pratzert Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I just took a plane ride from Vegas to Baltimore and had a 76CSx and an Oregon 400t along. I was excited to think I'd be able to track our speed, course and progress on the GPS. But I was wrong... I was in the aisle seat and could not get a satellite acquisition at all on either unit. Bummer..... Quote Link to comment
+DeadHead82 Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Yeah that's a drag. Last summer I went to Texas with my girlfriend to visit her brother. I was lucky enough to get a window seat. When they came over the speaker and said electronic devices were ok to turn on the first thing i went for was my 60csx. I didn't think I'd be able to get a fix but, managed to by pointing the antenna out the window. I was really surprised when it finally locked. I had tracks enabled, got to see our relative position, and even got to see the 500 + mph we were doing on the speedometer. The 76 and 60 are pretty much functionally identical, so hopefully for your next flight, you grab a window seat. Quote Link to comment
+user13371 Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 (edited) My experience on commercial airliners is that I pretty much had to hold the thing right up to a window to get a signal. Makes sense -- in a metal can with few RF-transparent openings, your only hope is to press it up to the window and still only get something like half of the sky in view, at best. Next time I fly I think I'll take a couple of clear plastic suction cups with hooks (the kind people use to hold decorations on windows) and some rubber bands. Wonder what the TSA screeners will think of that Edited February 22, 2010 by lee_rimar Quote Link to comment
NordicMan Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Yep you NEED a window seat while air traveling if you hope to use your GPSr. And thankfully the airlines are starting to relax a bit more regarding GPSr usage during flight. There are still some airlines that won't allow them Quote Link to comment
tiiiim Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 As everyone else has said, you need that window seat - a metal tube is not the best place to be sitting when trying to get a GPS fix. I had my USB GPS dongle attached to my netbook during one flight over the Pacific, and managed to track a fair bit of the flight using Google Earth (I'd pre-cached the required tiles...). It did take AGES to get a fix first though (about 10 minutes), but seeing your location in GE was pretty exciting, especially the altitude - now that's cool!! Quote Link to comment
+ClubMCR Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I've had good luck both with my handheld and my car gps. But yes, you need to be by the window. It's really cool to see your speed and altitude at levels you aren't accustomed to. You can also add a waypoint at your destination and track how far you have to go. Quote Link to comment
+Gushoneybun Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I tracked from the UK to Florida at the end of last year, I was next to the window and most of the time left the GPS on a bag on the floor. It dropped the signal several times but gave a good track. It was great flying over Canada and the US to know where we were flying over. Quote Link to comment
+Chrysalides Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I find that having the GPSr locked to the signal before getting on the plane seems to help. Quote Link to comment
+JBnW Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 As everyone else has said, you need that window seat - a metal tube is not the best place to be sitting when trying to get a GPS fix. I had my USB GPS dongle attached to my netbook during one flight over the Pacific, and managed to track a fair bit of the flight using Google Earth (I'd pre-cached the required tiles...). It did take AGES to get a fix first though (about 10 minutes), but seeing your location in GE was pretty exciting, especially the altitude - now that's cool!! Well, not really "need"... I took my 76CSx on a few planes last year. From the aisle seat..nothing. From the middle of three-wise seats, it took a while, didn't get many sats, but finally enough for a fix and a dandy track log for most of the flight. But the window seat was sweet! Quote Link to comment
+splashy Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I find that having the GPSr locked to the signal before getting on the plane seems to help. This can help, the gps knows more or less where it is and can lock/function with less sats, if it doesn't have a recent lock it often gets confused mainly due to fast changing conditions. Quote Link to comment
+maggi101 Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Wonder what the TSA screeners will think of that I'd be a whole lot more worried about what the Flight Attendants will think when they see you setting it up. They can be a fairly jump lot, from time to time. Quote Link to comment
namiboy Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 when i fly to japan i take my gpsr and while i don't leave it on the whole time (it's a 14 hour non-stop) i get up every hour or so and put it by the window of the emergency door for a little while. works great. Quote Link to comment
