Jerry,
I came to this thread late and saw you were in capable hands, so have been observing from the sidelines rather than possibly create confusion. Now you have got things running however, I thought it worth clarifying a couple of points for the benefit of others who may refer to this thread later.
In your first post, you say
I have tried both wifi and (high quality) ethernet cable alone (leaving for 45 minutes). I have also tried a memory stick (though I believe the software I have presently won't support this (20160530)).
Upgrade via WiFi is a non-starter as the PAW WiFi is configured as a host ( i.e. transmitter) not a receiver, so can't download from an external source.
Hardwired Ethernet updates were one of the first 'advances' introduced by Lee to save us having to do a manual update by carrying out a full software reinstall every time, which can take up to an hour and as you will have seen requires re-entering your licence and aircraft details and configuration settings every time. Ethernet update got round these problems and generally works very well
unless your router tries to use the same IP address for the Ethernet connection as is already being used for the PAW WiFi, in which case this method will ONLY work if you REMOVE the PAW Wifi dongle BEFORE POWERING UP THE PAW for the period of the download.
To address these issues and allow quick and easy updating of units away from a router (e.g. in the plane), Lee introduced update by USB stick in mid 2016, but the software needed for PAW to read from and write to memory sticks was only introduced for 'public use' in software release 20160820, hence why you can't upgrade direct from 20160530 by that method.
Having done a manual upgrade to 20160820 or later,* the USB stick method is by far the quickest and most reliable method of updating PilotAware.
* Newer units will already be using suitable software to support update by USB.
There are, however a couple of points users need to be aware of.
The USB stick needs to be FAT32 format.
The software update must be downloaded from
http://pilotaware.lode.co.uk/ and copied to the root (top level) of the memory stick -
NOT inside a folder.
The NAME of the file MUST NOT be changed - it must be 'pilotaware.pgp' - if using a Windows PC be careful, if Windows is set to 'hide known file extensions', the filename may just show as 'pilotaware' - in this case DON'T add .pgp as you will in effect be re-naming the file to 'pilotaware.pgp.(.pgp)' which won't be recognised. (I appreciate you are using an iMac, but we have had several instances of this, so I include it for the benefit of Windows users).
The USB update is carried out with the PAW running and simply involves inserting the stick, waiting a few moments, selecting the 'Update' Tab, clicking 'Check for Updates', then clicking 'Install' when the new update appears. This generally only takes a few minutes and involves an auto-reboot. Once the PAW wifi re-appears, reconnect (if your device hasn't done so automatically), check the Home Screen and Configuration settiings (which, using this method should ONLY need resetting if there has been a significant change to the Configure Screen itself).
If all is well, simply remove the USB stick and 'Hey Presto!' All done.
An additional benefit is that any number of PilotAwares can be upgraded from the same memory stick.
Just a couple of warnings....
Do NOT attempt to update via memory stick via a USB port which you have configured for ADSB OUT, FLARM IN or similar. With a standard PilotAware, this isn't an issue - just use the 'spare' empty USB port. If you have configured the 'spare' port for another use however, temporarily remove the GPS or SDR dongle (which you can safely do with the unit running) and use that port for USB update instead.
DO NOT REMOVE THE WIFI DONGLE WHEN THE PAW IS RUNNING !
When you go to do your next update, remember to delete the old '.pgp' from your USB stick before downloading the new one, or the new one will automatically be given a different name, which won't be recognised by PAW.
Another additional benefit of the USB stick reader is that it easily allows downloading of Track Logs for analysis in the event of any issues with the PAW or for technical investigation. Simply insert the stick, go to the 'Tracks' tab, check that there is enough space on your stick and press 'Synch All' - or Synch individual tracks. PilotAware will create a 'PilotAware / Tracks' 'Folder and do the rest, though this may take several minutes if you have a lot of track files. You don't of course need to do this, it's just a useful additional feature.
Sorry this has become a bit long-winded, but hopefully it will help clarify the situation for others.
Glad you have got yours sorted.
Best Regards
Peter
