Messages

1

Technical Support / Odd traffic Warning

« on: January 19, 2018, 07:53:32 pm »

On a few occasions we have had a "Mode C" warning circle show on Sky Demon with a strange designation C-? where the ? are seemingly random characters (but could be Hex codes), we also get a black and yellow warning box on the SD screen that warns of an aircraft at 12 o'clock. In all cases nothing is actually there or at least seen.

I guess this is a warning that is coming from something other than a standard PAW contact. I suspect that others will know what we are seeing and we would be grateful if someone could advise.

2

General Discussion / Re: Call sign UP-OGN on detected by Pilot Aware

« on: April 19, 2017, 11:14:11 am »

From that reply someone knows more than he is telling..... come on spill.

3

General Discussion / Call sign UP-OGN on detected by Pilot Aware

« on: April 18, 2017, 11:40:52 pm »

Not sure if I just missed a press release or two or if the info below is actually news.

Flying back to Conington from Nottingham this afternoon we noticed several aircraft plots on our Sky Demon screens (via Pilot Aware) that were using the call sign UP-OGN and giving relative heights, locations and direction of flight. Although at the time we were a bit mystified by the call signs a few mins on Google would suggest that these were gliders using some sort of system possibly originating from the Open Glider Network.

Has anyone else seen these and/or have any more info about the contacts showing as UP-OGN. If indeed they were gliders then that is great news as we were not convinced about installing a FLARM mouse so would not have been aware of their presence. On the down side, despite the clues from the SD plots as to where to look we only saw one glider of the six or seven indicated. Before anyone says anything about not favouring looking at screens inside rather than the world out side, there were two of us so we could do both!

Any other info gratefully received.

 

4

Technical Support / Re: PAW Date & Time - some advice please

« on: September 19, 2016, 04:54:42 pm »

Thanks Lee,

Obviously it would seem that I did not check the DATE but by coincidence the times must have about matched. Will stop panicking now.

Also we noticed the misalignment of heights with the Mode C & S warnings. We also have a PCAS which was in line with the altimeter and observations but out with the displayed data on the screen (as one would expect given the foregoing info). Looking forward to the fix.

5

Technical Support / PAW Date & Time - some advice please

« on: September 19, 2016, 03:17:28 pm »

I was looking at the PAW config to check the detection ranges etc the other day and I noticed that the time was slow by about 20-25 mins.  At the time there was no GPS signal as the aircraft was in the hanger.

Could someone who knows advise
1) Does the date time get re-set once were is a GPS signal (for logging etc)?
2) If the date time is not reset by GPS where is it set on the config pages as I couldn't find it?
and
3) If the PAW should keep time does the loss of synch with real time indicate a problem with our unit?

PAW is working well with new mode S transponder and ADS-B out being driven by GNS430 i.e filtering of own transmissions working. Interesting to see our test flight tracks on FlighRadar24.

Looking forward to enlightenment.

6

Technical Support / Re: Upgrade 20160708

« on: July 09, 2016, 09:34:30 pm »

In that case the Broom effect has struck again.

I left it connected for quite a while and the Install button suddenly became active. I pressed it and after much flashing of lights etc and a reboot the box is reporting Vers 20160708. No idea what I did or why it worked but have decided to just be grateful.

7

Technical Support / Re: Upgrade 20160708

« on: July 09, 2016, 08:32:14 pm »

Hi Lee,

My unit has 201606511 as originally supplied when I purchased the Classic, I haven't tinkered honest!

When we work together Jeremy Curtis insists on applying "the Broom Test" on all equipment. It only has to be in close proximity to me, I don't even have to touch it, and previously unseen "features" will appear.

Regards
Graham

PS. Trying again, can confirm everything unplugged and will just sit and wait.

8

Technical Support / Upgrade 20160708

« on: July 09, 2016, 06:13:37 pm »

Hi Folks,  I am currently attempting to upgrade my Classic and all goes well until I press the Check for Upgrades button. It shows that it is connected to network address/updates.cgi - I press the Check button button and Nothing seems to happen. I have the version that was installed on the Classic when shipped so it "should" update automatically.

Is the update server fully operational or have I screwed up somewhere?

Some assistance would be most welcome.

I managed to video the screen after pressing the Check button and it flashes up a message

Checking for updates
/root/servers/check.sh:Error

then goes back to the screen from the Pilot Aware unit.

Any suggestions?

9

Technical Support / Re: SOLVED! - Locating the unit and antenna

« on: June 07, 2016, 06:55:45 pm »

I have just noticed that there is a thread on the subject of antennae location and it contains a statement that aerials must be mounted vertically. The fit I described in this thread has the ADSB antenna mounted horizontally at the top of the windscreen for geographic reasons (i.e. there is no realistic space elsewhere) and I am able to report that it picks up ADSB traffic from miles away without any trouble from this location.

HOWEVER - please note that the P3I antenna is mounted vertically (as per spec) as it is both transmit and receive.

On a recent trip to Shoreham via the Farnborough West zone Sky Demon and P3I very effectively located and plotted a bunch of contacts including one light aircraft that became visible just where Sky Demon indicated we should be looking. 100% vindication for the concept, design and build.

10

General Discussion / Re: Tuning the DVB Antenna for 1090MHz Specific reception

« on: June 05, 2016, 12:04:22 pm »

On the basis that I am completely unschooled in the dark arts of radio engineering I hope you won't mind me asking a question.