Wanthuyr Filho Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Normally the narrowbody planes allow better acquisition of the sats. Last week I came back home in a flight of about an hour in an A319, I was seated in a window seat just close the the trailing edge of the wing (maybe row number 17), and wow! I got quite a good lock all the way thought the flight with my Oregon 300, and this is not normal to get. Perhaps it depends on the "ceiling" of the aircraft in that point, wiring, equipment, etc... Quote Link to comment
roybassist Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Next time I fly I think I'll take a couple of clear plastic suction cups with hooks (the kind people use to hold decorations on windows) and some rubber bands.I use a Gilsson external antenna with the windshield mount that they also sell. I stick the antenna on the mount to the window, and can put the unit where it's easy to see and push buttons. For about $6, the window mount was money well spent. Ordered at the same time as the antenna, I don't think it even increased the S&H cost. Quote Link to comment
+rocket1lf Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 You need a GPS that is designed for aircraft use. The refresh rate on the auto or hiking units isn't fast enough to track the satellites. Quote Link to comment
+julianh Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 You need a GPS that is designed for aircraft use. The refresh rate on the auto or hiking units isn't fast enough to track the satellites. Not so ... The main issue is to have a high-sensitivity receiver, and get the best line-of-sight to a window that you can. A window seat is best, but I have used my Summit HC successfully on many flights, including from an aisle seat, and even with my GPSr in my bag in the overhead locker, or under my seat. As was pointed out by others above, get a good lock just before you board the plane, and keep it turned on the whole flight, and you should be able to get a reasonable track-log for much of your journey. Trying to get a cold-fix from a moving plane can be difficult, but reacquiring a "warm" fix with a high-sensitivity unit is generally quite achievable, especially if you are near a window. You may get drop-outs from time to time, but it will keep sniffing out the satellites, and whenever it gets a 4-satellite lock (however briefly), it will resume tracking again. Note that the elevation record will be meaningless on units with a barometric altimeter in a pressurised plane, unless you switch the altimeter off so it records GPS elevation, not barometric elevation. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 You need a GPS that is designed for aircraft use. The refresh rate on the auto or hiking units isn't fast enough to track the satellites. I'm not sure you'd call my Summit HC "designed for aircraft", but it's plenty fast enough. More to the point, even my old TomTom 720 works well - was the first one I owned and tried it that way. Of course, the TomTom can't have road-snap disabled, so that's pretty wild to watch from 30k feet when you're not traveling due E/W or N/S! Quote Link to comment
+coggins Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 (edited) Auto unit: http://noolmusic.com/google_videos/land_ro...te_airplane.php eTrex Vista HCx 'On The Trail' unit: Even has the software in it to compute HARP waypoints for HALO/HAHO jumps. Edited February 23, 2010 by coggins Quote Link to comment
+teamhillside Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 I was somewhat "naughty" by using my bluetooth GPSr with my netbook on the last flight I took - with the European version of Autoroute enabled I could get a nice track of where we were overflying with the GPSr on the table in front of my son (by the window) and me in the aisle seat. Bluetooth is supposedly not allowed on the flight (for no good reason!), but it did work nicely. Next time I'll cable it up though to avoid having to go wireless on a plane. Matt Quote Link to comment
+Redwoods Mtn Biker Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 The last time I tried this I used a 60CSx in a window seat. Once it got a lock, I was able to place it in the seat back pocket and have it maintain lock, though I imagine the track would have been better if I would have held it up to the window. Quote Link to comment
pratzert Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 (edited) Of course I had to shut it off before I onto the plane, so it lost it's location and probably had to work harder to figure out where it was. A couple of times it did see a couple of Birds, but a pretty low signal and it never saw more than two at once. So... never got a lock. I didn't think of an external antenna, it may have helped, but I don't think the other two people in my row would want the cable drapped across their laps to the window..... I thought for sure I'd get a hassle going thru security... but not at all. I travel with my CPAP machine too and I got a LOT more attention for carrying that thing. Besides my CPAP, I had an entire bag filled with electronics..... I had a Handheld VHF radio, a three pack of the FRS handhelds, two gps units, the entire eneloop charging kit with all the batteries, chargers for the FRS radios and VHF and binoculars. It looked like a "James Bond" kit. They never even bothered to open up the bag to look. I guess they could tell exactly what everything was with the x-ray machine. But they sure wanted the CPAP out of the bag so they could swab it. But that's SOP for those. Edited February 23, 2010 by pratzert Quote Link to comment
