Topics

1

General Discussion / It did it again !!

« on: May 07, 2016, 06:44:42 pm »

Some weeks (months) ago I was testing a previous version and found that the display on, RunwayHD, of Mode S E.S equipped aircraft (mostly airliners) seemed to overload the App and all of the altitude boxes started flashing and the screen effectively locked out any user input and the aircraft depicting our own position stayed in the same place.

I reported it on the forum and was advised to tell the RunwayHD chaps of this as  it sounded like a problem with their App. I did this and never heard any more from them and I didn't see this happen with a new version of PAW software so thought it had gone away.

Now my installation still has the 1090 aerial within the aircraft and we keep it tucked into the passenger footwell pocket , really just to reduce the number of aircraft returns that are of no interest i.e they are 10's of miles awayand we do this by attenuating the received signals on 1090 with the aerial in the footwell.

However when we bring the aerial up onto the panel and (courtesy of a blob of bluetac) stick it on the panel top, the App, again seems to get so much NMEA data streaming in it goes into this condition where the altitudes flash and the screen wont accept any input.

Does the PAW team have any technical contacts to point this flaw out to them (if it is RunwayHD's problem) becuae if it is, they dont seem to take any notice when I reported it.

John
PS how does one enable the audio output and display of non ES transponder returns ?

2

General Discussion / Oh dear complete failure today. NOW FIXED

« on: March 04, 2016, 10:55:16 pm »

A sad day for my PAW. After sorting out all the minor niggles and doing my first test flight a few days ago , I decided to fly again today for a little longer and get used to the PAW. Imagine my dismay when nothing appeared to work, no re-assuring red glow from the Wi-Fi, no Green light from the TV dongle, nothing.

Have bought it all home and all I get is the red Pi led illuminating, and a double green flash as it reads the SD card. But thats it no Wi-Fi nada.

Any Pi experts who can give me some clues as to what to try next.

3

General Discussion / How do you know if you are squittering ?

« on: February 13, 2016, 03:06:31 pm »

Having got the necessary cabling to connect the PAW to the TRT800, and configuring the TRT for NMEA input sentences and setting the PAW for Transponder 4800, does anyone know if there should be any icon, text or flashing light on the display of the TRT800 to show that it is sending ES messages. Or do you have to go flying and then look on FR24 ?

The PAW log shows NMEA sentences being sent, but it would be good to know whether the cabling and the USB to RS232 is all working properly, particularly as the suppliers of the recommended cable tell you to insert a config disc and configure the RS232 adaptor !

John

4

General Discussion / Am I doing something wrong.

« on: December 23, 2015, 05:48:54 pm »

So, I have latest version loaded and running and my altitude filters set and the display shows aircraft threats - all fine once running.

But when I land and switch off and return after the obligatory $100 burger and switch back on, no  traffic shown.

If I then go through the process of turning flarm on/off on Runway HD, and switch the PA GPS passthrough app on/off and reset the Pi, it starts working again.

It just seems that whenever it is powered off, it just wont all restart of its own accord and you have to go thorough this power on/off ritual to kick it back into life.

Is there a defined power off sequence I must adopt, followed by a particular start sequence I must use to make it all work reliably each time ?  The added problem is that you are never quite sure that it is working until you see the first ADSB traffic, so there is this nagging doubt it isn't on properly, so you mess with the filter to show Big Jet traffic and only after you spot a couple are you re-assured its actually working before you can re-set your own altitude band filter back to 1000 feet and fly.
 
 

5

General Discussion / Dosnt work after loading latest version.

« on: December 15, 2015, 02:58:29 pm »

I upgraded this morning to 20151205, but when I plugged in the SD and  started a browser session  the log just said that the licence key was invalid.

Aha, I thought, you must have to get a fresh licence key when you  load a new version.

So I applied for a licence key, but its the same as the previous one.

What have I done wrong ?

John

6

General Discussion / Serial logic levels for Funkwerk TRT800 Mode S txpdr

« on: December 07, 2015, 12:27:14 pm »

I wrote to Funkwerk technical to ask what their serial data expectations were on the RxData line in to the Mode S transponder. It seems there is no handshaking and they will parse an incoming data stream for NMEA sentences.

