WTB Stormscope or Strike Finder

[DXB]

18 hours ago, Marauder said:

Hey Dev. I am headed out to the airport tonight and will snap a picture or 2 of the PFD. I have weather and traffic overlaid on the HSI and it is okay in the 360 degree HSI mode but looks a lot better in the arc mode. Let me get you a couple of pictures and you can decide.

Thanks Chris.  

[Marauder]

49 minutes ago, DXB said:

Thanks Chris.  

Dev -- I went to the airplane last night and couldn't find the WX-500 output on the PFD! I am not sure Ben hooked it up. I always have the Nexrad and traffic on so I never noticed the WX-500 not being on the PFD since I am always using the MFD for this stuff. I looked up the PFD manual and found it does display on the PFD. On page 83 of the manual, you can see the depiction of it. The PFD HSI map is about the same size as a WX-900 screen. And since your flight path overlays on the HSI map (and you have the option to display it in Arc mode), I think you would be able get benefit of it porting over to the PFD.

https://aspenavionics.com/documents/webrepost/091-00005-001 F EFD1k PFD Pilots Guide for Web 2.8.2 public site.pdf

[DXB]

4 hours ago, Marauder said:

Dev -- I went to the airplane last night and couldn't find the WX-500 output on the PFD! I am not sure Ben hooked it up. I always have the Nexrad and traffic on so I never noticed the WX-500 not being on the PFD since I am always using the MFD for this stuff. I looked up the PFD manual and found it does display on the PFD. On page 83 of the manual, you can see the depiction of it. The PFD HSI map is about the same size as a WX-900 screen. And since your flight path overlays on the HSI map (and you have the option to display it in Arc mode), I think you would be able get benefit of it porting over to the PFD.

 https://aspenavionics.com/documents/webrepost/091-00005-001 F EFD1k PFD Pilots Guide for Web 2.8.2 public site.pdf

Makes sense - it's probably a very functional place to display it, assuming it's not too cluttered. I agree viewing in ARC mode may be helpful to declutter.

[SkipSS]

I’m looking for a WX-900 if anyone has one. 

Scott

[Hank]

5 hours ago, SkipSS said:

I’m looking for a WX-900 if anyone has one. 

Scott

I have one that I bought to upgrade my WX10, but spent the money on other things. I'll post a picture tomorrow. 

[0TreeLemur]

I'm going to see if I can make do with ADS-B radar observation.   One point made by several more experience pilots that I've discussed this with is that in a M20C, one should seek to avoid being in situations where ADS-B is insufficient from a risk management standpoint.   So, I have decided to take myself out of the market for a Stormscope at this time.  If at some point in the future I feel that ADS-B is insufficient, I'll revisit.

[jetdriven]

ADS-B radar and stormscopes are different things. One shows the precipitation 10-20 minutes ago, and one shows realtime lightning.  Often you get lightning in a developing cell before it paints on radar.  Often orange and red rainfall is just rain, its smooth..

[ArtVandelay]

1 hour ago, jetdriven said:

ADS-B radar and stormscopes are different things. One shows the precipitation 10-20 minutes ago, and one shows realtime lightning.  Often you get lightning in a developing cell before it paints on radar.  Often orange and red rainfall is just rain, its smooth..

But they are adding lightning, it will be interesting to see how much of a delay there is.

[jetdriven]

It’s cloud-to-ground lightning only, and A 10-20 minute delay is ancient history wirh things that can grow 20,000 FPM.  

[Awful_Charlie]

17 minutes ago, jetdriven said:

It’s cloud-to-ground lightning only, and A 10-20 minute delay is ancient history wirh things that can grow 20,000 FPM.  

Yep - fortunately was on the ground and could see out of the window when this was painting, and on the satellite feed it all looked pretty benign. Even the big iron was delaying departure!

[LANCECASPER]

20 hours ago, Fred_2O said:

I'm going to see if I can make do with ADS-B radar observation.   One point made by several more experience pilots that I've discussed this with is that in a M20C, one should seek to avoid being in situations where ADS-B is insufficient from a risk management standpoint.   So, I have decided to take myself out of the market for a Stormscope at this time.  If at some point in the future I feel that ADS-B is insufficient, I'll revisit.

I have a basic XM subscription, ADS-B and a Stormscope. All three of those give me the information to process to make weather decisions.

The Stormscope is on board - you aren't relying on delayed broadcasts from satellite or ground base transmitters and making decisions on old information. I have seen it too many times where the Stormscope showed me exactly why I shouldn't think about going in between those two green areas. The Stormscope showed them closing in - the others didn't.  I have seen other times where XM or ADS-B painted green but the Stormscope showed no convective activity and the ride was smooth with light rain.

If I had to give up one of three I would give up XM or ADS-B since either of those plus the Stormscope give a pretty good picture with which to make a good decision.

[Marauder]

3 hours ago, Fred_2O said:

I hear you loud and clear and I appreciate your advice.  I work for NOAA.   I've done a lot of professional research on the use of polarimetric weather radar data.  I understand latencies in the system due to the time to acquire a scan and transmit data from multiple radars.  That said, I don't yet have my instrument rating. The other part of the equation that I didn't include in my e-mail is that (1) I need my plane by May 18 to attend wedding by son #2 in Colorado, and (2) the avionics tech who is putting in my GNS430W and ADS-B transponder doesn't know much about Stormscopes.     I don't think he could install one by May 18, and I'm not going to have my instrument by then.

Not having an IFR ticket, if the weather is bad on May 18, I fly United using miles.   If the weather allows, I deposit those miles back in my account and drive my wife and I.

My plane will have a stormscope in it some day.   Not now.   I'd really like a WX500 when I do buy one.  When one you has a spare, let me know and I'll buy it.

-Fred

Fred - hope you are okay with me picking your brains on weather topics. Are the factors that affect radar upload delays consistent in different parts of the country? I have seen some time differences and was curious if hardware or other factors (number of radar sites) make a difference. 

Here is an image of FIS-B weather on a flight I made this evening. The time stamp indicated 5 minutes old and the weather was where I expected it to be based on the upload. (And no convective activity).

[0TreeLemur]

Hi Marauder, no problem-  I'm a contractor working for NOAA, not in Aviation Weather, so I don't speak for them.

It takes between 4 and 6 minutes for a radar to collect a complete programmed set of scans. Each radar in the country operates on its own schedule.  They aren't synchronized because there are too many moving parts for that, and changing weather conditions necessitate changes in scanning pattern.   If a radar near you completes its scanning program just after the FIS-B update is broadcast to your a/c, then you get to wait until the next FIS-B update for that info.  

That creates an  additional delay on top of image compositing, the internet, etc.  I don't know how they assign that age number.  The maximum age one would expect would be about 8-12 minutes.

 I've heard that SiriusXM is making the transmission more often to minimize the amount of time that radar data spend in the hopper awaiting transmission.  I guess they have the bandwidth to do that because they can transmit all those different channels of music ;-)

-Fred