+boda Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Of course I had to shut it off before I onto the plane, so it lost it's location and probably had to work harder to figure out where it was. A couple of times it did see a couple of Birds, but a pretty low signal and it never saw more than two at once. So... never got a lock. I didn't think of an external antenna, it may have helped, but I don't think the other two people in my row would want the cable drapped across their laps to the window..... I thought for sure I'd get a hassle going thru security... but not at all. I travel with my CPAP machine too and I got a LOT more attention for carrying that thing. Besides my CPAP, I had an entire bag filled with electronics..... I had a Handheld VHF radio, a three pack of the FRS handhelds, two gps units, the entire eneloop charging kit with all the batteries, chargers for the FRS radios and VHF and binoculars. It looked like a "James Bond" kit. They never even bothered to open up the bag to look. I guess they could tell exactly what everything was with the x-ray machine. But they sure wanted the CPAP out of the bag so they could swab it. But that's SOP for those. Much the same experience. At one time TSA didn't care about the CPAP. I never took mine out of the bag. Now it's a different story. They not only want it out, they walk it over to a different area and really go over it. Meanwhile, all the electronics get a simple xray - although I now have to take the laptop out. I had good look on flights with a 60CS from the center seat. Good signal and fun to track. I asked if I could use the GPS and the flight attendant said it was OK above 10,000 ft. I didn't realize until later that the airline did not allow GPS use. On the way out, the pilots asked me how well it worked. Quote Link to comment
tiiiim Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 If, like me, you have no idea what a CPAP thingamyjig is, I'm assuming it's this (Wikipedia link)... Quote Link to comment
+boda Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 If, like me, you have no idea what a CPAP thingamyjig is, I'm assuming it's this (Wikipedia link)... Yep - that's it. Sorry for not explaining it. The type I have is shown it the top photo. It's about a foot long and 6 inches high/wide. They are used in the case of sleep apnea, where the tissues in the throat close down when your your jaw muscles relax as you sleep. It is a dangerous condition for a number of reasons; and many do not realize they have it. Quote Link to comment
+dakboy Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 I asked if I could use the GPS and the flight attendant said it was OK above 10,000 ft. I didn't realize until later that the airline did not allow GPS use. On the way out, the pilots asked me how well it worked. Regardless of the airline's official policy, the flight crew has the final say in-flight. But usually it goes the other way - airline says it's OK, flight crew asks that you not do it. Quote Link to comment
pratzert Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 (edited) I asked if I could use the GPS and the flight attendant said it was OK above 10,000 ft. I didn't realize until later that the airline did not allow GPS use. On the way out, the pilots asked me how well it worked. Regardless of the airline's official policy, the flight crew has the final say in-flight. But usually it goes the other way - airline says it's OK, flight crew asks that you not do it. I flew Southwest and in their booklet it lists all the things you can and can't operate above 10,000 feet. It said a GPS is OK to use above 10,000 ft. And I agree... it is up to the Captin & Flight crew and they can impose stricter rules... but they can't relax the rules if it's dictated by the FAA. They didn't even give me a second glance when I pulled my GPS unit out and sat it on my tray. Edited February 23, 2010 by pratzert Quote Link to comment
+randyinaloha Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Thanks for the info on airline and GPS. Will be flying Southwest soon and looked at web site but could not find info. Will look again. Quote Link to comment
vagabond Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 We fly Southwest every fall to the bay area and so far have had no problems using different gps this year I thought I'd take the dongle for streets and trips and stick it to the window with the suction cup so which ever of the family is next to me can see where we are also Quote Link to comment
Andronicus Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 I proped my phone/gps up behind my pillow (read: rolled up coat) against the window and had it tracking the whole time. In a CRJ-900 our top speed was about 580kph (if I remember correctly). Quote Link to comment
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