GPS

392: Putting GPS on the iPAD

| Tom Tsui

A few days ago, Kim in Switzerland emailed me that he had built a touch-screen GPS using an iPad (see photo).
kimgps

Frankly, even though I never thought about the idea of putting the GPS onto an iPad before, I have to admit that my immediate response to Kim’s approach was not excited because there are many apps available to turn the iPad into a second display for Mac or Windows computers.

From the many similar apps I tried before, none of them, in my opinion, was smooth enough to handle the data flow demand to and from FSX or P3D.   Some of them even caused serious dragging to the simulator in return.

But after checking the information Kim provided, I found his iPad was wired to his computer, rather than wirelessly connected over the network.

After further Googling the app he recommended, I decided to give it a try.  The result is surprisingly good. Continue reading →

325: GPS Navigation Fix for VOR1

| Tom Tsui

Trevor Bagnell in Canada recently reported that when NAV1 radio is controlled by the GPS signal under a filed flight plan, the Standalone C172 VOR1 gauge (Integrated as well) doesn’t respond accordingly.

With no flight plan, he said, the localizer needle on the VOR1 of course remains centered when the NAV/GPS Switch is toggled to GPS.

But when a flight plan is active, the NAV1 radio will be controlled by the GPS signal.  The localizer needle on the VOR1 should deflect accordingly.

The virtual panel gauge localizer needle reacts to being off the centreline of the flight plan.  The FIP gauge does not, he added.

Trevor submitted a video explaining the case as follows: Continue reading →

262: A Hardware Fix to GPS Dragging

| Tom Tsui

After the two DVI ports and Display port on my graphics card had each been taken by a monitor, my newly added VRinsight GPS-5 was naturally connected to the remaining HDMI port on my GTX 780 via a VGA-HDMI converter in the first place.GPS5-Card-03

Surprisingly, while my FSX system continues to run smoothly, my P3Dv2 responds with serious stutters as framerates dropped momentarily under the same setup with the external GPS attached.  Feedbacks to such framerate dropping issues in the last post reveal that the phenomenon is common regardless of platform and monitor setup.

Based on the presumption Continue reading →

261: My GPS Has Finally Arrived

| Tom Tsui

A bit busy these days and still a bit stuck in the recent holiday mood.   Anyway, my long-waited GPS for my long-planned cockpit rebuilding is finally in place.  It’s the GPS-5 from VRinsight.

VRinsight GPS-5

Briefly connected it to both FSX and P3Dv2 systems last evening for integrity check and found it working best with Continue reading →

233: GPS Key Mappings

| Tom Tsui

Standalone GPS panel has always been on top of my simulation gear purchasing list.   Yet, with the three monitors in place, the on-screen GPS now looks a lot more promising than ever before.

Click me to see the full size.
Click photo to see the spread-across view of the GPS on my screen

To eliminate mouse-clicking actions associated with it, keypads on my keyboard are re-mapped according to my personal preference as shown below:
Continue reading →