Ground Station

[DaveStyles]

Thanks for that.....the P3i antenna I presume is the same kind of build as the old ARF one in so much as that its a staged dipole constructed in a single ABS sleeve....Lee mentioned that he did tests with a sportcruiser using a monopole and utilising the ground of the airframe.....I wonder if that is a better way to go beefing up the groundplane

They are in theory the same, but we found that the ones we had specifically made for PilotAware are in fact better tuned. We tested them side by side in the same aircraft on test flights and although we got 20nm from the old antenna, we actually saw even more from the one supplied in the kit and on the hardware website.

Still.. 20nm should be plenty !

[Admin]

What is your secret ? Are you using the same antenna that was supplied with the ARF or have you some elevated high gain setup.....I'm only picking up contacts for about 2-3km using my ground based kit

Hi Brinzlee,
I am a bit concerned about your findings here.
As I recall you purchased a number of Bridges, have you tried the others out, there is something screwy going on.

Thx
Lee

[brinzlee]

Have tried three independent units.....2 of them not mine....I haven't done an air to air test yet......I used mine going to Sywell on Friday with the external dipole antenna....worked faultlessly for 82nm then in the orbit by Pitsford it lost the connection to my iPad.....I didn't have time to reactivate the Flarm connection but I thought maybe I would have spotted other contacts (P3i at some point).....Mode S and ADSB were all perfect up until that point....The battery and lead are all ones specified.....I'm at a loss too !!

[JCurtis]

Have tried three independent units.....2 of them not mine....I haven't done an air to air test yet......I used mine going to Sywell on Friday with the external dipole antenna....worked faultlessly for 82nm then in the orbit by Pitsford it lost the connection to my iPad.....I didn't have time to reactivate the Flarm connection but I thought maybe I would have spotted other contacts (P3i at some point).....Mode S and ADSB were all perfect up until that point....The battery and lead are all ones specified.....I'm at a loss too !!

Come for a spin near Cambridge and I'll see if I spot you... give me some notice to ensure the station is up and running through.

[brinzlee]

Thanks for the offer, I'm flying in a Cirrus on Thursday...I'll see if I can do a swerve en route to Old Bucks.....be about 11.15

[exfirepro]

Better watch out Jeremy, he's after your discount!! 

Seriously though Brinsley, I'm not particularly surprised you weren't getting many P3i contacts en route to Sywell. I can't believe the number of fellow aviators who haven't even heard of PilotAware - let alone got one. We seriously need to spread the word and get our colleagues to buy in to the project.

Only 2-3 km from a ground station, however, definitely sounds like something isn't right. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

Regards

Peter

[JCurtis]

Depends if he manages to pick me up and makes a claim.....

[JCurtis]

Thanks for the offer, I'm flying in a Cirrus on Thursday...I'll see if I can do a swerve en route to Old Bucks.....be about 11.15

The easiest landmark reference for me is A14/A10 junction, although I am inside the Cambridge zone.  I'll keep an eye out.

[brinzlee]

Waypoint stored....I'll see if I can see you too

[EricC]

No Rx packets today.
Screen shots, maybe of interest.

[exfirepro]

Hi Eric,

A Grob Tutor (from G-INFO). Squawking Mode S at 6,500 feet QNH. From the signal strength, it looks like it went straight through your overhead, or certainly very close - hence the Mode S Danger Alert on your Nav Screen. I seem to remember you are now full Pi2 with Bridge, so you will also have got the full PAW Audio Warnings as it went through - though you may not of course have been present. I take it you have your Mode S separation set at quite a high level? Out of interest, what 'Mode S Detect Range' did you have set?

Regards

Peter

[bnmont]

I'm also leaving my PAW running as a ground station at the moment when not flying.
It's situated SG19 2LF approx 3 miles East of Sandy.
It's been running 16 days continuous now have RX=502.
Just positioned by a window facing west.
If you want to swing by Brinzlee

[EricC]

Config screen as attachment.
Grob about 4 miles to the east.
Visual to me tracking north/south for about 15 mins.

I have been studying the Sig levels that trigger warnings, all seem
very well set.

The warnings on xcsoar always show the target overhead as no lat long data transmitted
by mode S guess no extended squitter fitted on these aircraft.

Running a Pi2.

[brinzlee]

Hi BNMONT

That's very interesting as I flew over Sandy last Friday enroute to the Sywell Expo. That's one big mast you have there !!....I was at 1500 feet at about 12.15BST......I didn't get any contact if you've had your base station on for the past 2 weeks....Again all very odd....!! Registration G-MASS

[exfirepro]

Hi Eric,

The Grob was definitely straight Mode S.

Extended Squitter (ADSB) would have shown the distance between you both - based on your relative GPS positions - in the 'DIST-KM' column of the traffic table - as EI-EKN on the top line. The rest on your table are all 'Mode S'.

I'm just slightly surprised to see a signal strength over 200 at 4 miles, but then again if it was clear line of sight and I seem to remember you saying that you have your antenna up on your roof ridge in the clear. It is of course possible that that particular Grob is fitted with a higher power transponder, which could put out up to 250 Watts, rather than the 'normal' GA type which generates about 125 Watts. This is the essence of the difficulty in trying to establish effective alert 'distances' from bearingless targets (i.e. raw transponders).

Regards once again

Peter