Newbies guide to submitting XC flights with track logs.

Newbies guide to submitting XC flights with track logs.
(Last revision 01/08/09)

1. If you do not have GPS Dump on your computer then get it from: http://www.gethome.no/stein.sorensen/body_gpsdump.htm and run it on your computer. Different GPSs communicate with GPS Dump in different ways. In the appendix below are brief guides for negotiating GPS Dump with the main types.

2. Now that the data points have been loaded into GPS Dumps omit the points which do not relate to your flight. This can be done by referring to either time, gps height and or speed. Select the point which marks the beginning of your flight by clicking on the date and then scroll down until you find the last data point of your flight and SHIFT-Click.

3. Now save your flight log in the .igc file format by going to FILE and then selecting ‘Save file in IGC format’

4. Now interrogate your flight by clicking on the ‘Save log (flight Data)’ button which will provide you with a screen giving analysis of various factors of your flight from times to turn points and distances. You will need to refer to some of this data later on, so do one of the following;
a. Leave the screen open on your desktop and refer to it directly.
b. Select ‘copy to clipboard’ paste into a word processor and print out.
c. You can also select ‘save’ to generate a .kml file which will allow you to view your flight in Google Earth and will further analyse your flight by; Distance over 5, 4 & 3 points, open distance, out and return, flat triangle and FAI triangle.

5. There is now a choice of submitting your flight in the Southern league via the National league and at the same time entering the National league (a fee of £5 applies along with some extra conditions, such as no flight under 10k, etc...) The National league website is very thorough and largely self explanatory. In theory flights entered via the National league are automatically duplicated into SHGC website’s XC league – in theory. Full and clearer details of the National League can be found at http://www.pgcomps.org.uk/
Alternatively, you can submit the flight solely into the SHGC website (this may also be required if the flight details are not populated by the National website). Once again this is largely self explanatory and can be done by addressing the ‘Add a flight’ submenu after logging onto www.shgc.org.uk

6. Irrespective of how or where you choose to enter your flight. You will most likely need to convert you Latitude / Longitude coordinates into British Ordinance Survey (OSGB36) coordinates as these are the requisite norm for both the national / local leagues and the SHGC Flight diaries. In either case you will need the Lat/Long coordinates generated by GPS Dump’s facility.
a. In the National League there is a pop-up window which will convert the the Lat/Long coordinates you enter to the required OS and even conveniently pastes the results into the chosen fields. It is worth making note of the OS coordinates if you are planning to enter the flight into the SHGC website. These can also be found at a later date by viewing your flight details on the National website.
b. If only entering your flight into the SHGC XC League then the coordinates can be converted using online tools such as http://www.fieldenmaps.info/cconv/cconv_gb.html and or
http://www.trigpointinguk.com/info/convert-wgs.php?
It has been pointed out that the National league’s conversion utility is not currently entirely compliant with WGS84 data (common standard for most GPS) the degree of error is small but can be up to 100m depending upon location.
If your flight does not include turnpoints then it is possible to upload the .igc file of your flight and the open-distance length will be calculated for you.

Appendix
Having your gps communicate with GPS Dump.

XC TRAINER.
a) Connect the devise to the computer. From the menu select flights. Select the flight you wish to upload and then select ‘send’ . You will be presented with a menu of choices of formats and detail (i.e. MXP 10, siginifies that the file will be in the MXP format and the data points will be 10 seconds apart). Place the cursor next to one of the MXP choices but do not press ‘send’ yet!
b) In GPS Dump press the button ‘XC trainer (MXP)’ and only then press ‘send’ on your XC trainer.
GARMIN
To follow.