Downloading and viewing GPS tracks from Aircotec XC Trainer

Downloading Tracks

1. Get the latest version of GPS Dump & install it.
2. Connect your XCTrainer to the computer via the USB-miniUSB lead (or the serial lead through a USB adapter).
3. For Windows, find out which port it's using by going to Control Panel / System (you may need to go to Advanced System Settings) / Hardware / Device Manager / Ports / USB Serial Port. For Mac, click on the Apple logo / About this Mac / More Information / Hardware /
4. Open GPSDump and set the correct COM Port in the Misc / Set COM Port menu
5. On the Aircotec, go to the flights folder, select the flight you want to upload, hit send, decide your level of detail (1sec track interval gives the nicest looking tracks) and be ready to hit send
6. On GPSDump, press XC Trainer, you should see "waiting for data" or something similar
7. Send the track from the XCT (1 sec interval for best resolution), you should see numbers counting down or up on the XCT and GPS Dump.
8. Save as a .IGC file

If, like me, you have an older XCT with no mini USB port you probably need to install the driver for a Prolific Chip USB Serial Adapter PL2303. Try here first, if it's not working google it and try a few other versions - you'll get one that works soon.

I've gotten tracks off my XCT and Gamin GPS's with GPS Dump running on OS X, Ubuntu, and Windows XP & 7 running on a virtual box inside Linux. It's not very intuitive, but it does work well when you get the settings right.

Viewing Tracks

For viewing the tracks I prefer Google Earth. Convert the tracks from .IGC files to .KMZ (so Google Earth can read 'em) files with GPS Visualizer (GPS Dump will also do it, but it doesn't look nearly as pretty :)

My favorite settings (Track Options, view advanced options) are:

* Altitude Mode - Absolute (for flights)
* Draw a shadow - 40% opacity
* Track width - 2
* Colorize track by - Altitude/Elevation
* Default color - Blue
* Spectrum direction - Up

Click Create KML file, download the file from the link that pops up after a couple of minutes, then open in Google Earth and geek out!

Another really cool thing to do in Google Earth is use the filter in the Leonardo Flight Database to isolate flights from the launch and xc distance of a flight you'd like to do, download other pilots xc flights and view them. You can learn heaps from this - where they climbed out from, how much height they head before big crossings (and if it worked or not), where they went afterwards, how much wind there was (drift of their climbs), etc.