NEMA GPS device for IPAD

[theskunk]

Understood -- frankly, getting a USB to Serial might not actually solve your problem, as you'll still need the null modem adapater/cable. I found a Null Modem Male->Female adapter at radio shack and then added a gender changer, which worked well, however my cable length issue that you described nipped me a bit, and so now I have a 2 meter long female - female null modem cable which i'm using with good success.

It does plainly say on the website that the things you will need are a female - female DB9 (type of plug) Null Modem adapter in order for it to work, and at first I didn't understand this either, however after reading up on the difference between a null modem and a gender changer, it actually swaps several pinouts 'under the hood' to make it work.

[DrZGard]

Understood -- frankly, getting a USB to Serial might not actually solve your problem, as you'll still need the null modem adapater/cable. I found a Null Modem Male->Female adapter at radio shack and then added a gender changer, which worked well, however my cable length issue that you described nipped me a bit, and so now I have a 2 meter long female - female null modem cable which i'm using with good success.

It does plainly say on the website that the things you will need are a female - female DB9 (type of plug) Null Modem adapter in order for it to work, and at first I didn't understand this either, however after reading up on the difference between a null modem and a gender changer, it actually swaps several pinouts 'under the hood' to make it work.

This of course begs the question why doesn't it just have a female plug on the serial end to start with? Is there an application where the male end is necessary and therefore it is made this way for a reason?

[theskunk]

I'll let jcar chime in, but my understanding is that the spec of the RS232 serial (ie: the standards that everybody goes by) is such that you don't change the pinout on the output, that way some random IT guy knows what the pinout already is, and a null modem isn't infact a modem at all, it just switches the pins around for 'direct communication'. Back in the day, there were serial devices that didn't actually need switching, while some actually did, depending on what they were going to hook up to in the long run.

I believe the primary reason that this isn't a USB device is because of the way that the flight sim outputs its 'simulated gps' (ie: it tries to say 'hey ipad, you're going to be a garmin for a while... good luck with that!') and the only way to interpret that (ie: the way we can engineer the ipad to recognize as a garmin) is over serial, since no device information is transmitted that identifies it either way -- it just says 'here's a port. hi port. you can have this data now', and doesn't really care whether or not its a garmin or a avidyne or an ipad or a ______.

Hopefully this makes at least a little sense, but there is a reason that it was developed this way, not just to make people's lives difficult.

[DrZGard]

My second trip out to Radio Shack got it working. They didn't have a female to female null modem so had to keep the adaptor and use it with the null modem. I also bought an extension so the cable length is not a problem and can use the iPad in the position I am used to when simming. It all works now and it is very pleasing to have ForeFlight and Jepp FD work with the sim. I can get more used to their operation when geo referenced so I don't have to think about when flying in a real plane. Jon offered to send a null modem for the trouble I was having. I noticed that he has posted some videos now that should be much more helpful than the information available (that I was aware of at least) when I made the original purchase and then set out to get the additional parts needed.

[jcar]

I have a new forum engine installed on http://gpssimcable.com/support/forum/ if you could post all support questions there it will help getting issue resolved quicker. Thanks

[Steve Caffey]

I haven't read the whole thread, so I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but I got an email from Flying Magazine today which mentioned this:

http://www.flyingmag.com/news/cygnus-ne ... OTQ0MzI1S0

FYI

[jcar]

Yes different solution with price tag of 300% increase. I guess they think they are flying in a real airplane. (LOL) I also posted new videos in both the blog and the home page of using both X-Plane 10.10 and FSX shooting an approach using the GPSsimcable on Garmin Pilot and Foreflight 4.6.

http://gpssimcable.com/

http://gpssimcable.com/blog/

JC

[jeiting]

A new option has appeared.
http://fsxflight.com

I wrote this app to scratch my own itch. It piggy backs off the X-Plane support built into ForeFlight and WingX so requires no cables or extra configuration. I opted to sell it because I just bought a plane and could use the money.

I plan on maintaing it and updating it as needed. I really wanted it for myself so will be eating my own dog food on it for a while.

Hope you enjoy! I know I will.

[gavink42]

Looking forward to trying it, Jacob! Congrats on the airplane purchase! What did you get?

[jeiting]

Looking forward to trying it, Jacob! Congrats on the airplane purchase! What did you get?

1965 Cherokee 140 with a full IFR package. 430w, stec-30 AP, HSI, Mode S transponder, and garmin audio panel. I want to get my instrument ticket in it as soon as I recover from the pre-buy inspection and purchase.