You can ignore the computer parts completely - just use it as an audio vario. Ignore the display and input knobs. There's an on-off switch beside the display, and there's a volume control on the display.
The Mosquito and LS-7 have Borgelt B-100 flight computers with GPS. Being all built-in, this system is pretty nice to use. It takes a little learning, but you don't have to learn everything the first time. Here's an easy start to using it.
1. I don't have time to learn how to use it, it looks complicated, is it a computer I don't understand those, etc etc.
You can ignore the computer parts completely - just use it as an audio vario. Ignore the display and input knobs. There's an on-off switch beside the display, and there's a volume control on the display.
In the Mosquito, the B-100 will switch to speed-to-fly when the flaps are set to 0, -1 or -2. With flaps +1 or +2, it's a vario. In the LS-7, there's a climb/cruise switch on the left side of the cockpit, near the trim knob.
(You can stop reading now if you're in a hurry. That's the bare bones.)
The only problem with using it like this is that you can't change the Macready setting. It's usable like this for local flying.
2. Use it as a glide computer. I'm flying locally, I'm not going to enter a task.
You tell the B-100 what to do using a control unit with three knobs and a couple of buttons. In the Mosquito, the control unit is usually velcroed in place beside the flap lever. (Some people like to stick it on a stretchy band around the pilot's upper leg.) In the LS-7 it's usually mounted on the panel.
The knob furthest from the buttons changes the display from one page (screen) to the next. One click right changes to the next page to the right, etc. Imagine the pages are in a line from left to right. If you aren't sure where you are in the line, give the first knob a quick spin to the left, and you'll be on the left-most page.
The middle knob moves the cursor around on the page. If you want to change a value on the page, first you put the cursor on it. The cursor is a block of inverse video - white text on black, the reverse of the usual colours.
The knob near the buttons from you changes the value the cursor is on.
You rarely need to use the buttons on the controller. When you set a number, it takes effect immediately. The buttons are "Help" (closer to the knobs) and "Enter". Pressing the Help key while the cursor is on a field usually tells you about that field: such as, what the number means, what its units are.
The display unit has several different displays called "pages". This article covers only the most commonly used ones.
Here's one of the pages. The status page is packed with information. To get to it, spin the Page knob left to get the leftmost screen, then one or two clicks right until this page is displayed.
The status page in this picture has the black cursor on "Bishop", which is the name of the next waypoint. (If you're flying from Waikerie, you'll probably want that to say Waikerie -- YWKI.) Above that is the current average climb rate: it's negative, we're gliding. Reading down from Bishop, we see the distance to Bishop (135 km), that we're 0 km right of track, that the heading to Bishop is 130 degrees magnetic. QNH is 29.92 (inches), the B-100 is in Cruise mode (showing speed-to-fly), and we expect to be at Bishop in 34 minutes 45 seconds.
Starting on the top of the right column of numbers, we have the Macready setting (9.5, wow!), 40 litres of water ballast on board, the Bugs setting is 0%, and wind which has been estimated at 5 km/hr from the west. Altitude is 9529 feet, and our finish height has been set to 5241 feet. The last number says that we have about 74,600 feet of altitude less than needed for final glide.
In the middle of the display is a broken line of dots. Notice right at the bottom in the middle, is a glider symbol? (Something like an upside down T.) That's a final glide indicator. When we're a bit closer to final glide, the glider symbol will rise towards the dotted line. When it reaches it, we have final glide. Above it, we have height to spare.
If you're going to trust the final glide indication, remember that it depends on correct settings for altitude, finish height, and wind. It's a good idea to set the Bugs to 5% or 10% - you can be sure the glider isn't exactly how it left the factory.
Another useful page is the heightband graph. It's one click right from the Status page above. It shows a graph of the climb rate against height. If the black bar extends a long way to the right, it was a strong climb at that height. You can see on the picture that the thermal started weak, then was strong for some time, then faded away. The dotted lines show the previous thermal. This thermal got us to final glide height, as shown by the "F" and broken line across the middle of the screen.
You can see that the heightband page also shows Macready setting, thermal average and overall average. Some values, such as MC, are repeated on several pages: don't worry, there's only one Macready setting, changing one changes them all.
3. Entering a task
The task page is where you let the B-100 know what task you're flying. With this information it can help you navigate and show final glide around the whole task, among other things.
The task page shown at right is set for a flight from Minden to Bishop to Airsail and finishing at Minden. The list of turnpoints starts at the top left, reads down to bottom left, then continues from top right, reading down: this is the sequence the cursor will follow through this page. Empty spaces are ignored. The task is assumed to start at the "home turnpoint" even if this isn't shown in the list.
To add a turnpoint, place the cursor in a convenient spot, and turn the Value knob to scroll through the turnpoint database. To erase a turnpoint, spin the Value knob all the way to the left.
As you make these changes, you'll see the distance (Dis) and time estimate (ETF) change. Altering the Macready, Bugs and wind estimates will also cause them to be updated. These will be updated in flight too.
In flight, the B-100 needs to know when you've started your task. To do this, turn to the Timers page, which has START and FINISH on the top line. When you start, place the cursor on START and press the Enter button. Also, you should let the B-100 know when you arrive at a turnpoint. Do this by putting the cursor on the name of the turnpoint and pressing the Enter button. The B-100 will ask whether to use the wind it's calculated or the preset one, then start tracking the next leg of the course. When you cross the finish line, to stop the flight's statistics, you should press the FINISH button on the Timers page.
If you give the B-100 information about your task and let it know when you start and reach turnpoints, it can display your average speed on the Statistics page. This will help you decide if you're going fast enough to complete a task.
4. More
There's plenty to learn about using and setting up the B-100. This webpage is only a starter: to go further you should read the manual, which is not too long and very practical. Copies of the manual are available from the Club.
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