Prospective customer - deciding between RB or SBS-1?

[bailey_uk]

Hey Rod, im just a bit further north in Lake District!

So looking at the domestic shuttle flights and also the heavier aircraft inbound from the states which fly straight over us. Which of those wont be shown on the map?

[RodBearden]

Bailey - you'll see 90% of the stuff to and from North America, and most of the Easyjet, BA, and Ryanair flights - there are an awful lot of them! You'll also see BMI and BMIBaby Airbuses, but you won't get the FlyBE flights (Dash-8's and Embraer jets), because theyre not ADS-B equipped.

Sometimes, you can work things out, though - for example a few days ago I binoculared (is that a word?) a C-17 - being military they don't broadcast position - but there was only one on my live list at the time, so it had to be that one.

It's all great fun!

Rod

[bailey_uk]

Ah yeh I read about the FlyBE aircraft. No big deal! I may be addding 2 and 2 to make 5, but is their callsign Jersey?

[RodBearden]

I'm not a radio man, but airframes.org says so - so it must be!

Rod

[RodBearden]

BTW - it's not particularly a FlyBE thing - no Dash-8's or Embraers are fitted with ADS-B, and neither are interesting things like F27s, AN26s etc which I'd love to locate, but that's life! The occasional Tu154's have ADS-B, though.

Rod

[GlynH]

Glyn,

You can download RadarBox 2008 from:

http://www.airnavsystems.com/download/ANRB/ANRB15Setup.exe

OK...downloaded the file and installed on my W2K test machine.

When I try to run it I get the following error;

"The dynamic link library rb could not be found in the specified path C:\Program Files\AirNav Systems\AirNav RadarBox 2008"

and then goes on to list all the paths on that machine.

Tried a reboot but that did not work.

What have I missed?

Any ideas?

Thanks & regards,
-=Glyn=-

[AirNav Support]

Windows 2000 is very fussy with dlls. Best to try it on one your XP machines.

[GlynH]

That must be a record - 1min 11 secs for a reply - thanks AirNav!

OK...installed OK on my XP testbed and is running...thanks.

Barely runs long enough in Demo mode for me to set up my preferences and have a play though...:-/

First impressions are that it makes the SBS-1 screen look like it was knocked up by a 10 year old in a bedroom - it looks & feels like a 'proper' Windows program rather than a Mickey-Mouse/Toytown interface...but... do you remember when I asked in another thread if the program was multi-display aware?

Well this is crying out for it - the radar screen display on one monitor and the My Flights window with its Network/SmartView/ACARS/Alerts tabs on a second monitor so it can be opened up full screen to read all the details without impacting on the radar display window.

Choosing to have the Interface on the bottom to use the width of the screen impacts too much on the radar screen and leaving the Show Photos/Details window displaying crams the My Flights display beyond usability for me unless I have missed something here?

I have to say this one thing alone is a showstopper for me...:-(

Out of all the programs I have that can display/split across two monitors I think RadarBox is the one that would benefit the most from undocking wndows but ironically is the one program that doesn't have this feature.

Wouldn't anyone else here (apart from Gary) find this feature invaluable?

How about it AirNav - would it be possible to program in this feature in the not too distant future?

Thanks & regards,
-=Glyn=-

[AirNav Development]

That feature is on the to-do list and will be implemented with 100% guarantee. The problem is that V1.6 is in final testing stages so there is no time to have it ready now (for V1.6). Please keep your suggestions coming.

[GlynH]

That'll do for me!

Many thanks...looking forward to 1.6.1 then ;^)

Keep the suggestions coming?

Thought you'd be sick of me by now...:-)

Now about that scanner interface I mentioned earlier...

<ducking>

Thanks & regards,
-=Glyn=-

[AirNav Development]

Tell us more of what you would mean with scanner interface: how will it communicate with a scanner, which scanner, etc.

[GlynH]

OK...I'll do the best I can - excuse my limited knowledge at the moment as I do not own the RB but I have seen it working on the SBS-1

Gary (Allocator) is your man as he owns and has used the scanner interface in a previous life...;^)

The logical choice of scanner would be something like the Icom IC-PCR1000/1500/2500 series of scanners as they are already computer controlled and connected via USB.

Other candidates would be other Icom scanners such as the IC7000 & IC8500 and those made by AOR such as the AOR 8200, AOR 8600 and the AOR 5000 amongst others.

Obviously the only type of scanner that would be suitable are those with some sort of data port for controlling the device - not suitable would be something like my Yaesu VR500 that although it can be connected to a PC to allow settings to be configured & frequencies to be uploaded/downloaded is incapable of being 'told where to go' or driven to a particular frequency i.e. controlled by the PC.

I believe that when for example you move the mouse over an airport a drop down box appears that allows you to select a frequency associated with that airport and by clicking the desired frequency the scanner is automatically tuned to it.

This would probably not work for aircraft as they continuously change/reassign their frequencies...

I also believe the frequency lists associated with airports is easily editable to allow new or changed frequencies to be amended but as I said above Allcator would be the man to talk to regarding this 'feature'.

Thanks for listening AirNav...PM sent...

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Deadcalm]

Reference docking and undocking windows, I would be interested in this feature, so please add me to those who consider it an essential for a future version of the software.

DC

[wibelwobal]

Hi guys. I am also a prospective customer and will be making my  RB v SBS-1 buying decision very soon.
I am swayed towards RB but there are a couple of things regarding the display that I need to understand.
1. Can the aircraft symbol be changed to a square box as per the SBS display?
2. Can the heading track be removed to just leave the tail and can the tail length be adjusted as per SBS display?
3. Can user waypoints be inserted?
4. Can the display be centered on my home location?

All comments welcome


Rgds


Gary

[tarbat]

1. Yes, the aircraft symbol can be changed to a square box.
2. Yes, the heading track can be removed.  You can also adjust the number of seconds to remove the trail lines, but maximum length is around 3-5 minutes (I think).
3. Not sure.  The same outlines that can be used with the SBS-1 can also be used with Radarbox.
4. Yes, you can centre the display on your home location (the HOME button), or on any airport (ICAO code).

You can download the Radarbox software and run in demo mode to get an idea of how these work.