Interestingly they said it was at TTL + - 5volt serial data levels and not full RS232 (12v). so my question is: Does the Pi output TTL +-5v serial data on its USB port or is it only 0 - 3.3volts? (or some other).

If + - 5v then the need for an RS232  level shifter goes away and one could chop about a standard USB lead and find the Pi TxData out and use that as the data source for RxData in to the Txpdr.

Anyone know ??

John

7

General Discussion / First Airborne test today

« on: December 04, 2015, 05:52:54 pm »

Well I took the assembled bunch of goodies flying today, to N.Weald and back and when it worked it worked fine (*), although you could spend too much time watching the screen, luckily there was two of us so one flew and one "tinkered".

I think that you cannot monitor all the time for a conflicting aircraft, you would spend far too much time screen watching and not enough out of the window scanning.  It really needs to make use of the audio output on the Pi to alert you to conflicting traffic. You would then wire this into one of the inputs to your intercom system so you get an audible indication which draws your attention to a possible conflict.

I read on another thread the suggestion that all you really need is the type of "pseudo radar" type display like you get on XC-soar because in reality you are not interested in other contacts that are more than say 5km away, so another suggestion, not a radar display, but perhaps filter out, on the Paw, all traffic say >5km (configurable) from present position before sending it to the RunwayHD/Skydemon app for displaying, it makes the navscreen less busy.

* - as I said in the first sentence when it works it works fine, but we were constantly troubled by "loss of flarm" messages on RunwayHD. Looking at the PAW log there seems to be an almost constant repetition of:
 
listening for connection
listening port 2000
disconnected descriptor=14
pin 6001
connected runwayhd
disconnected descriptor=10
accepted 2000
connected descriptor =15
listening for connection
pin 6001
connected runwayhd
disconnected descriptor=10
accepted 2000
connected descriptor =15

and so on - I have retyped this in order of arrival in the log rather than the reverse way they are displayed as the log is on the Ipad and I am writing this on the lappy.

So would be interested in reasons why this may be happening. Even at home with it all running it does the same/similar with RunwayHD (latest version today), so perhaps there is a difference between the type of input messages expected by RunwayHD and the type actually being sent by the PAW.  I see PilotAware is actually named on the Flarm Settings screen now in RunwayHD as one of 4 possible selections. Do other systems use other message formats to display conflicting traffic ?


John

8

General Discussion / No ADSB traffic reported on Logging

« on: December 02, 2015, 12:59:11 pm »

All the bits arrived today so followed instructions and everything seems fine.

BUT - I cant see any ADSB traffic - I was expecting to see commercial stuff, even if no-one is mad enough to go out and fly themselves today. I do not have the RF board fitted.

My log shows:
TRX-SER: Data Mode
TRX-SER: ERROR!!! Comms buf=''
TRX-SER: Apply Default settings
TRX-SER: write CMD_SV650_RD_PAR
TRX-SER: CMD_SV650_VER -> ''
TRX-SER: write CMD_SV650_VER
TRX-SER: Control Mode
TRX-SER: Awake
TRX-SER: Sleep
TRX-SER: SV650 Programming Begin
TRX-SER: Configuration Failed
TRX-SER: Failed Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 10 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 9 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 8 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 7 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 6 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 5 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 4 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 3 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 2 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 1 Communication at 57600 Baud
TRX-SER: Await Command mode Timeout
TRX-SER: Failed Communication at 9600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 5 Communication at 9600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 4 Communication at 9600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 3 Communication at 9600 Baud
TRX-SER: Attempt 2 Communication at 9600 Baud
SDR-USB: Connected
SDR-USB: Attempting connection
NAV-TCP: Listening... 2000
NAV-TCP: Listening for Connection
TRP-USB: Startup
RX-GPS-USB: Startup
GPS-TCP: Listening... 2001
GPS-TCP: Listening for connection
TRX-SER: Attempt 1 Communication at 9600 Baud
TRX-SER: ARF Programming Begin
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