[ACARS] Air Nav 4 - Feedback Invitation

[Mark Avey]

I would add my comments, but, since AirNav shut down after the 30 minutes
trial with the ACARS Realtime interface open, I've been unable to restart
the program! Probably for the best...=0D
=0D
In summary - AirNav 3 with nice maps.=0D
=0D
Cheers,=0D
=0D
Mark=0D
=0D
-------Original Message-------=0D
=0D
From: acars@mailman.qth.net=0D
Date: 16 April 2002 15:30:22=0D
To: ACARS Group=0D
Subject: [ACARS] Air Nav 4 - Feedback Invitation=0D
=0D
Hi Everyone,=0D
=0D
I have provided the following feedback to the Airnav 4 team on the limite=
d
use I have so far made of the product. I now invite your comments if you =
so
wish but also request that you CC Airnav so they can get a handle on user
feedback.=0D
=0D
Hi,=0D
=0D
I am sure that this product was well "beta" tested on a range of computer=
s
but feel that some user feedback on the released product may be warranted
given some of the well documented problems with its predecessor. I have h=
eld
of ordering Airnav 4 based on my experience with, and problems encountere=
d
with Airnav 3, a summary of my thoughts and findings follow:=0D
=0D
a. I own a computer that lives in room with plenty of daylight and find t=
he
colours chosen for the map do not show up well at all in daylight. In Air=
nav
3 there was a utility to change the colours but in version 4 this seems t=
o
have either been missed by the developers or I cannot find the tool for
changing the colours. Is this meant to be?=0D
=0D
b. I have the Airnav Selcal Decoder running on one soundcard and the Airn=
av
ACARS Decoder running on a second sound card, which seems to be working O=
K
but when I try to interface the Selcal decoder with Airnav 4 it doesn't w=
ork
 I have removed the ACARS decoder and runn the Selcal decoder on bothe so=
und
cards but still the Airnav 4 interface does not recognise the Selcal deco=
der
 I cannot integrate the selcal decoder into Airnav 4.=0D
=0D
c. Airnav 3 had a utility to automatically plot the proposed route of an
aircraft if two or more waypoints were entered. This does not happen now =
in
Airnav 4 causing additional work to find out the advancing track of an
aircraft. Again, is this missing on purpose?=0D
=0D
d. On ocassions during the 30 minutes trial period. opening up the Help t=
ool
slows down the overall processes running on the computer until the comput=
er
freezes and a reboot is required. This may be because I am trying to do t=
oo
much within the limited time but I don't think it shoul crash my system!=0D
=0D
e. When running the acars interface to the Airnav ACARS decoder, position
reports being reported by aircraft are displayed on the map but no aircra=
ft
label can be found. There is no effect when I try to Show/Hide Label Deta=
ils
 I cannot get the details of the flight displayed on the map.=0D
=0D
f. In the Flight Management Mode there is no Flight Number box to enter
flight number details, therefore I cannot manually create a flight unless=
 I
do so in a Terminal Mode window.=0D
=0D
g. Someone has omitted the South West Pacific (SWP) HF frequencies from t=
he
list!=0D
=0D
h. There appears to be no speed indications anywhere for a flight. In Air=
nav
3 this feature displayed in the Flight Management mode was really useful =
to
confirm that the times heard from listening to a HF position report were
entered into Airnav correctly by checking that the speed was something
realistic.=0D
=0D
g. On one of my computers running Windows XP Airnav 4 will not download d=
ata
from the internet.=0D
=0D
The things I like about Airnav 4 are:=0D
=0D
a. the dynamic map, =0D
b. the display of waypoints, airports and flight routes, although the
program crashed when I displayed the flight routes and zoomed out,=0D
=0D
The things I hate about Airnav 4 are:=0D
=0D
a. the database still sucks!!!! I cannot think of a more restricted, leas=
t
accessible database known to aviation enthusiasts. The concept of only be=
ing
able to edit a single entity is really outdated. I want to be able to rem=
ove
hundreds of records from my Airnav database to speed up performance, tail=
or
the system to my needs and have control over which database tools I use f=
or
the job. As an example, the SW Pacific airlines and aircraft are not
particularly up to date so the add 8 Boeing 737s to the Air New Zealand
fleet in the Airnav database I have to do this one by one. If I could use=
 MS
Access or a text delimited database I could block copy or cut and paste
repetitive data to ease the method of updating. The same goes for deletin=
g
records, why can I not select 20 records and delete them without having t=
o
do it one by one? The databse is the one BIG let down that won't sell Air=
nav
4 to me. I have expressed my dislike before on the database issue but it
sounds like my voice hasn't been heard (and I am sure others feel the sam=
e
way) and cheap and nasty solution has been used.=0D
=0D
The product has been run with varying levels of reliabilty over the 30
minute trial period on the following two computers:=0D
=0D
Pentium 2 300MHz 256 Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, trial versions of the Airnav
Selcal and ACARS decoders.=0D
=0D
Pentium 4 1.6 GHz 256 Mb RAM, Widows XP, Airnav 4 standalone for internet
flight tracking (see above). =0D
=0D
I am sorry but I will not pay for another Airnav despite it's appealing
nature and specky GUI.=0D
=0D
Regards and good luck with the support issues as they arise.=0D
=0D
Mike Jackson=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
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_____________________________________________=0D
Acars info and Aircraft ID answers at http://www.acarslink.com=0D
like to join the ACARS Web Ring go to http://www.acarsonline.co.uk=0D
ACARS@mailman.qth.net=0D
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/acars=0D
=2E

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