Skydemon had the Powerflarm connected to an iPad through a Butterfly Connect and
displaying on a large TV screen at Aero Expo and very impressive it was too,
showing all the aircraft in the vicinity that were transponding. I came straight
home and bought a Butterfly Connect.
As to the GPS signal I personally think the best option for a wifi iPad is the
plug in Bad Elf which gets its power from the iPad and we used that on our iPad
1 and the iPad 2. We have now got iPad Minis which are by far the best for
flying
and the have a proper GPS chip in them, although they will use the phone
signal to improve the acquisition time if you have got the sim turned on. Quite
frankly it gets a signal lightning quick with the sim turned off so there is
no need for it to be on.
As for the Garrecht I have no experience other than what I have read.
Dave Watts G-BXDY
On 25 Jun 2013, at 11:25, Frans Veldman <frans@privatepilots.nl> wrote:
>
> On 06/25/2013 03:38 AM, Kevin Kedward wrote:
>>
>> Ps, Go buy Powerflarm so you don't crash into me or fall on me because you
>> ran
out of fuel. Kevin the safe one.
>
> Why would you go so dangerously close to other aircraft that you need
> Powerflarm to avoid hitting them?
>
> Seriously, this is exactly what I'm planning to do (buying the
> Powerflarm, not the "running out of fuel" part).
>
> On the North cape trip I saw some other pilots using an iPad mini with
> SkyDemon, and I liked it so much that I also bought an iPad and SkyDemon
> subscription.
> With no Apple experience I made the mistake to buy the "wifi-only" iPad
> model, assuming that I could use some remote bluetooth GPS antenna, or
> even the GPS inside my Android phone as a starter, later to find out
> that Apple simply sabotaged the possibility to use a generic external GPS.
>
> At the same time I had PowerFlarm high on my wish list. I already have a
> transponder-detector but I regularly fly in the Alps where there are
> many gliders and no radar coverage. And Powerflarm detects everything,
> mode-C, mode-S, ADS-B and Flarm. So I was very pleased to receive a new
> version of SkyDemon with Powerflarm support built in.
> It seems to support input with the Butterfly connect device, which
> communicates between the Powerflarm and Ipad via wifi.
>
> To avoid another buying mistake, I would like to hear if people have
> experience with such a combination.
> My intention is to buy the Garrecht TRX-1500, the Butterfly connect, and
> have the information om my audio interface and Ipad running SkyDemon. If
> this works well I don't need to have a dedicated powerflarm(-alike)
> display in my panel. And I don't need yet another GPS-antenna just for
> the iPad.
>
> Just a few questions:
> 1) It looks like the Garrecht TRX-1500 is the same as Powerflarm, but
> just a tad more optimised for use in powered aircraft than for gliders.
> Is there a reason to use Butterfly instead of Garrecht?
> 2) It looks like the Butterfly connect broadcasts not only traffic info
> but also GPS info. Neither party (not even SkyDemon) is willing to
> testify that I can use it to get SkyDemon working on the Ipad-wifi, but
> they suggest "it should be" and that SkyDemon will use the broadcasted
> GPS info (without Apple knowing that I violate their ban on receiving
> GPS-info on my No-GPS model).
> 3) How usable is the traffic info displayed via the SkyDemon? I have not
> seen pictures of it, what is actually displayed when there is
> conflicting traffic, but I like the idea to be able to see other
> aircraft positioned on the moving map.
>
> Thanks in advance for any wise words on this.
>
> Frans
>
>
>
>
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