[simpits-tech] Now I'm lost.

[Matt Bailey]

On Tuesday 30 December 2003 06:58 pm, you wrote:
> In a message dated 12/30/03 1:51:22 PM Pacific Standard Time,
>
> mattb at rtccom.net writes:
> > Hmmm, so these things are actually just two way momentary switches,
> > shorting
> > different contacts for either direction? I've been looking for just that
> > to do a simple little avionics panel for X-Plane and MSFS (too
> > "financially challenged"/cheap to go Hagstrom at the moment). Clicking to
> > tune radios drives me crazy..........
>
> Me too, so I've uploaded some pictures of the knitter switches, as I used
> them. They're pretty small, so I mounted them to small PCB's to make them
> easier to handle. the center wire with green on it is a common ground.
>
> Each clockwise 'click' is a momentary close across the common ground and
> the left pin, a counterclockwise 'click' is a momentary close across the
> right pin and ground. As I said, you have top go a little slowly when
> making big changes, or you miss clicks.
>
> The radio panel is currently a little more advanced than in the pic I
> uploaded - I have added knobs, and across the bottom below the displays
> there are three more knobs - OBS1, OBS2 and HDG. That leaves me enough free
> inputs (the ribbon cable carries 32) for three more rotaries or six more
> switches. Not sure what they'll be yet.
>
> Richard

	Cool, thanks. You just using a hacked keyboard (all the keys share a common 
ground anyway, right)? How did you do the LCD panels? Wouldn't happen to be a 
variant of the rig posted on digital-flight.com would it?
	I'll probably end up going the Hagstrom or phidgets route at some point, I 
want to also have a mini systems panel for things like icing systems, lights, 
gear, flaps, etc, and I want to use toggle switches for all that so I know 
what setting I've got without having to have something on the on-screen 
panel. If I had the $$$ I'd probably get GoFlight with custom covers and 
knobs for radios, since MSFS supports it and there is software to make 
X-Plane support it. One of these days when I get serious about doing a 
cockpit I'll probably get GoFlight...........of course, by that time 
hopefully I will have learned some programming, so I might do my own radios 
so I can have exactly the kind of functionality I want, on realistic looking 
displays (GoFlight looks a bit too large, and too red'ish, at least from 
pics).

	-Matt Bailey