Cost vs. Benefit?

So I was all stoked up yesterday after Paul's flight to Burning Man and his neat little Micro-Trak 300. I started digging into it more and thought for just over a $100 I could brew one of these up and it would be worth it. Wife's parents can follow as we fly. I even ran out to Barnes and Noble and bought the Ham Radio License Manual. I dug through some manuals and called some people about questions I had. I ordered the MT-300 from Byonics site and requested an antenna from Ryan Howell. Sam Buchanan emailed me in response to some questions and said the MT-300 was being phased out and the MT8000A was what I needed. That's when I realized that I had ordered the European version of the MT-300! Opps.

Here's my dilema now.... the MT300 was $105.... the MT8000FA is $180, plus the $15 power supply and a $25 antenna. So the cost went from $130 to $220.

Yea.. it's a neat gadget but I'm struggling with justifying $220+ for a tracking device that only my mother-in-law will use. It only enhances safety if someone knows you are flying and is watching or expecting you. I know that owning and flying my RV isn't financially justified either.

So for now I think I'll back-burner the APRS project until I can justify the cost or the cost comes down. I certainly don't want to downplay the APRS.. I'll continue to enjoy watching people putz around in the sky with theirs turned on.


For the benefit of others, here are some answers I got to a few questions I had:

Yes, you can split the NMEA output of a Garmin 496 to two devices. My 496 sends NMEA to my Trutrak AP. It would have also sent data to the APRS unit.

The 5v GPS's can be powered by the Micro-Trak units. There is a pin that supplies this. (Byonics site is very explicit about using only 5volts to power the GPS antenna) I wasn't initially sure what would generate the 5v to power one.

The MT-300 worked on 9-15v so I think I could have used ship power. The MT-8000 needs 9-13.2volts, thus the need for a power supply.

another option

Another way to go is buy a good 2m hand held transceiver for ~125.00 and a TinyTrak3 encoder... You will end up with approx the same total cost but have a 2m transceiver for ham use and back up.

I have both a Micro-trak 300 and the TinyTrack3 systems and both perform well. It is too bad the Micro-trak was phased out. It was a good, inexpensive way to get into APRS.

N523RV said:

It only enhances safety if someone knows you are flying and is watching or expecting you.

Click to expand...

So if you were mising for a few hours, would any loved ones even suspect that you might be flying? They only have to suspect and they can go look and see. You know... where is waldo?

The safety factor seems of supreme importance and seems way more helpful than the ELT. Im really surprised no one focuses on this more. I say the APRS has a higher ability to find me than the ELT in the event of a crash. Course we have both, im just saying.....

If its in the plane and on when your flying, then your good to go.
I like the 300 version and if they are discontinuing I may go buy a couple more. Talk about cheap.

I find the cool factor of tracking much less beneficial cause without a feature that allows someone to plat you to the destination, then its of limited use for me.
I leave tomorrow for FLorida to visit family. They can see me via APRS, but they cant know when I will land. If they had a google map feature that was a "from here" kind of thing and used the current speed of the last ping, and the "from here" was via crows fly, then now we are talking helpful for family.

Anyway I digress. I only intended to comment on the safety item.
I think Ill start a new thread on features.
Best,

I fly a Skylane right now. A few weeks ago one went down not too far from me - landed in a river because a mouse nest got sucked into the carb when the pilot applied carb heat. (He's OK).

I was told by no less than three family members / friends that they were concerned it might have been me but went to the APRS tracking website and realized I wasn't flying...so couldn't have been me.

I think you'll find that more than just your mother-in-law will be interested in knowing where you are and that you are safe...

Kahuna said:

I like the 300 version and if they are discontinuing I may go buy a couple more. Talk about cheap.

Click to expand...

The Byonics website says they are out of the Micro-Trak 300. If you know of a different source, let me know.

Thanks to another pilot .................I have now become someone who likes to go to different places on a whim. And this whim can change in mid-flight from 50 miles to 300. So there goes the "flight plans", along with search and rescue if you don't "close" the plan.

I have the Spot, and though it's somewhat different, and sends a signal once every 10 minutes, at least my wife can know what's going on, while at her workplace. It will also send out an emergency 911 or help call, if you can hit the button in time. All in all, along with moving map GPS, terrain warning, XM weather, and cell phones..............I think these are excellent "added safety" devices.

L.Adamson

More than for the mother-in-law

You could put your APRS info in the comments of a Flight Plan. That certainly would give the CAP a great idea of where to start looking. I think this is well worth the cost.

Don't you go visit people?

If you go visit someone in another state, they know when you are going to show up and can head towards the airport at the right time.

Try it out. If you don't like, I'm sure that someone on this site will buy a working unit from you.

Back in business....

Turns out someone at Byonics realized what a dufus I was when I ordered the EU version. The MT-300 arrived today and it is the 144.39 version, which I believe is the US version. So now back to studying the Ham Radio License Manual and assembling my APRS!