FLYER Forums

Does anyone have any opinions and experience using SkyDemon on their mobile phone while flying? I.e. do you have strong enough GPS coverage and does the software run OK with a phone signal?

I've got an ipad, but I'd need to use my second GPS connected by Bluetooth which is something else to forget!

Mine has worked a treat for a while, since Xmas I use an iPad mini but the two years prior to that I’ve used an iPhone with SkyDemon.

Always worked without issue even in the heat I’ve never had a shut down, I actually think the smaller form factor of a phone is better especially mounted on the yoke it’s in a good place for easy reference.

GPS shouldn’t be impacted by altitude as your technically closer to the satellites

Your “phone” signal will Carp out, I tend to get nothing about 4,000 so no real-time metar or weather but providing you updated maps and download plates before you take off you’ll be fine even with no data.

I have a basic Samsung Galaxy phone on which SkyDemon runs well. No built-in GPS receiver so I typically connect it to the SkyEcho in flight. I don’t usually try to get a phone signal when flying.

Iceman

Never had a problem with the built in GPS receiver in my mobile phone.

Same here.

I used a smartphone of the era, far less advanced than today's powerhouses as my prime navigation tool from 2010 through to getting a Nexus 7 around 2014.

I never have, and still don't connect to the cellular network in flight.

Rob P

The GPS receiver in your phone is independent of having a phone signal.

I almost always have SD running on my phone as well as the tablet in case the latter goes down.

VRB_20kt wrote:The GPS receiver in your phone is independent of having a phone signal.

Only partly true. Nearly all modern phones use the cellular signal for assistance, primarily to get a location fix in the first place (ore more precisely acquire the signal from each satellite). Once you have acquired the signals, it moves into tracking mode, when cellular data is not required. Without cellular data, it can download the required data from the GPS signal itself, but this is slow and will take 5-6 minutes for the complete set of data. You may find on standalone GPS receivers that they acquire faster if they have been used recently (last couple of weeks) and faster still if they have been used in the last day or two.

True, but there will be few who have driven to the airfield with our phones switched off unless we are involved in something extremely dubious. This being the case the GPS will be fully cognisant of where it is when in the aeroplane.

Rob P

My Samsung and Nexus tablets without SIMs fire up quickly enough, even after not being used for weeks. They only need read the almanac, or something, if I turn them on somewhere far away, where I have not been before.

Even without a SIM a mobile will search for mobile towers and locate itself

I often make phone calls whilst airborne using the Bluetooth connection to my fantastic SEHT headset.

There again I'm generally around 1500' travelling at 70 kts!

Never any problem in the Cub, apart from when the cheapo Halfords clippy mount thing failed and it fell in my lap...
iPhone running Skydemon with no external GPS, always shows the exact position on the airfield on startup. Never any problems.

Having said all that, I haven't replaced the mount and havent used it in the air for a while. Just a preflight weather and NOTAM check then local area knowledge and a 250,000 chart. It is a Cub after all.

If you're using your phone as a backup to your tablet, just make sure you sync the route across the two and have turned SkyDemon on before you leave the ground, so your phone can download all the NOTAMs (etc).
The internal satellite receiver on all modern phones can receive GPS and GLONASS, with many also able to receive Galileo and Beidou, They generally combine all of the different constellations to get a more accurate and quicker fix. As such they can often get better fixes than older or certified devices.

Iceman wrote:I have a basic Samsung Galaxy phone on which SkyDemon runs well. No built-in GPS receiver

I'm curious now about which Samsung Galaxy doesn't have GPS?!

Paul_Sengupta wrote:

Iceman wrote:I have a basic Samsung Galaxy phone on which SkyDemon runs well. No built-in GPS receiver

I'm curious now about which Samsung Galaxy doesn't have GPS?!

A20e

The specification does state GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, but it might well be that because I’ve only been using it since getting a SkyEcho2 that I assumed that its location services were not based on GNSS.

Iceman