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warrenn

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About warrenn

  • Birthday 10/03/1943

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Seattle, WA
  • Interests
    Physics, Apple computers, Flying, Ham radio (WB7VTV), electronics, film photography, birds
  • Reg #
    N231HH
  • Model
    ‘79 231 (M20K)

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  1. Thanks for the suggestion, but I am pretty satisfied with the ADSB-in plus Foreflight using FIS-B. The resolution is not great but adequate and I can live with the small delay. I don't need more subscriptions and I have pretty definitely decided on an Avidyne IFD540.
  2. Thanks, you make a good point. At this moment I don't know how much it will cost to even repair the autopilot and if it is a lot, I might just skip it. If I decide to fix it, I can see what the cost of the coupling would be and make my decision. The IFD purchase is several months off, so I have time to weigh the options.
  3. I think I should mention that I have pretty much decided to install a single Avidyne IFD 540 in my 231 sometime in September, as our single on-field shop is backed up. I might also repair my KFC-200 autopilot using the skilled help of Bob Weber. I will certainly connect the 540 output to my HSI but I am not sure I will couple the unit to my autopilot. Coupled approaches seem scary to me - I don't want an old autopilot malfunctioning near the ground. Right now, my plane is sitting in the shop having mostly finished its annual, but waiting for a repaired exhaust pipe which was badly corroded. I will probably pay through the nose for the repair - this is the problem with maintaining a 42 year old airplane. Cheers, Warren N
  4. Thanks, I will send him an email. I suspect that it will cost a fair bit, as the servos haven’t been activated in 25 years.
  5. Thanks for the kind words, Anthony. And thanks to the rest of the group - reading this forum has been inspiring. You have convinced me to keep flying my second of two Mooneys as long as I can pass the 3rd class Medical. They are a wonderful series of planes I have owned since my first Ranger, which I bought in 1985 and proceeded to quickly get my Instrument and Commercial ratings (the first of which is fairly necessary to do any serious flying here in the Seattle area). I will try to make a careful choice of navigator and its placement on my panel. After all, the electronics state of the art has advanced greatly since my current avionics were made, some 40 years ago. Moore’s law and all that. Cheers, Warren
  6. Thank you for the correction. I don't know where that web page came from about Garmin software installation - it might have been very old. I can certainly understand why they would want a dealer to do the software/firmware installation - an error in that area can have serious consequences.
  7. Well, there is more to this than meets the eye! I did a search for GTN software updates and found a Garmin page which described how to do it and they said: "Macintosh computers are not supported at this time". Maybe I should have looked further. I also noticed that Avidyne seems to require that a dealer do the upgrade - it has a page requiring that you sign a "consent form" taking responsibility for any damage to the IFD if the update goes wrong. I am 77 and am in very good heath at present (who knows how long that will last?) and was thinking of giving up aviation when I turned 80. (Or lose my medical, whichever happens first). My instructor for my last BFR was a lady close to 90 and she knows the Garmin UI very well (she is a CFII). My brain seems to work OK, so I can still learn new user interfaces for common operations (I am writing a physics textbook and seem to be doing it OK). Maybe I should embrace the new experience of a modern navigator! I do have an enormous amount of time and money invested in aviation and shouldn't give it up without a good reason. Still searching, and thanks for comments! wn
  8. By the way, I just discovered that Garmin does not allow software updates using a Mac. Since I have only Macs, this is another reason for not using their products. wn
  9. You make a very valid point. I will try to have the older stuff moved to the right if it is not too expensive. I figure at least 10 hours of instruction by someone proficient on the 540 before I am somewhat comfortable with it. I am not getting any younger and, while I will not avoid a flight because of ifr, I won’t fly in very challenging conditions (35 years ago, I sought out terrible conditions. That wasn’t very smart…). I need to accept that learning a completely new navigation paradigm will take time and I will probably never feel as comfortable in it as using the older one. Again, thanks for all your good avdvice! wn
  10. Avidyne has an app called IFD100 which allows me to have the 540 screen on my iPad which is right in front of my eyes on the yoke. I would still probably use my KNS-80 for non-GPS approaches and the 540 for GPS. The 197 is being repaired and will be COMM 1. Again, I am not interested in a glass panel, just a decent GPS based nav system (and second COMM - the 170 works great but it is a little old). I am also used to hand flying the plane as the KFC 200 autopilot hasn't worked in 25 years and is very expensive to fix. I am very used to the steam gauges and have flown in just about every kind of condition using them successfully over the 30 years I have owned the plane. I have gotten into some trouble using touch screens on my iPad in light turbulence. For example, I was using WingX with an ILS approach plate on the iPad when I accidentally tapped the screen and the thing went into never-never land (WingX bug). Fortunately, I had been flying that approach for 35 years and knew the numbers and it was VFR. (The hold button - which is depressed in my photo - is a tricky one on the KNS80. You need to release it after use!). I have also had problems with Foreflight - a great app with many features but a difficult UI in the cockpit (I prefer WIngX). Once on a long IFR flight in terrible conditions I selected the approach plate only to be informed that it needed to be downloaded! I had prepared very carefully for the flight and am sure I used the "pack" operation on FF and downloaded all the data. Fortunately, I had paper plates for the destination. The bottom line is that I trust the old stuff much more than the new.
  11. Yes, I wouldn't want that kind of interface for GPS. A bit like some TVs using a remote. A KB is essential, in my opinion. wn
  12. Thanks, A. I am trying to keep the costs down, but I will see whether I can move the KY197/KNS80 to the right without adding a lot of cost for the upgrade. I once looked behind the panel and was amazed that anyone could do any work there! I actually like the KNS80 - it is extremely intuitive to use and I am used to it. Also, having a DME always active means I don't need to push a button to get a reading on the IFD. The accuracy in RNAV mode leaves a lot to be desired, though. I am amazed that it does a full RNAV using a very primitive Moto 6800 8-bit CPU for the number crunching (I looked inside it). Regards, wn
  13. I am leaning in the direction of an Avidyne IFD-540. I have attached a poor picture of my panel - I think a decent place for the unit is on the right side replacing the KR-85 (useless at present) and KX170 (the only comm radio which works right now). My shop is backed up and won't be able to get to it until Sept. sometime. The 550 doesn't have any features I want - I am not interested in inflight photos and have a very satisfactory AHRS on the Stratus 2i which comes with the ESGi package (which I installed after this photo was taken).
  14. Hi, I just had a KY197 fail: garbled transmit audio, receiver, mike, synthesizer fine. Probably a bad transistor in transmit audio. Does anyone have a KY197 in good condition for sale?

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