Jump to content

I'm a Believer... Not a Monkey's Song


Recommended Posts

I looked in Marauders gallery for real evidence of this fetish. My slow gov internet wouldn't download the pictures, but I was able to read a few incriminating captions such as "from behind", "1 moment of panic" and my favorite, the "4 second phase".

Search all you want.

e3a1311c2d5f57b78576e475e21dcfa4.jpg

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maurader, your panel really looks great! I have a WX500 installed too in a similar set up, just no ASPEN MFD. I flew last Sunday in the very early morning. I will try to put together a video and hopefully find some footage of the weather. I use my Garmin 430 to display the stormscope and to play with the distances. I find using the PFD for weather plus the other stuff gets me into the information overload. The GTN displays the storms also well but again I prefer the 430 so I can play with the range without getting the map on the 750 to leave the heading mode. There were 4 storms brewing. Two more than 100 miles away but because they were tropical storms the radial spread was massive as well as the number of strikes on the scope. Then I had two on the way to my destination that were smaller. The strikes were a little confusing as they were all over the place (and influenced by the radial spread of the bigger storms), but in cell mode I was able to identify the cells. I asked for deviation from ATC and was given permission to do it. As you can imagine we have no XM or NEXRAD radio, not even ATC has weather radio beyond a 30 miles radius from the airport, so you are basically on your own and your eyes and the wx500 are the first and only line of defense (plus help from American Airlines or other big guys who may be willing to help you sometimes with their radar, thank to you guys in the big iron out there really appreciate your time and willingness to help).

 

Suddenly out of the blue at my same level 12,000 feet my TCAS lightens up too and tells me that I had traffic at 2 miles at 11 o'clock, opposite direction. I saw the plane rushing by (It was a King Air) and then the TCAS went blank again. I called ATC and asked if they had seen the traffic (they do have radar, just no weather) and they told me no, no traffic in the area, that the advice I got must have been an error...

 

But, coming back to your set up, I believe what you have now, NEXRAD plus Stormscope gives you what you need to fly during the summer. Congratulations! 

 

Oscar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maurader, your panel really looks great! I have a WX500 installed too in a similar set up, just no ASPEN MFD. I flew last Sunday in the very early morning. I will try to put together a video and hopefully find some footage of the weather. I use my Garmin 430 to display the stormscope and to play with the distances. I find using the PFD for weather plus the other stuff gets me into the information overload. The GTN displays the storms also well but again I prefer the 430 so I can play with the range without getting the map on the 750 to leave the heading mode. There were 4 storms brewing. Two more than 100 miles away but because they were tropical storms the radial spread was massive as well as the number of strikes on the scope. Then I had two on the way to my destination that were smaller. The strikes were a little confusing as they were all over the place (and influenced by the radial spread of the bigger storms), but in cell mode I was able to identify the cells. I asked for deviation from ATC and was given permission to do it. As you can imagine we have no XM or NEXRAD radio, not even ATC has weather radio beyond a 30 miles radius from the airport, so you are basically on your own and your eyes and the wx500 are the first and only line of defense (plus help from American Airlines or other big guys who may be willing to help you sometimes with their radar, thank to you guys in the big iron out there really appreciate your time and willingness to help).

Suddenly out of the blue at my same level 12,000 feet my TCAS lightens up too and tells me that I had traffic at 2 miles at 11 o'clock, opposite direction. I saw the plane rushing by (It was a King Air) and then the TCAS went blank again. I called ATC and asked if they had seen the traffic (they do have radar, just no weather) and they told me no, no traffic in the area, that the advice I got must have been an error...

But, coming back to your set up, I believe what you have now, NEXRAD plus Stormscope gives you what you need to fly during the summer. Congratulations!

Oscar

Thanks Oscar both for the compliments and the additional information. I was under the impression that the WX-500 would only display on the MFD but when I read your comments, I read up on the PFD capability and learned, thanks to you, that the WX-500 will display on the HSI on the PFD! I agree that it will be a lot of information, but I could see an advantage shooting an approach and having the WX-500 on in case of pop up thunderstorms we see here in the northeast. Thanks for the clue!

P.S. Have you added anything more to your panel? I removed my Narco transponder and upgraded the JPI to the 900. Allowed me to remove the gauges above the Aspens.

929cafddb898891bf38887f50ce6d462.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maurader, if I had a second ASPEN then I would also display the WX500 on my PFD, but with only one and Synthetic vision, it just does not work well. So I use my GTN. I got rid of the gauges by installing a Oil pressure, voltage and amp indicator and fuel gauge on the left hand side of the panel. This opened up space for a 795... One thing that I did install and I love it is the connext 210 with the GDL88. It gives a totally different functionality to the Garmin Pilot app.

 

The only thing that the guys here can not make it work is the FD through the STec 55X...

