HOS & Qualcomm Questions

Does the Qualcomm unit help to track your HOS?
(It's no excuse for not knowing how track and calculate hours on your own, just curious.)

Does the Qualcomm display/change time zones as you traverse across time lines?
Here's where I think route planning might get interesting in the beginning.

Does Qualcomm have GPS or any other tools that aid in route planning, etc.?
(Again, no excuse for not knowing how to plan routes and times on your own, just curious.)

Does the Qualcomm unit help to track your HOS?

Yes, your logs are kept electronically within some sort of electronic computing unit on your truck. Qualcomm has many competitors now, but the name has stuck. The system we are using is the "Zonar" brand. We do all our communications with our company on that unit, and it also keeps up with our logs.

Does the Qualcomm display/change time zones as you traverse across time lines?

One of the HOS (hours of service) rules is that you must keep your logs in the time zone of your home terminal. Therefore your recording unit stays in the time zone that you set it for. You will be responsible for planning properly when crossing into different time zones. Your logs will always stay current with the time zone of your home terminal.

Does Qualcomm have GPS or any other tools that aid in route planning, etc.?

Most companies have a built in GPS system within the Qualcomm unit. Most truckers have an additional system of their own preference. There's no reason to go out and purchase your own if you are short on funds when first getting started. There will be some sort of GPS system available to you at most of the carriers who hire inexperienced drivers.

Hey, Old School, thank you! That makes some things really clear for me. Including that Qualcomm has become a generic name, sorta like Band-Aid.

So, now realizing that there are different machines, and probably some variation or another between them, I'm wondering if by any chance such a communication unit (while logging) gives you any type of visual or audio indicator of where your current time is (or perhaps a warning that some time limit or another is approaching?)

Just wondering if I should replace my analog watch for something digital (with a countdown timer or something...)

My system give me an audible beep when I get down to an hour left on my drive time or on duty time. It also turns from displaying in green to displaying in yellow. These systems are designed to provide the driver with everything they need to drive legally. Good luck

Yes, I think it's fairly standard that you will get an audio warning that you are near the end of your available time. There's a nice lady's voice on my Zonar which will tell me, "You are at risk, you have one hour left before you are in violation." Then again she will repeat the warning at thirty minutes. After that she has absolved herself of her responsibilities and if you ignore her warnings for the next thirty minutes you will soon hear her say, "You are in violation."

Don't ask me how I know what she says if you ignore her warnings, just trust me. She is short and to the point in her communications. She has no mercy or leniency, and she ignores your well thought out and perfectly logical excuses.

There is also a visual showing at all times. It will show exactly where you are at. You'll be able to see at a glance how much time you have left before you need to take a break. It first will indicate how much time is left before you are required to take your thirty minute break. After that it will indicate how much time is left on your eleven hour clock, or your fourteen hour clock. It always shows the time left on whichever violation is the most imminent.

My Qualcomm will give an alert when you have one hour, half hour, fifteen minutes, or zero minutes of drive time. It also will only show my remaining drive hours when I’m actually driving (safety thing), so I have a digital kitchen timer on my dash that counts down my fourteen (but that’s just me, my memory is horrible at trying to remember what time I start my day.)

Don’t worry too much about the time zone thing. I thought it would be a bigger deal too, but it really isn’t. You’ll have the same number of drive/work hours no matter how many times you cross from one zone into another. You look at it as I still have six hours left to drive instead of I’ll stop driving at five pm. Also, my rand McNally gps unit will actually give my arrival time having already figured in the time zone, so that is handy. If it says I’ll arrive at 0700, it will be 0700 in that time zone.

The QC also alerts when within 1hour of the required 30 minute break at the 8 hour drive time point.

Here are a few more tidbits on the Qualcomm (QC):

Yes, the clock in the QC stays with your official time zone. If you are based out of the Central time zone (Chicago, St Louis, etc.), and you are in California, the local time may be 4pm, and your QC clock will show 6pm. This eliminates any local time changes on your HOS time. But it may drive you crazy if you don't have a local time clock handy. (Hint: your cellphone usually shows the local time.)

The GPS in the QC is pretty good in the destination department. I have realized it may route you in a way that saves miles over minutes, though. There are a few extra bells & whistles that you have to find yourself, from "Recent Destinations" to how to enter your own destination. There are no "routes" (two or more stops) that I could find.

The important thing about the QC GPS (at least for Swift) is that the destination locations are mostly very accurate. Suppose you have a destination that is a large warehouse or brewery. With your own GPS, you may get to the "front door" with no truck entrance in sight - It's around back and your truck is pointed the wrong way to get there!!

My system give me an audible beep when I get down to an hour left on my drive time or on duty time. It also turns from displaying in green to displaying in yellow. These systems are designed to provide the driver with everything they need to drive legally. Good luck

Audio and visual, that's certainly reassuring!

Don't ask me how I know what she says if you ignore her warnings, just trust me. She is short and to the point in her communications. She has no mercy or leniency, and she ignores your well thought out and perfectly logical excuses.

Made my morning!

My Qualcomm will give an alert when you have one hour, half hour, fifteen minutes, or zero minutes of drive time. It also will only show my remaining drive hours when I’m actually driving (safety thing), so I have a digital kitchen timer on my dash that counts down my fourteen (but that’s just me, my memory is horrible at trying to remember what time I start my day.)

Don’t worry too much about the time zone thing. I thought it would be a bigger deal too, but it really isn’t. You’ll have the same number of drive/work hours no matter how many times you cross from one zone into another. You look at it as I still have six hours left to drive instead of I’ll stop driving at five pm. Also, my rand McNally gps unit will actually give my arrival time having already figured in the time zone, so that is handy. If it says I’ll arrive at 0700, it will be 0700 in that time zone.

The kitchen timer sounds like a good idea, but I suppose it will depend on company policy for mounting things in the cab, as well as who I get teamed up with (pleanning on team driving.)

And I've read quite a bit about Rand McNally and Garmin GPS units here on the site, and I sort of like the Garmin 770 after doing some further research. Not sure if I will get it, because again with the company policy and mounting stuff... But if I can grab it, hopefully it will change time zones like yours does - that sounds pretty useful for making appointments on time.

Don't ask me how I know what she says if you ignore her warnings, just trust me. She is short and to the point in her communications. She has no mercy or leniency, and she ignores your well thought out and perfectly logical excuses.

Made my morning!

Just don't blow your 11 hour drive time! The QC lady will call you out by name if you don't stop driving in time.