Chasing with just Radarscope or PYKL3?

[Jim Hunt]

does anyone know if the iPAD or iPAD 2 have a usb port on it? I can't seem to find anything on Apple's site that says they do or don't.

No USB port. There is a camera connection kit which can read an SD card or attach to a camera via a USB cable.

There is a third party CF card reader available too.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

No USB port. There is a camera connection kit which can read an SD card or attach to a camera via a USB cable.

There is a third party CF card reader available too.

can you hook a USB modem up to that camera connection kit and run a usb modem with a signal boost amp connector to the modem? or is there an antenna port you can connect your signal boost amp to on the iPad? If not the iPad has some glaring flaws that need to be addressed on iPad 3. Was considering the ipad 2 but I dont think im gonna go that route if I can't connect my signal boost amp to it.

 

[Jim Hunt]

can you hook a USB modem up to that camera connection kit and run a usb modem with a signal boost amp connector to the modem? or is there an antenna port you can connect your signal boost amp to on the iPad? If not the iPad has some glaring flaws that need to be addressed on iPad 3. Was considering the ipad 2 but I dont think im gonna go that route if I can't connect my signal boost amp to it.

No, it doesn't provide that functionality. To be honest, I have not seen any phone or tablet provide that functionality to hook up directly to an signal booster or antenna. I have owned three Droids and looked at several Android tablets before buying an iPad 2.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

We went on a chase today with my iPad as the primary means of information. It was frustrating, to say the least, when the iPad lost its 3G signal, and we had no way of getting radar updates. When you've got a 3G signal, it's great, but when it loses the connection, you're basically running blind.

So the iPad is purely 3G while out on the road? A smart phone would still be able to pick up 2G (or whatever the slower connection is) and still be able to function right? So I guess unless you set up your own mobile wi-fi hotspot the iPad might not be the best tool in many situations. Luckily I'm not leaning toward an iPad at this point, just a smartphone.

*Sorry, I am seeing that my thread may have more appropriately been placed in the equipment forum. Then again this is the introductory forum so maybe I'm good =)

solution to your problems sir.

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/sho...dle-Point-Router-USB-Verizon-Modem-(3G-amp-4G)

 

[Scotty Mitchell]

I've been out a few time using just my LG Vortex phone with Pykl3 for radar. I like the idea of one simple unit with everything I need. It's worked well for me. I don't stream video so I don't need to have a laptop. I seem to get better coverage with my phone.

Scotty

 

[ELY M.]

I have went chasing with only phone and cameras. I have both radarscope and pykl3 on my phones. I prefer to bring much less things with me and only bring whatever I really need for chasing.

 

[John Fertsch]

95% of the time I go with my iPhone using Radarscope, Ham Radio - Digital Camera - trusty cooler of water and sodas!!!

other 5% ill pull out the mag mounted anemometer...

 

[N Parker]

Tried it out one night running both GR3/laptop and PYKL3/HTC EVO 4g on some low grade storms coming into town. Kept myself within a 20 mile radius of the house. Found my laptop with aircard kept a much better connection the whole time and updates came in MUCH quicker. I also had a better display obviously to dissect that data. The phone was nice from a portability standpoint, as it was easy to lay on the hood of the truck while shooting lightning, but I don't think I could trust it in the middle of a tornadic situation, especially with our spotty cell coverage around my parts. However, it is nice to have both, in case one takes a dump while in the field.

 

[al pietrycha]

For the past two years I’ve been running with radarscope off my iPad (iPad3 added to the fray this season) along with the Google maps app coupled with the iPads’ GPS. I use a MIFI card for internet service. I much prefer this setup compared to using a laptop and all the associated cabling and space. There have been times I miss the flexibility of a laptop (e.g., running multiple instances of GR, etc,), but all in all this works great for me, especially running with two iPads.

-Al

 

[Scotty Mitchell]

Since last year I added a galaxy tab 10.1 running pykl3. I tether it using my phone. I get excellent results with this combination. Both my phone and tab have modified roms so they are faster, smoother and data rarely drops. I drive a ford super duty and there's not a whole lot of room for a laptop. With all the improvements to pykl3 I feel completely safe using it.
Scotty

Sent using my Droid x2 running cm7 dx2 rc1

 

[brett conner]

I run radarscope on my MacBook pro with parallels running as well and my primary radar is the baron threat net. I also have Microsoft streets and trips with gps splitting software.

 

[BBauer]

Update:

Since my original post I have tried various amounts of equipment. Recently I went on a chase with only my cell phone and Android tablet (Acer Iconia A500 wifi).
My tablet fully charged will last probably 10 hours so I don't need it plugged in so with wifi tether it needs no cables or anything plugged into it. I used Radarscope/PYKL3 on the tablet. The level 2 data is a nice new feature on Radarscope (when using the iMap data feed). PYKL3 has the major road networks as a backup and also has the gesture pad for satellite, etc. and SN reporting. So the only cable I have is the power cord to my cellphone in this setup and I enjoyed this. I like the laptop once all set up, but I do also like the simplicity of phones/tablets/iPads. Touchscreens are just fun.

Chasing with laptop pros:
-Easier clicking through multiple and/or simultaneous (multiple panes) radar products
-Quicker and more solid GPS lock (phone and tablet can take a long time to lock onto satellites, and my phone has randomly lost the GPS signal a few times)
-Larger display on laptop
-GRL3 placefiles, etc, etc.

Chasing with laptop cons:
-Setup time (if in a hurry)
-More cluttered car due to cables, power inverter, etc.

Chasing with tablet/phone pros:
-Simplicity
-Less cluttered car
-More fun

Chasing with tablet/phone cons:
-Limited to viewing single product at one time (or two max if using both phone and tablet/iPad)
-Harder to scroll through products while driving (I chase alone for now). I only do this when safe, not in heavy rain or traffic.
-Less stable GPS (in my experience) although you can add network based positioning to help this. Overall, good though.

They recently updated google maps and you can pre-cache fairly large areas now so if you lose data you are covered. Just a few weeks ago you could only cache maybe 10 miles squared. With the most recent update you can now pre-cache areas at least 50 miles squared so you can now pre-cache an entire state within a minute or two. I'm not sure if there is a limit to pre-caching maps. Or you can download the Co-pilot app (or equivalent) which caches all the maps but does not have voice navigation in the free version.

 

[Andrea Griffa]

I tried to chase with only Radarscope on my iphone and google maps and I'm more and more convinced this could be the next era of stormchasing. Simple softwares, no problem with damned pcs, small devices. Yes, I like it.