 

Oscar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maurader, if I had a second ASPEN then I would also display the WX500 on my PFD, but with only one and Synthetic vision, it just does not work well. So I use my GTN. I got rid of the gauges by installing a Oil pressure, voltage and amp indicator and fuel gauge on the left hand side of the panel. This opened up space for a 795... One thing that I did install and I love it is the connext 210 with the GDL88. It gives a totally different functionality to the Garmin Pilot app.

The only thing that the guys here can not make it work is the FD through the STec 55X...

Oscar

On my STEC 60-2 installation they installed the ST-670 flight director portion to interface to the Aspen. Is the flight director built into the 55X?

The single cue is interesting to fly on a missed. Tuck it in the bars and manage power. So easy even a Marauder can do it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you

On my STEC 60-2 installation they installed the ST-670 flight director portion to interface to the Aspen. Is the flight director built into the 55X?

The single cue is interesting to fly on a missed. Tuck it in the bars and manage power. So easy even a Marauder can do it.

I think it is build into the 55X, but you need some kind of interface...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just an update on the WX-500. Overall it has been helping a lot with the rough weather we have been seeing this summer. I ran into an issue though and was wondering if any of you could explain what I am seeing. There is an error that comes up on the MFD. It is this error:

a02a0fc9d44d4d8486eccfbfa5e6b01c.jpg

I suspect it has something to do with the Narco since the Narco antenna is located near the StormScope antenna and I am having problems with it. Based on what I am reading in the StormScope troubling shooting guide, it thinks it is a stuck mic. I know the installer said they installed some sort of Comm filter on that radio. Does anyone know how that works and more importantly, can it create this error? It doesn't happen often but seems to coincide time wise close to when I am seeing issues with the Narco.

The second issue is stranger. On a nice day I noticed that i was seeing some strikes, far out (around 200 miles). But I noticed that they didn't follow the heading synchronization. Instead it continued to form strikes behind me even as I was turning the plane. I know the installer said the strobe on the back was really noisy. Could it cause this?

https://youtu.be/n-GtlACV9o0

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Maurader, very likely. I had a similar problem with my WX500... a storm following me about 200 at my 6 o'clock. I was really getting paranoiac... Then I changed the strobe to a LED and issue resolved. On the other issue no clue...

Thanks for the clue Oscar. The problem is indeed the strobe. I'm posting this update to help those dealing with a similar issue or perhaps one with interference to their radios.

I spoke to Whelen technical support and learned some information. The original Whelen strobe is called a model HR. It looks like the one on the left in this picture (thanks for the photo Hank):

8ad3961c51e35a1750416e6020f55fa4.jpg

Somewhere during their production run they started producing the HRCF version in two flavors. The HRCFA has better power supply shielding and the HRCFAD has an RF reducing lense on the unit.

If you have an original HR, you can verify that the RF interference is caused by the strobe itself and not the power supply by covering up the strobe with aluminum foil (ensuring that part of the foil is grounded to the metal base). If the RF goes away, you can be helped by buying their retrofit kit that includes a new RF filtering lense cover. It will cost you $183 from Aircraft Spruce. If the interference remains, it is a power supply issue and the best solution is the LED version.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...
On 7/15/2015 at 11:28 PM, Marauder said:

Just an update on the WX-500. Overall it has been helping a lot with the rough weather we have been seeing this summer. I ran into an issue though and was wondering if any of you could explain what I am seeing. There is an error that comes up on the MFD. It is this error:

 

a02a0fc9d44d4d8486eccfbfa5e6b01c.jpg

 

I suspect it has something to do with the Narco since the Narco antenna is located near the StormScope antenna and I am having problems with it. Based on what I am reading in the StormScope troubling shooting guide, it thinks it is a stuck mic. I know the installer said they installed some sort of Comm filter on that radio. Does anyone know how that works and more importantly, can it create this error? It doesn't happen often but seems to coincide time wise close to when I am seeing issues with the Narco.

 

The second issue is stranger. On a nice day I noticed that i was seeing some strikes, far out (around 200 miles). But I noticed that they didn't follow the heading synchronization. Instead it continued to form strikes behind me even as I was turning the plane. I know the installer said the strobe on the back was really noisy. Could it cause this?

 

https://youtu.be/n-GtlACV9o0

@Marauder and @Oscar Avalle

Regarding the 2nd issue: you likely already have your answer since this thread is nearly 5 years old; but I’ll share some thoughts. The “phantom storm” at your 6:00 is very likely electronic noise from a strobe or some other source on the airplane...especially because it remains at 6 position when you turn. Could be a servo, could be a noisy strobe or some other transmitting device (I believe you said it is periodic). That can be telltale sign of failing strobe or service.

I've flown a couple thousand hours with various stormscope models....at one time I had 3 models in my airplane; a Wx11, Wx1000+ and a Wx900.

wish I had one now!

i am somewhat less familiar with the more current models, although the technology used in actual storm detection in the 500 and 950 series remains the same as the 1000 and 900 series.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.