Does anyone have GPS experience?

[YISkyDive 0]

Hey guys,

I did some homework, and i decided to get a GPS to track my canopy flight, for fun more than anything.

Has anybody else played with a GPS and canopy flight?

I'm just going to use the logger to record "swoops" up high. See what diffrent types of turns and degrees of turns yeild.

I got my foretrex201 today , so i'll test it out as soon as the plane goes up... when ever that will be due to weather coming.

Just wondering, bascally, what units and software you guys use. I'm looking into the paralog software, but i also want something with 3D mapping of my canopy flight.

Thanks guys,

Dave.

[LouDiamond 1]

Well your on the right track with Paralog as it will give you the swoop data in the format you want. I use the fortrex, etrex vista and the GPS V all with Paralog which will have a 3d mapping version available to the public very shortly. If you do a search on here you will find quite a few threads with links to other GPS SW pages that you can use. The only draw back to them is they aren't designed with sydiving in mind where as Paralog is.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[roq 0]

I use the MLR free fly paragliding GPS and the software CompeGPS http://www.compegps.com/new/main.php?flash=1

Roq

[Tonto 1]

I use a Foretrex 101 for wingsuiting. I went for the battery version because often I am where electricity is not, but a pocket full of tripple A's can go.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[YISkyDive 0]

cool guys,

i guess from the looks though, no one uses it intesively for up -high swooping analysis?

More or less, that is my goal. To set up, and practice both turns, and on heading realeses and then see if my altitude loss is consistent, or very sparatic. Obviously, conitions have an impact on altitude loss, so only close jumps would have meaningful data..

does anyone use a free ware program that can draw a line in free space, and analyze the actual flight?

i found some pay for use software that has 400 times more the features i need if i am gonna get paralog, i just want something that can draw my track and give me a camera to look around at the whole thing.

thanks for the input so far guys,

dave

[ffejdraga 0]

I know what you are after.

Last summer, a guy named Don Cooke who was writing a book called "Fun with Gps", came up to our dropzone to get info about skydiving with gps's . he basically went all over, and found different uses for gps'....all kinds of different things. Anyway, he came to the dropzone to see how skydivers might use it, and what they were looking for for info.
He had Garmin gecko's and foretrexes that we used. We had two birdmen using one each, one speed diver, and me, using it specifically to gain knowledge of my swoops.

It collected data, and then through some type of software, overlaid the track I laid with a satellite image, to see how it looked over the ground.
It was awesome info. The guy who is writing the book owned the company that Mapquest uses for software, so it is pretty good stuff

All the graphs and pics can be found here:
http://www.jumptown.com/GPS/gps.html

all different stuff...
Orange Airport is 555' MSL, I am 6'1 and was wearing the Gecko on top of my helmet....
The gecko was set at max info, so it took a measurement once every second, and the dots represent each measurement. So, the further apart the dots, the faster I was going.

Enjoy,
jeff D-16906

[cobaltdan 0]

we use gps extensively for canopy analysis. however for turning and swoop analysis we found gps alone to be lacking. we now use a system that integrates gps with barometric, + inertial (triaxial accelerometers, magnetometers and gyros). our software replays the data like a movie superimposing a moving canopy on a 3d gps plot correwctly orientated in roll, pitch and yaw. also while displayinng detailed raw and calculated analog data.

down side is it is a very expensive system.

on the inexpensive side the software compegps that roq mentioned is very good.

sincerely,

daniel preston
www.atairaerospace.com

Daniel Preston <><>
atairaerodynamics.com (sport)
atairaerospace.com (military)