Soaring Circuits Recording Altimeter RAM 3

Thanks in part to recent "long distance line of sight" flights by GPS and his multi rotor I've ordered an altimeter.
Watching his videos got me to wondering again just how high I'm flying with various models and my "Easy Glider Pro" powered glider in particular.
I think this one is pretty cool, it will log and save all your flights and comes with software to load the info to your PC.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=308364

That is pretty cool Bill.  They seem to have two versions available, one appears to be limited to 200m.  I followed a link from the one you posted:
http://www.soaringcircuits.com/

I think some of my receivers have a telemetry option but I don't know if those options store the data for later retrieval or are only intended to be used with a transmitter that can display the data in real time.  The RAM3 costs $79 and they sell a battery for it for $15.  Those may be list prices, I didn't price shop around.

Pelagic Pilot has been successful at using his Android powered mobile phone with the free " Google My Tracks" app installed.  This app can also output a KML file that can be viewed on Google Earth.

Here is a brief video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBmjJrgUGdE[/youtube]

The app is free and as you can see from the video you can do a lot of cool things with it.  You just need to be brave enough to fly your mobile phone in your aircraft!

Yep, the 200m cut off version is for competition flying I believe.
The $79 price is what I had found also, although I did get a 10% discount on the one I ordered. 


The app for the phone looks pretty cool too but you've got to have a phone that does more than make phone calls... like mine. 

Okay fellas, I am in need of some technical assistance here.
I've done a couple of test flights with the new altimeter. The information from the device loads to the PC software fine and I am able to manipulate the graph as the instructions suggest and it looks similar to the one below.
The problem I am having is, when I save the files, they are saved as document files, .alt or .csv. These files open as two lines, first, is "time" in seconds and the second, is "elevation". I am able to see all that occurred in the flight as numerical data but I can't figure out how to get the original graph to reopen so I can post it to show you all.  ???
This graph is not mine but is what I am referring to.

Hi Bill,

How are you trying to open the files?  Are you double-clicking on the files themselves, or are you opening the application program first and then using a File | Open selection from the menu?

Well, I've tried both John. It seems all the word processing programs will open the files as documents. When I try to open a file from the graph in the application I get this pop-up.   

"Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue".

Then near the end of some lengthy system information (that it will not let me copy and paste) is this. 

*****JIT Debugging*****
To enable just-in-time debugging, the .config file for this application or computer (machine.config) must have the jit debugging value set in the system.windows.forms section. The application must also be compiled with debugging enabled.

For example:
<configuration>
    <system.windows.forms jutDebugging+"true"/>
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhanded exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer rather than be handled by this dialog box.


Where in the world is that found?  :-[

Actually it does copy, here are the contents of the dialog box.


See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.OverflowException: Arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow.
  at Altimeter.Form1.mnuOpen_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem.MenuItemData.Execute()
  at System.Windows.Forms.Command.Invoke()
  at System.Windows.Forms.Command.DispatchID(Int32 id)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmCommand(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4223 (VistaSP2GDR.050727-4200)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
Altimeter
    Assembly Version: 1.0.2899.19136
    Win32 Version: 1.0.2899.19136
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Soaring%20Circuits/FlightView%203.3/Altimeter.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4228 (VistaSP2GDR.050727-4200)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4223 (VistaSP2GDR.050727-4200)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4230 (VistaSP2GDR.050727-4200)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
    Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.4016 (NetFxQFE.050727-4000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
    <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

It looks like you may have a DLL problem with the installation of the program.  There is also a mention of some visual basic runtimes which could be bundled as part of the program.  Sometimes these are version issues.

Do you have Excel, the spreadsheet program?  If not, get a copy of LibreOffice (it's free).
If you do have Excel, or another spreadsheet program, open the CSV file with it.  You will be able to view the data and create some cool graphs that way.