Having read the thread I was wondering if the improvements that tuning the 1090MHz antenna may not have a detrimental effect on the system operation overall? If the PAW processor see even more "targets" doesn't that mean that it will have to spend more time processing them all and filtering out those you don't want to see? I take the point that the plus of the increased sensitivity can be balanced by the filters in the PAW unit but that costs processor cycles, which in turn means power draw (as I believe the Pi only does what it has too rather than everything all the time).

A shorter aerial may be of use in terms of installation but if the longer aerial actually provides a viable level of sensitivity and reduction in the level of irrelevant data then it may be more a question of balancing what we can see against what we need to see.

Be nice I did say that I am not trained in these matters.

11

Technical Support / Re: SOLVED! - Locating the unit and antenna

« on: June 05, 2016, 11:29:52 am »

I forgot to say that I also removed the magnet from the bottom of the ADSB aerial or it will do nasty things to the magnetic compass.

Do check before you fly that noting in your fit affects the compass it is an easy mistake to make!

12

Technical Support / Re: Locating the unit and antenna

« on: June 03, 2016, 01:20:26 pm »

Not saying this is the best position but it seems to work for me.

Have attached the PAW box to the wall between the door and the panel in such a vertical position that the PAW aerial is above the level of the wall and has a clear view of the sky through the side of the right hand windscreen. Did with with a large adhesive velcro patch on the wall and then two strips along the edge of the PAW box. I decided to maximise cooling by ensuring that the Pi side of the box was facing out (this is the side without the screws), this positioning also facilitates the airflow as the vents on the box are effectively at the top and bottom of the installation.

The ADS-B aerial we have attached with hi-tech bluetack or adhesive pad etc to the very top right of the central windscreen pillar so the antennae is sticking across the very top of the windscreen. It can be installed so that it does not touch the sun visors in both up and down positions. Although this is not the "normal" orientation of the aerial it seems work well as once again it has a clear view of the sky. The cables for both the aerial and the GPS unit were run up from the PAW unit along the very edge of the windscreen, but ensuring that the GPS unit has a clear view of the sky.

I have used some 20mm suckers (20mm Round Button Suction Cups (20 Pack) Sold by: Foamboard Warehouse via amazon about £2.50) and 2mm white label ties hold the various cables and GPS unit on to the screen. The clear suckers and white label ties make the attachments almost invisible when flying. Loop one 2mm cable tie round the sucker neck and another through this loop (at 90 degrees) and then around the cables. The suckers can then be pressed onto the screen so the cables are out of sight along the edge of the screen.

Power is supplied to the PAW from a Charge2 unit connected to the 12v supply that in most PA28 I believe is on the right hand side of the panel. This configuration also means that you can power an iPad etc attached to the P2 yoke without cables dragging everywhere. I have another Charge2 on the other side of the panel for the P1 and a backup GPS unit that can connect to the iPad running Sky Demon should there be any problems with PAW.

In this configuration the PAW unit is quite happy connecting to both iPads via the hot spot.

The only thing I haven't sorted out yet this how best to take the audio feed into the intercom so that it (like the rest of the fit) is demonstrably "NOT INSTALLED" and as such avoids clashing with EASA regs.

Don't have any pics but happy to take some and send them to you if you want them.

Regards
Graham B

13

Technical Support / Classic Configuration documentation

« on: May 26, 2016, 11:18:04 pm »

My PilotAware Classic arrived, I followed the instructions and other the forgetting to set the FLARM interface of Sky Demon to 6000 it worked out of the box. Many thanks, great work...
I have now worked out where everything can reside (but not installed) in my Arrow IV and a couple of questions have arisen, that I would appreciate some advice on.

1. Does it matter if the ASD-B in aerial is located horizontally or vertically (I have mine horizontally and it seems to work fine, commercial stuff up to 40K feet no problem), but thought I better check?
2. Where can I find some documentation about configuration of the Classic? The PAW introduction document initial page has settings for such things as Mode-S separation and Mode-S detect and I have just taken the defaults but would like to understand more. Also there are other pages on 192.168.1.1. page but again I can't seem to find any documentation. Would like to know what I would be looking at if(when) I go there.
3. Info on the Audio output also seems to be absent or again have I just missed it?

If I have missed the obvious please accept my apologies, if not then any guidance/pointers would be very much welcome.

14

General Discussion / USB Power warning

« on: May 17, 2016, 01:52:09 pm »

My Classic arrived this morning and unusually for me I spent some time reading all the documents first. I noticed that on page 2 of the very useful "Start Here" document there is a picture showing "the Kit" which includes a 2-port usb cig-lighter plug in. Can I offer a bit of a health warning on these, I used one in my PA28 and (although I didn't connect it at the time) we started to get a load of problems with our radio. Almost at the point of giving it to the avionics engineers to fix when someone suggested that it may have been the usb power plug, it was. On test this turned out to be a fairly effective short range radio jammer under load.

The solution I implemented was to put a Charge2 power supply on both sides of the aircraft giving me 4 radio undetectable (as far as I am concerned), load protected ports.

Others may be lucky with the smaller usb plug-in units but if you do get interference start your investigations there, there is a good solution on the market.

15

General Discussion / Compass checks after installation

« on: May 13, 2016, 06:16:07 pm »

Having ordered my "Classic" I thought I should give some consideration to where to place the antenna.

Has anyone done any compass checks after installation of the earlier versions to see if there is any deviation while the unit is transmitting? 

Any advice or suggestions as to best (internal) antenna locations on a PA28 would be most welcome.