Topics

1

Technical Support / Is it OK to power up Rosetta with no Antennas connected?

« on: February 22, 2021, 12:27:27 pm »

I am nearing completion of the installation of the remote antennas in my Jabiru, which means it will soon be time to power up and configure my Rosetta for the first time.

I just want to check that it is OK to powerup the device without any antenna connected?  The reason I as is I also have multirotor R/C models with cameras which connect to a Video Transmitter (VTX) and if the craft is powered up without an antenna connected to the VTX, the TVX is very quickly damaged beyond repair.

Many thanks

2

Technical Support / Ground plane for External Antenna in a Jabiru

« on: February 02, 2021, 09:36:43 pm »

I am about to embark on the installation of a new PA Rosetta kit with external antennas.  I was thinking of using self adhesive copper sheet 0.1 mm thick for the ground planes for the two PA antennas.

My first question is does the Ground Plane have/need to be flat or is curved OK?  There are no flat surfaces of any size in a Jabiru SK 2 seater that are usefully accessible.

My second question is does it matter if the antennas point at an angle rather than vertically down as it is impossible to install them in the centre of the underside of the fuselage, so the have to be offset to the side, which is curved.

My third question is if I use separate ground planes for each antenna, is there any benefit in linking them with a soldered wire connection (and then possibly also linking the Trig Transponder antenna ground plane as well)?

Many thanks

3

General Discussion / PAW to PAW basic testing

« on: October 21, 2015, 10:21:48 pm »

Is there a way to see if PAW to PAW communications is working without connecting a GPS/iPad+Sky Demon?

I have 3 PAW units, but only one GPS/iPad/Sky Demon.  Plan to meet up with Falcoguy and others this weekend id the weather allows, but it would be nice to get some basic confirmation.

4

General Discussion / State of the Nation Address...

« on: October 16, 2015, 10:50:28 pm »

Firstly I should like to thank Lee and the PAW team for having the courage to make a very difficult decision and put a stop to more people building the current ARF equipped PAW, due to severe limitations with the ARF, rather than let the issue drag on and on.

It is a pity that the message being given out at the LAA Rally seemed to be that the hardware was good to go and well sorted with impressive distance operational numbers, and that software updates would only improve the unit further.

However I am pleased that the message not to build further units with the existing ARF and associated ARF Shield - Digole 5v-3.3v regulator board has been clearly given.

So just to be clear Lee, should we now be disconnecting and removing the ARF and associated ARF Shield - Digole 5v-3.3v regulator board, and just leave the Barometric Pressure Sensor MPL3115A2 connected, and then we have a PAW capable of detecting ADS-B traffic until sometime in the future when the ARF issue will be resolved?  This is less useful in the short term to most LAA flyers, as most of the ADS-B traffic is way above us, and the real potential benefit was being seen, and able to see other PAW units, which might reasonably get a big uptake within UK Light GA, plus as ADS-B gets a greater take-up with 'high end' GA, PAW users would reap increasing benefit.

I take it we can continue for the moment to use the external GPS (I use the GNS 1000 which has worked faultlessly with PAW via Collision Aware), but at some time in the future the PAW software will no longer support this and we will need to add a USB GPS directly to the PAW?

5

General Discussion / Strange problem of no ADS-B traffic after PAW software update

« on: October 12, 2015, 10:30:15 pm »

I have constructed 3 PAW units, one for me and the other 2 for friends.  2 are 'original' design build as per the PDF guide, and the 3rd is using a Slice of POD - this makes life SO much easier.  All 3 have the Barometer update.

I quickly tested them by loading Release 20150912 software on the PAWs, powering on, connecting and checking for some ADS-B traffic way up high.  All 3 appeared good.  I then went away on holiday so had to leave them.  On returning I updated all 3 PAW units to PilotAware Release 20151003.  However although all seem to be running OK, I am seeing no ADS-B traffic on any of them.  (SkyDemon on iPad with the latest CollisionAware).  There is a solid GPS connection via FLARM but no other traffic.

I have reverted one of them to PilotAware Release 20150912 - and up pops the ADS-B traffic - not a lot of it, but there is some.

Stumped!

6

General Discussion / Quantifying the difference a USB cable can make

« on: October 08, 2015, 04:31:24 pm »

OK so it appears that different USB cables make a difference to the voltage supplied to the PAW and it’s subsequent reliability, but just how much?  I decided to do a test;

My power supply is a 4s 4500mAh LiPo into a DC 12v 24v 40v to 5v USB Step-Down Power Supply Module, one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111473997718 (falcoguy also has one of these).  The output of the PSU is 5.2v (which under the PAW Load drops to 5.14v).  I have 2 cables, the white high quality 97cm cable for a Samsung phone, and the black 50cm JuicEbitz cable recommended by Lee.

Powering up the PAW and have it fully running I took voltage readings from the Pi header.  The under load 5v output was a steady 4.37v!!!  A significant drop.  I then swapped over the USB connection to use the JuicEbitz cable….. and the under load running voltage was a steady 4.99v, almost perfect, and a 0.62v improvement with the only variable being the USB cable itself!

I repeated this test with all 3 PAW units I have and got exactly the same results.

'nuff said!

7

General Discussion / Updating PilotAware Software Version

« on: October 06, 2015, 03:34:17 pm »

When updating the PilotAware to a new software version, do we simply mount the Micro SD card in the PC, delete all the old PA software files from their partition and then copy over the new ones, or do we have to reformat the SD card first?