Topics

1

Technical Support / Weak P3i transmission?

« on: March 05, 2022, 05:56:06 pm »

Hi,

I have PAW in the cockpit, and ADS-B out via certified Mode S-ES from a Trig Transponder, the source being a GNS430W.

Since the upgrade to the latest version (athough I can't put my hand on my heart and say it's definitely aligned with that) I've noticed that Vector is indicating that ground stations are barely picking up my P3i signals. I'm using PAW as a position/traffic source for two copies of SD and there has been no problem with track recording, nor is it failing to pick up and display traffic. This is definitely a new thing, and the location of the PAW has not changed. I would previously often get PAW detected at up to 60-80Km, with a good forward radial coverage.

Vector diagrams for the last 5 flights over two days as follows, PAW first and ADS-B out second.

Any ideas?

Graham

2

Technical Support / Helicopters depicted as aircraft in SkyDemon

« on: December 15, 2020, 02:39:15 pm »

When I use SkyDemon with a SkyEcho2, local RAF traffic targets are shown correctly as helicopters. With a second tablet running the same version of SkyDemon but linked to a PAW, the same traffic targets are depicted as aircraft. They are all ADSB-out targets.

Can anyone explain this? What am I doing wrong?

3

Technical Support / Unable to change GroupID

« on: November 22, 2020, 02:25:47 pm »

I’ve just updated to the latest 20201101 release, and while setting up a new profile, noticed that I wasn’t able to change the Group ID, it kept resetting itself to the value of the current profile I was modifying.

This might be a problem that predates the current release, I haven’t tried to change GroupID for ages.

4

General Discussion / METARs and Radar - why the inconsistent units?

« on: September 25, 2020, 05:21:46 pm »

It's bugged me (only a little, I'll admit) that despite the standard navigation unit for distance (rather than length) being nautical miles, PAW insists on using kilometres on the radar screen and traffic table. It's a mental translation that people shouldn't have to do, especially if trying to correlate with, say, a Traffic Service. We all know the brain goes to mush when flying.

I've just watched the YouTube on the METAR facility. It's great, but why are the colour codes based on miles, when the METAR themselves this side of the Atlantic are expressed metres?  Furthermore, are these nautical or statute miles?

It would take little effort to clean up these, and it would add a little polish, rather than grubby marks, to a great product.

5

General Discussion / Release notes for latest version.

« on: September 03, 2020, 09:22:04 pm »

I’ve updated to the latest release, but I only discovered it was available through word of mouth.

Apart from the new METAR page, I have no idea of the other enhancements and improvements, and can’t find anything on the website.

Where can I see such release notes, please?

6

General Discussion / Unsecured wifi and the problems it causes

« on: December 08, 2019, 10:53:30 am »

On more than one occasion I have had my tablet connect inadvertently to a PilotAware unit sitting in someone else's aircraft close by.

Yesterday I was starting up from departure from Leicester. My tablet connected automatically to what I thought was my PAW without me noticing, and I then struggled with it dropping out a couple of times. I ended up flying home with SD in 'Location Services' mode to dodge the problem Fortunately, I also have a smart phone mounted near the screen on which I use SD in 'Traffic' mode which seemed unaffected so at least I wasn't without traffic awareness on my journey home.

Later at home when reviewing the SD logs I noticed a spurious journey, emanating from Leicester Airport and heading directly from the parking area in a bent straight line out eastwards and extending to just outside the ATZ. This was timed at just the point when I was ready to taxi and struggling to get PAW to remain connected to SD.

Putting two and two together this must have been one of the helis next to where we were parked, and to one of whose PAWs my tablet had connected.

Is there any way you can get a message out to the community at large to a) apply a password to their PAW wifi b) set its power to the lowest workable level?

7

General Discussion / ModeS/3D

« on: December 10, 2018, 10:27:50 am »

How is the trial progressing? What's the expected availability date?

8

OGN-R PilotAware / Hypothetical question

« on: June 26, 2018, 01:31:20 pm »

I'm shortly to move house. The new place is effectively sitting on a ridge, which although only at c.400' amsl has a reasonably unobstructed line of sight in all directions from the top of the chimney. It's within a few nm of Welshpool airport, and will have a broadband connection of about 7mbps

What would be required to set up an OGN-R station? I'm reasonably technically minded, but I have no desire whatsoever to become a Linux expert, nor spend an inordinate amount of time and money on antennae, cabling etc. particularly as Mrs GB will have plenty of other little projects lined up placing priority demand on those limited resources.