The LiberOffice has the same issues as the other document reading programs on this PC. It either reads the file as a document or the same error message comes up, depending on where I try to open it from.  :

I have OpenOffice (older version of LibreOffice) and in the spreadsheet app in the open menu item there is a huge list of file types.  One is "text csv".  I am on a Linux computer so I don't know what the open dialog box presents a windows user.  Did you see text csv as a option when opening the file?

If that still does not work, try uninstalling the graph program, restarting your computer and then opening the file again with LibreOffice Spreadsheet.  If you still get the error you may have older versions of some DLL files.  When was the last time you ran windows update?

Looks like a Microsoft .NET Framework ERROr

Try re-installing

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21

I did the uninstall and restart/reinstall suggestion, no change.

I use the auto update feature in windows so I assume every thing is up to date.
I'll check into that a little more.

I don't seem to have the open menu item you refer to in the LibreOffice spreadsheet. I've not found the file type list among the many tool there are there.

Just in case I don't get this sorted so I can show your the graph, I can tell you yesterday's flight made it to 1,092',
somewhat higher that I would have guessed. I could have gone a little higher but there was a pretty stiff north breeze blowing.

PS;
I also did the Framework re-install too wOOd, well installed the updated version anyway.

One baby step forward..., no more error notices and I'm able to now open saved files in the application. I used a free version of FixCleaner. It was supposed to be able to repair .dll errors among a number of other things.

Still not able to open the files as a graph in LibreOffice or any other program to be able share though. 

Just got to keep messing with it I guess.  :

Never give up.  ;D
The windows snippet tool got the job done. Didn't even know I had one. ???

From about the 12 minute mark to 14 I was trying to get the plane on the ground in one piece in the wind. At about 12:45 I was on the ground momentarily and the wind picked the plane up we were flying again. 
As you can see, it took several more attempts to get the plane landed.



And the plane.

Bill - Congratulations on resolving your problem.  Sniffing out DLL crud on windows is a pain.  Although to be fair I have also had to chase down some dependencies in Linux which can also be a lot of fun.

Is the place you flew from at sea level?

According to Google Earth, it is about 270'. I had entered 200' in the software so to be slightly more accurate I should have chosen the next increment which would have been 300.

Much of the problem was just me.  :

The reason I was asking about your elevation is because it seems that the Google My Tracks app doesn't seem to account for start altitude so you have to subtract your elevation from the max altitude, or so it seems.

Re: "The windows snippet tool got the job done. Didn't even know I had one - Bill"
... Hey sorry Bill I wasn't paying attention and I didn't realize ALL you wanted was a 'screen dump' ... Snippet was a new one for me also but WinXP don't have it except in a third party download so there was no surprise

Anyhowzzz LATE and AFTER the fact I just now want to ADD to your arsenal of tips'n tricks. You can do the same trick without 'Snippet' although 'Snippet' might be better but it would certainly better to know both ways. The method I'm going to show ya also does not require a stand alone application loaded into memory and has been available since the first conception of Windows through to Win7

All you need to do at the 'screen' you need to copy is PRESS your keyboards 'Print Screen' key and then open your favorite photo editor, then 'Paste' into your now in memory 'screen shot' ... now 'crop' and adjust as ya see fit, FYI:

    [acronym=EYE See! "w00d's Photo Musings" LINK to my BLOG] [shadow=grey,left][size=1em]w[/size][size=1.25em]00[/size][size=1em]d[/size][/shadow][/acronym]



[hr]

Thanks wOOd.
I tried this, among many other things yesterday. Couldn't get it to work and still can't. Are you supposed to press any other key along with the "Prt Scr" key? When it works, do you just paste to an empty photo folder? The editor on this machine seems only to open when you have a file to send to it.

It was a little to warm to play outside yesterday so I spent hours here before finally getting that screen shot.  :

No need press any other key along with the "Prt Scr",
... you just HIT the 'print screen' key THEN OPEN your 'photo editor'

When the 'photo editor' is OPEN , goto the 'Edit' menu and click 'Paste'

If the 'Paste' command is 'greyed' out then the screen-shot didn't copy, TRY again!