is an option, also designed in Melbourne - seems to be a vario hub down there. As Bruce once said, there is more information that is usefull looking out then in, might explain why he does so well. Nigel -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Borgelt Sent: Monday, 3 September 2007 1:31 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] pause for thought LOL! Calling modern sailplane instruments retro is funny coming from one who flys an aircraft that would be instantly recognisable by Otto Lilienthal if you brought him back. Old Otto would probably think it was the 1907 model of his hang gliders, not a 2007 model. I guess it helps if you don't know any history. Tim, you are wrong, they would not have won a contest this side of 1930 not 1960. I believe the best rigid wing hang gliders are up around the performance of the Grunau Baby, which when it was first built (around 1932?) was not considered a competition sailplane, just a secondary training glider. I had a bit to do with the hang gliding community in South Australia from 1979 to about 1988. Also designed and built a few different hang glider instruments and repaired a few others. It is quite a different environment for the engineering and you really need to have deep background in the activity to do it properly. I gave up because the hangies ideas on instrumentation were so primitive. I had some more contact with them in 1996 just as the first hang gliders with no top kingposts were appearing. They were looking at GPS logging at the time(after it was adopted in gliding).The new hang gliders were regarded as frightfully expensive in the $8000 to 10,000 range when a kingpost model cost $5000-6000. I was told the new ones would never catch on due to the price. I'm not sure you can still buy the old model. LCD's, graphics displays and integrated GPS, loggers etc first appeared in sailplane instruments, not hang glider instruments. If you think glider instruments are "retro" perhaps you think of your instruments as fashion statements rather than functional items or all you've been exposed to is the average club trainer. I had a look at the Flytek instruments. We could have done an LCD pointer on the B400 and B500. It actually is cheaper and uses less power but we chose the stepper driven white pointer on black background because it gives the best contrast under all light conditions and at 150 steps per knot the instrument resolution isn't limited by the stepper resolution. The basic variometer resolution is about 0.01 knots on a B500 and about 0.04 knots on a B400. I can't tell the difference. An LCD pointer would have meant a best resolution of 0.4 knots and some seem to use about 1 knot steps. I consider this unacceptable. Then we could use the nice coloured LED's for speed command and other functions. Note we use a nice diffuser in front of the LED too. I notice the top of the line Flytek had a pointer on circular dial LCD vario . The reason is that you get the longest scale for a compact size. You also get an angle change which is very easy to discern. Looking at some ultralight instruments the other day it seems about half of the manufacturers simply synthesise what looks like a steam gauge panel on a large LCD. OTOH the HUD in the F/A18 just uses numbers for airspeed and altitude and seems perfectly fine to use. I wouldn't want a vario like that though. What the top of the line Flytek doesn't appear to have is a moving map, certainly not as the primary flight display. Smart folks! If you want to see a real sunlight readable LCD go to your local boat shop and look at the Humminbird range of GPS/depth sounders. Late last year I visited Mullet Gut Marine in Toowoomba. They had a nice display of the Humminbird products including one with the Altair's 320 x 240 1/4 VGA display. Next to it was the 787C2 with a full colour full VGA display. As different as night from day. We took the 787C2 outside and even in direct bright sunlight on the display the colours were vibrant and saturated. No problem with half the display shaded either. So far the only colour display I've seen I'd consider in a glider cockpit to replace all the instruments. Pity you can't buy it. It is a custom job and Humminbird can't get enough of them. I asked them , but they did tell me how it was done. There are some new display technologies coming along involving lasers that might give bright displays without giving the glider battery such a hard time. Mike Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments phone Int'l + 61 746 355784 fax Int'l + 61 746 358796 cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784 Int'l + 61 429 355784 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.borgeltinstruments.com _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