Is there a single place I can look to give me an OGN-R primer?

9

Technical Support / Own aircraft shows up Red on Traffic page

« on: June 16, 2018, 06:45:14 pm »

Something that's bugged me for a long while....

I've checked that the Hex ID set in PAW matches that of my transponder. My Trig TT31 squitts ES ADS-B with a GNS430W providing a position source. I see 'CSA' in the 'MODE' field but no 'P' (which I assume is filtering doing its job).

I was led to believe that filtering of the HexID would suppress my own aircraft on the Traffic page, but there it is at the top with the 'D', 'A' and 'BR' fields in glorious technicolor (sic).

Is this normal behaviour?

I would add that a few weeks ago I did a long trip to Tuscany and back and I was regularly haunted by a bearingless warning at -100' or -200' which I can't believe was genuine traffic as I have the filters set to short range and very narrow. Since then I've upgraded to the latest release and that issue seems to have gone away, although I've only done a couple of hours since then. The Red me is still there though.

Tomorrow will be a better test as I'll be hacking back and forth on Project Propeller.

10

Technical Support / Latest (Feb 17) release

« on: February 25, 2017, 04:21:08 pm »

Can someone please point me to where I can download it from? The auto-download is failing and I want to try via USB.

The new website doesn't seem to have a link anywhere (nor any reference at all to the new release)

Thanks

11

Technical Support / Traffic page auto-refresh

« on: August 29, 2016, 05:15:13 am »

Anyone else find the Traffic page unusable when it's more than a screenful?

I generally use PAW with an iPad and inbuilt Safari browser in landscape orientation. It doesn't take long to build up a list of traffic that is longer than the screen will accommodate, but it's impossible to review the lower part of the list when the (<1 second?) refresh constantly resets the screen to top of page. It also takes repeated rapid presses of the respective button to navigate to another screen.

Can you make the screen static, with options to manually/auto refresh (with buttons at top!)

12

Technical Support / Discrepancies between audio warnings and SkyDemon displayed separations.

« on: August 27, 2016, 06:53:41 am »

Using the latest versions of both PAW and SD, I'm observing huge differences in reported height separations for bearingless targets between PAW audio warnings and what is depicted on SkyDemon.

Typically, as a made up example, Sally Traffic will say 'warning, traffic 1100ft below' whereas SkyDemon will show it as -4.6. Empirically, from correlating warnings with known traffic on the ground when in the circuit, it would seem that that the audio warning is correct, but somehow it's getting corrupted on its way to the SkyDemon display.

Anyone else seen this?

13

Technical Support / 20160820 Update can't be found - RESOLVED

« on: August 21, 2016, 04:54:08 pm »

Hi,

I'm trying to update my Classic to yesterday's release with no success. Using the 'plug it into router and leave for 20 minutes' method didn't work, having tried it three of four times. The PAW box itself is currently at 20160708 and is working fine.

I have tried the 'logging in to the PAW box via the router assigned IP address' method a few times, also, but when hitting the 'Check for updates' button, all I'm getting is 'No updates available'.

I'm down in France currently, plugging in to the Orange France supplied Livebox router, so I'm guessing this may be a firewall problem, although my laptop can connect to the internet via a wired connection, as well as connect to the PAW box.

The firewall config screen on the router looks daunting, and I certainly don't have the details available to open up ports, if that's what is required.

Any suggestions, or should I just leave it until I get back to the UK?

14

Technical Support / SOLVED - ADS-B has stopped working on my Classic

« on: May 30, 2016, 11:08:59 pm »

I received one of the first batch of Classics, and had it fired up and working in 15 minutes with no problems. I'm using it with SkyDemon.

I used it in anger for the first time on a trip to Berlin and back this weekend. On the way out there, it worked just as I expected, picking up lots of targets, both Mode S and ADS-B (I'm not aware that I've spotted any PAW targets yet). However, coming back over the last two days, its performance has continuously degraded to the point that even after opening up the sensitivity and removing the height filters (on SkyDemon as well) I'm seeing nothing.

The ADS-B receiver USB module seems to be getting quite hot, compared to the other plug-ins and the unit itself. I was using a short power lead supplied with an Easyacc rechargeable battery pack to start with, and have tried again with the supplied lead to no avail.

I let the whole lot cool down and tried again off the aircraft, and as before it is seeing no targets. The 'traffic light' block remains resolutely red, all others being green, and the Traffic page is empty.

Any ideas, or have I just got a dud ADS-B unit which needs replacing?