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3/24/2011 5:50 PM
 

TFRs show up as RED circles (and perhaps other shapes). These are temporary items that are included in an update.
Is there any chance a single user could generate an update with one or more user defined areas? I ask because I fly aerobatics around West Palm Beach and there are a few narrowly defined areas which meet both the need to stay out of the lateral boundaries of B-E airspace and 4nm away from the centerline of Victor airways. It would be incredibly helpful to see a "box" which it was safe to fly within. Right now I am doing it off ground reference from Google Earth screen shots. It is good but seeing yourself inside the box removes all question of where you were when you were doing what you were doing :)
I would be perfectly happy if all the update had were my defined areas and that these areas would replace any TFR data. If I leave the area or fly for other than aerobatic practice, I can always do the standard web based update to replace my custom designed areas then revert back when I return.
Thanks Much, Bill
 
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3/24/2011 10:33 PM
 

The TFR information appears to be in XML format. Although I am not familiar with this format, it is ASCII which makes it easy to edit.

<BOUND>RCN28.412500W81.572222R003.00</BOUND> appears to define a circle of 3.00 around the Lat/Long shown for Disney World which is a standing TFR in Florida. Can I edit the Lat/Long and diameter values, rezip the file and have it update correctly? Are there any checksum elements that would need updating?

Can you advise on the options available for the BOUND script? Is it possible to do rectangles and, if so, how do you define the two sides? My ideal solution would be a list of Lat/Longs to define the boundry of interest but a simple rectangle would be better than nothing.

 
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3/24/2011 11:07 PM
 

These are the seperate drawing features I have found so far and my guess as to what they are and how they work.

RC N19.405556W155.290556 R003.00 RC=RedCircle followed by Lat/Long follow by Radius. I have also seen BC or BlueCircle so the first element is color.

RA+ N38.859444W77.036422 N39.028897W77.641252 RedArc in a Plus Direction (whatever that means) followed by a start and end point

A- N38.934597W77.466694 N39.048269W77.500487 I assume this is similar to the above but in the other direction for the arc

L N39.027736W77.557075 Line element from the previous end point (???)

This appears to be a Red rectangle (or square)-

R L N31.450000W110.825000 L N31.450000W110.683333 L N31.333333W110.683333

Start First Corner Second corner

L N31.333333W110.825000 L N31.450000W110.825000
Third Corner End back to Start Forth corner

Most were pulled from this example........

<BOUND>RA+N38.859444W77.036422N39.028897W77.641252LN39.205857W77.500583LN39.205857W77.500583A-N38.934597W77.466694N39.048269W77.500487LN39.027736W77.557075</BOUND>

I will try something like this with coordinates for Florida in place of a standing Florida TFR.

 
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3/25/2011 1:06 PM
 

Bill,

Your plan can work (but manually tweaking files on the SD card is not something I can endorse or support). This is the spec for the XML file: https://www.jeppesen.com/download/fst....

Another idea that might be easier: you could create a flight plan that outlined your aerobatic area.

Good luck!
Walter


Walter Boyd
President, Adventure Pilot
 
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3/25/2011 7:05 PM
 

It turned out to be very straight forward. Here are the steps.
Create a working directory, place an update file in it (built with TFR METAR only checked), unblock the zip file then unzip the zip file (which will create a sub directory).
Go into the newly created sub directory and double click on the TFR.xml file to open it in Windows Explorer. Search for a TFR you want to use. I use the Disney World one as I know where it is and know to always avoid it. Once you have searched to the Disney TFR search on which will take you to the description of the TFR area as used to actually draw the displayed area. This follows the Disney title to the TFR you searched on by a good bit as there is a lengthily description of the TFR.
Edit what is between the BOUND statement. I used the following to outline the first aerobatic box.
<BOUND>RLN26.809444W80.378611LN26.750000W80.378611LN26.750556W80.282778LN26.781389W80.321667LN26.809444W80.378611

I just read over the spec linked from above and it answers all questions about what shapes can be built and just how to build them. Thank You!!

BOUND>
I also edited the name of the TFR to say my aerobatic box and changed the altitude min and max just to see if it would all translate. I then saved the updated TFR.XML file.
Move back up one directory level, rename the original update zip file to something like .zi_ to create a backup and then zip the subdirectory to create another update zip file which includes your modifications.
Perform a normal USB stick TFR/METAR update to your GPS using this newly created file. The newly defined TFR should appear complete with your naming and altitude min/max values. I plan on setting the airspace notification function in the latest version of software and testing the GPS' ability to keep track of when I am in the box.
It is worth noting that this process does not edit the SD card but only modifies the standard USB stick update process file. It is easily backed out by simply doing a normal TFR/METAR update and installing it as usual. This will overwrite your custom TFR area. My next step is to play with the color settings (I already have the box being displayed as a red shaded area which shows up very well in Vector mode) along with changing two of the sides to arcs as these sides are actually the arc boundaries of Class E airspace.

I'll try to shoot a picture of the results.

 
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