Upon Further Review.....2010 Logger Policies
Based on discussions over the past week and response from our readers we decided to take another look at the changes in logger policies for the 2010 flying year. The following is a more in depth look at those changes and when they took place.
At the November 2009 HACD Board Meeting, the HACD changed it's logger policy. Pilots will now be allowed to register a valid "pilot GPS" to be used as the primary scoring device should they choose to do so. Also, all PDG and FON logger scored tasks will be scored to the pre-published goal coordinate down to the final (meter) digit. These two changes are advantageous to competitors because they can now see their distance to a precise point on the actual scoring device (primary logger in basket). Competitor's are navigating to where their "pilot GPS" says the point is and not a different GPS unit's interpretation of where that point is. Also, pilots can now view their GPS altitude from the actual scoring device when avoiding PZ's. A pilot may register two valid GPS's. If the primary "pilot GPS" fails, the event provided "logger" will be used secondly and the backup "pilot GPS" used as the third and final option.
In addition to "UTM UPS" position format, "WGS 84 or NAD27 CONUS" map datum and "WAAS enabled" options, valid GPS units must be able to download GPS altitude (not barometric pressure altitude) and set track log interval to :03 seconds (was :05 seconds in 2009). The change to :03 second track logging interval is intended to reduce the distance between track points, thus reducing the interpolation between track points needed to be done manually or within the scoring program. This change forces valid GPS units to need a minimum of 10,000 track point capacity. Those GPS units with 2,048 track point capacity would supply insufficient track data on a long flight.
The Gecko 201 has proven to be a reliable logger while attached to the side of the balloon. However, it's small screen size and keypad make it less desirable to navigate with while in the basket. While we're most familiar with the Garmin product line, we would recommend any model that has an "X" designation in it's model name. This means it has a "high sensitivity receiver" and can acquire quickly and maintain strong signal strength. It's recommended to avoid Garmin products with the "S" in it's model name. This means it's "sensory" and will only download barometric pressure altitude. There are many other models that will work, but I'd check out either the 76cx or 60cx Garmin models to use as the primary "pilot GPS". They have bigger screens to navigate by, a more user friendly keypad and more recent GPS receiver technology.
The following information was sent along with other 2010 US Nationals correspondence on 5-18-10. This is an incomplete list and some of the GPS's work better than others. It will be up to each competitor to figure out which make and model is best suited for their basket configuration. It should also be noted that in Chapter 2 of the 2010 FAI Competition Operations Handbook (COH), that while technically the Garmin eTrex models meet the minimum requirements, they have been proven to be susceptible to "track spikes" caused from radio interference. Perhaps the newer models with more recent receiver technology are less susceptible?
While we do not endorse any particular model, the following meet the minimum requirements of the competition rules for 2010:
GPS Map 60 GPS Map 78 eTrex Legend HCx eTrex Legend*
GPS Map 60 Cx GPS 60 eTrex Legend H eTrex Legend Cx*
GPS Map 76 Oregon 200 eTrex H Rino 520*
GPS Map 76 Cx Dakota 10 eTrex Venture HC Geko 201
* Listed as a discontinued model on Garmin web site.
At the November 2009 HACD Board Meeting, the HACD changed it's logger policy. Pilots will now be allowed to register a valid "pilot GPS" to be used as the primary scoring device should they choose to do so. Also, all PDG and FON logger scored tasks will be scored to the pre-published goal coordinate down to the final (meter) digit. These two changes are advantageous to competitors because they can now see their distance to a precise point on the actual scoring device (primary logger in basket). Competitor's are navigating to where their "pilot GPS" says the point is and not a different GPS unit's interpretation of where that point is. Also, pilots can now view their GPS altitude from the actual scoring device when avoiding PZ's. A pilot may register two valid GPS's. If the primary "pilot GPS" fails, the event provided "logger" will be used secondly and the backup "pilot GPS" used as the third and final option.
In addition to "UTM UPS" position format, "WGS 84 or NAD27 CONUS" map datum and "WAAS enabled" options, valid GPS units must be able to download GPS altitude (not barometric pressure altitude) and set track log interval to :03 seconds (was :05 seconds in 2009). The change to :03 second track logging interval is intended to reduce the distance between track points, thus reducing the interpolation between track points needed to be done manually or within the scoring program. This change forces valid GPS units to need a minimum of 10,000 track point capacity. Those GPS units with 2,048 track point capacity would supply insufficient track data on a long flight.
The Gecko 201 has proven to be a reliable logger while attached to the side of the balloon. However, it's small screen size and keypad make it less desirable to navigate with while in the basket. While we're most familiar with the Garmin product line, we would recommend any model that has an "X" designation in it's model name. This means it has a "high sensitivity receiver" and can acquire quickly and maintain strong signal strength. It's recommended to avoid Garmin products with the "S" in it's model name. This means it's "sensory" and will only download barometric pressure altitude. There are many other models that will work, but I'd check out either the 76cx or 60cx Garmin models to use as the primary "pilot GPS". They have bigger screens to navigate by, a more user friendly keypad and more recent GPS receiver technology.
The following information was sent along with other 2010 US Nationals correspondence on 5-18-10. This is an incomplete list and some of the GPS's work better than others. It will be up to each competitor to figure out which make and model is best suited for their basket configuration. It should also be noted that in Chapter 2 of the 2010 FAI Competition Operations Handbook (COH), that while technically the Garmin eTrex models meet the minimum requirements, they have been proven to be susceptible to "track spikes" caused from radio interference. Perhaps the newer models with more recent receiver technology are less susceptible?
While we do not endorse any particular model, the following meet the minimum requirements of the competition rules for 2010:
GPS Map 60 GPS Map 78 eTrex Legend HCx eTrex Legend*
GPS Map 60 Cx GPS 60 eTrex Legend H eTrex Legend Cx*
GPS Map 76 Oregon 200 eTrex H Rino 520*
GPS Map 76 Cx Dakota 10 eTrex Venture HC Geko 201
* Listed as a discontinued model on Garmin web site.