GX Apollo series to WAAS?

Thomas McCausland

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Oct 16, 2002, 3:59:38 PM10/16/02

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We have a GX 60 series Upsat/Apollo series GPS we purchased used and
want to install in our PA28-140. I'm curious if anyone has any
scuttlebutt on if Upsat is going to upgrade them to WAAS. Their
webpage says they are still deciding, but I wondered if anyone out
there who may be better hooked into the company can shed any light on
the thought process they are going thru. Of course I realize that:

A. They would probably prefer to sell all 'NEW' WAAS capable boxes
and ..
B. FAA probably won't put IFR WAAS approaches online until sometime
late in the year 2050.

Thomas McCausland
PP-ASEL
1967 Cherokee 140

JerryK

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Oct 16, 2002, 7:02:45 PM10/16/02

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WAAS is looking more real every day. Might be as soon as this spring. Of
course the test bit will be one so you can't "officially" use the approach.
And WAAS is only 5 years late.

"Thomas McCausland" <acce...@acceltekservice.com> wrote in message
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Tarver Engineering

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Oct 17, 2002, 12:19:11 PM10/17/02

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"JerryK" <jerryk...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:3daded41$1...@corp-goliath.newsgroups.com...

> WAAS is looking more real every day. Might be as soon as this spring. Of
> course the test bit will be one so you can't "officially" use the
approach.

Once the test bit is reset you can officially use WAAS for VFR only; one
year, then some limited IFR use can begin.

> And WAAS is only 5 years late.

If they reset the test bit, otherwise WAAS remains a single point GPS
failure.

John

ADB Iceman

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Oct 17, 2002, 11:53:40 PM10/17/02

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"Thomas McCausland" <acce...@acceltekservice.com> wrote in message
news:1sgrqu0hqve5io9fu...@4ax.com...

> We have a GX 60 series Upsat/Apollo series GPS we purchased used and
> want to install in our PA28-140. I'm curious if anyone has any
> scuttlebutt on if Upsat is going to upgrade them to WAAS.

[stuff deleted]

> A. They would probably prefer to sell all 'NEW' WAAS capable boxes
> and ..

When I bought my GX60 in 1999 I talked to engineers at UPSAT about the fact
that the GARMIN was WAAS upgradeable and that UPSAT products were not. I was
told then that the strategy was to sell a new box and that the box was
specifically not designed to be WAAS upgradeable.

That does not preclude UPSAT from doing what they are currently doing with
the GX50 upgrades with the Apollo Loran. A new unit that fits in the old
slot.

ADB ICEMAN

Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX

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Nov 9, 2002, 9:54:32 AM11/9/02

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On Wed, 16 Oct 2002 19:59:38 +0000, Thomas McCausland wrote:
A WAAS unit would have vertical guidance. I don't know of any
current GPS units that give a glideslope signal beside combo GPS/ILS
units.

More channels, higher processing speed, and a larger database
may be desired for WAAS.

You'll be lucky to find a box that slides into the old tray
with just the addition of wiring for glideslope.

David Bridgham

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Nov 10, 2002, 11:03:05 AM11/10/02

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Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX wrote:

> A WAAS unit would have vertical guidance. I don't know of any
> current GPS units that give a glideslope signal beside combo GPS/ILS
> units.

My GX-60 drives the glideslope indicator during its power on self-test
so evidently the wiring and drive circuitry are in place. It just needs
a WAAS receiver and software.

However, talking with the UPSAT people at Oshkosh thissummer and asking
about doing something to get a little more than 2MB of flash in the
thing (I'm willing to buy my own flash cards), I got the idea that they
consider the GX-60 as obsolete as punch cards ("It's FOUR years old").
I was informed that they didn't want to take their developers away from
other things to work on something so old.

-Dave