Where's Wally?

[alanmack]

I am writing a story for SCRIBE on what I believe to be a magnificant new (old) piece of kit on the market.

About the size of a box of 20 cigarettes and of similar weight this WALLY (My Name) will cost you a one off cost of about R1,000. Push the green button and it's on > Red button and it's off. Put it in your pannier bag and your complete journey can be followed on the internet by loved ones (with a 2 second delay on your position at any given time) or who ever you give your password to. At any later date you can download a logbook of your complete flight. Still under development the product was not built for aircraft as the target market is mobile asset tracking.

Is this not the next generation of affordable transponder?

You could also put it in your car, in a box with your Enigma if you drown it and have concerns about where the Post Office will send it. Trixie could put it her "lads" car if she wanted to know where he parks at night, etc Most importantly your whereabouts can be established within seconds of an authorised person becoming concerned about your whereabouts.

What are your thoughts > Full detail will be written up for Trixie to consider for a future magazine.

[KFA]

Could also double as a locating device in an emergency and a lot cheaper than an aircraft system. Would be interested. Would the software come with? How long will the batteries last? Will it be able to work of aircraft power? How many hours of recording?

[Tumbleweed]

Nice addition to the toy box.

[Aerosan]

Ill buy one

[Biggles]

How many recent incidents could have been resolved alot quicker with one of there toys... I would feel alot happier knowing that someone knows where I am at the touch of a button!!!!

[Big-D]

Put me down for one, at the price it is a bargain and I am sure the wife will worry less about me in the middle of the bush if I have one of those

[Bennie Vorster]

I'll have 10 for that price if it works well and is there a monthley subscription or not?

[Massimo]

Hey Big D do you really think your wife is worrying about you when you in the middle of "the bush"

[DieselFan]

Range / Signal coverage?

[Tailspin]

Hi I think my Softness would also feel better if i had one of these on me at all times when flying.

Would also like one.
Subscription fees ?
Monthly rental ?

[alanmack]

Thanks for the questions - please keep posting them - you are writing the article for me.

Pricing: There are many options that range from a basic of R1000 to a top of range model with many options added of under R3000 for a deluxe Wally. Any Wally comes with a simcard and a requirement for activation with MTN etc which will cost you about R30 per month. The poor cousin of the deluxe Wally at about R1000 gives you a panic button with and approximate location in rural areas and a better location in urban areas which is driven by available cell etc technology triangulation.

The cost of R1000 to about R2700 is a one off cost. The Cell network charge is monthly "forever" but is most cost effectively bought on a prepaid basis for 24 months at a time.

Top of the range will SMS your selected list of people and do most things except make them tea whem you crash remembering that before and after you crash your "softness" can follow your progress on the internet.

Software comes with the one off price and is activated by purchasing your cell phone contract on the internet.

Battery Life is about 12 hrs without charging but it can be plugged into your plane, house or car to receive a 12v or 220 v charge as is the case for your Radio.

Your hours and Kilometers are logged on the internet. The more fancy models will send you an SMS if your plane is moved or started provided it is connected on your plane. The inbuilt GPS switches off once the plane is stationery and it is activated by a movement sensor so the power drain is minimal.

Signal coverage is limited to GSM @ GPRS combined with GPS at any single point.

[Griffin]

The link is GPRS which means it uses the Cell Phone network to report your position and other information. It is data so the cost would be very cheap (max R2 per Meg. = million letters/numbers) The biggest problem would be coverage. I dont think it would have given the position of the paramotor pilot and would certainly not work in many of the areas we fly in. Wonder if they could sell me a unit that will allow me to track my teenage daughter.

[alanmack]

Yes it can monitor your daughters movements and you can add a biometric reader so that she ID's herself every set time period or if she crosses a Geofence that you determine.

It is GPS and GSM with GPRS for data. So if it is in your car and you go into a parking garage you lose GPS but not the rest. Mostly for aircraft GPS is everywhere.

Fly safe

[DieselFan]

The link is GPRS which means it uses the Cell Phone network to report your position and other information. It is data so the cost would be very cheap (max R2 per Meg. = million letters/numbers) The biggest problem would be coverage. I dont think it would have given the position of the paramotor pilot and would certainly not work in many of the areas we fly in. Wonder if they could sell me a unit that will allow me to track my teenage daughter.

The GPRS coverage in SA is actually quite large more so than 3G, and even in the remotest of areas.

This is for vodacom tho

[alanmack]

I have a demo unit. Dawid Bredenkamp also used a demo unit on their flights from Pretoria to the Wild Coast - Maps and detail will be provided in a story to be submitted to Scribe.

If you would like to test it - I will lend it to you in return for your thoughts.

Fly safe