Messages

2341

General Discussion / Re: Antennas too large for the coaming

« on: July 13, 2016, 10:47:52 am »

Hi again homeuser,

As Jeremy says, definitely not a good idea to try 'Tee'ing' off the transponder antenna. This will effectively put up to 250watts of RF straight into your PAW 1090MHz receiver and bye-bye receiver. It might also blow the output stage of your transponder due to the mismatch this would create - very expensive.

Splitting antennas between receivers (and more especially transmitters) is a highly technical science, not to be meddled in without the requisite knowledge. Proper antenna splitters are available for some applications but are expensive - especially for transmitters. Cheap ones are probably a con!

Much better to look to alternative antenna solutions - the thin ADSB antenna can be shortened, but be careful not to go too far or you will reduce received signal to the point where you effectively stop the alerts. See here for examples:

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,438.msg6096.html#msg6096

If you can't fit the fixed P3i antenna vertical, I suggest looking to the centre fed dipoles on the hardware site, which can be remotely fitted to keep them vertical and are impedance matched to the transceiver without the need for a ground plane.

Regards

Peter

2342

General Discussion / Re: Latest Update 20160708

« on: July 12, 2016, 09:59:28 am »

Hi Tony,

Lee just beat me to it. I was busy looking back through my test screen captures to check this. Unfortunately as Lee says SIL and SDA are only transmitted for ADSB, and even then with commercial units very infrequently, so this just wouldn't work.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Regards

Peter

2343

Technical Support / Re: Upgrade 20160708

« on: July 11, 2016, 11:01:44 pm »

Hi Chris,

That's basically correct.

Hi Lee,

I updated to 20160708, on Saturday having been on 20160530 previously.

Tried auto updating  as outlined in the PAW Operations Manual using Option 1 (connect PAW unit to router, power up PAW and wait 20 mins before powering down). I tried this procedure twice but each time upon subsequently powering up PAW and logging into hot-spot via iPad noted that the software version was unchanged from 20160530.

At this point in the procedure, this is correct! Your unit will have downloaded the new software, but you haven't yet started the 'Install' part of the procedure yet, so the home page will still quite correctly show the previous version.

So slight confusion here for me - When connected to the router will PAW automatically check for updates and download the new files, without having first pressed the Check for Updates button?

Yes it will check and download without pressing the 'Check for Updates' button, that's why it's called  'Auto-update'. DO NOT click the 'Check for Updates' button at this stage, just let your system do this itself. 

I tried the procedure once again, this time with the Wifi dongle disconnected. Upon re-checking, I'm still on 20160530 but noted this time that it said 20160708 was available! I pressed to download and went through the procedure again, this time with success 

Can you please confirm that when using download option 1 ( and having first disconnected all dongles, as you suggest in your previous post in this thread), the likely result will be notification that an update is/isn't available, and you then have to select to download the update, and repeat the procedure a second time for the update to actually download?

Once you have carried out the 'power off', 'connect to router via ethernet', 'power on and wait 20 minutes', your unit will have checked for and downloaded any update onto the microSD card. After 'powering down and disconnecting from your router, 'you simply need to reconnect your dongles, P3i antenna, etc. power up again and connect your tablet, then when you go to the (Updates) tab and click 'Check for Updates', you will see that the new update is available, simply click on install and wait (have a coffee or whatever), while it updates for you. You do NOT need to go through the update procedure twice.

Regards

Peter

2344

General Discussion / Re: Latest Update 20160708

« on: July 11, 2016, 03:02:02 pm »

Hi Ian,

I also generally use the Medium Range setting unless I know I will be flying near CAT traffic e.g. when they are on left base into EGPH or if I'm doing a zone transit through the Edinburgh overhead, when I will select short range.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to filter out High Power CAT mode S except via the altitude and range filters. You will still get some 'rogue' alerts - note these are NOT FALSE ALERTS - from further away CAT aircraft, but soon learn to recognise these as such after a good 360 scan and can fairly quickly disregard them. Unless you are very near a large airport it's not usually too much of a problem.

Regards

Peter

2345

General Discussion / Re: Latest Update 20160708

« on: July 11, 2016, 08:57:08 am »

Lee, Thanks for the explanation. I have just done a bit of testing. By default the Mode-S Select is set to 'none'. Users need to be advised that this will turn off the Mode-S detection. So to get back to what they had before they need to set it to 'Mode-S' until the additional functions are available.

Richard, the link works for me on the latest version.

Hi Ian,

Due to the fact that detection and display of 'bearingless' targets is more complex and requires direct pilot action, i.e. active selection of detection range - which requires an understanding of how the system works, the experience to decide the most appropriate range for your current flying environment, and a clear understanding of the use of physical lookout to 'find' the reported aircraft. Mode S was therefore set to 'off by default' to allow new PAW users to get to know the system before deciding when and how they wish to use the Mode S 'option'.

Selection of detection range is of significant importance. Too long in a busy environment and you will receive constant alerts which can cause distraction and if the contacts are not 'found' can cause the user to start disbelieving the warnings (which are in fact always real, but probably came from a high power CAT transponder far too far away to be a risk - full 360 degree physical lookout up/down or level as advised by the relative altitude confirms this and allows it to be disregarded, unless it continues to approach). Too short on the other hand and you might not get that critical warning until it might be too late.

I agree that it would be beneficial if these settings once decided by the pilot were retained during update, or if not practicable, a warning to this effect needs to go in the Operating Manual. In any case it is important if using Mode S to recheck settings before each flight if your environment is likely to change.

Regards

Peter

2346

Technical Support / Re: Wifi connected but nothing on 192.168.1.1

« on: July 11, 2016, 08:24:10 am »

ran the working ipad in "logging" while the other came up, essentially 2 messages
 - "await radio startup", roughly every second,
 - "recv_pthread(): Broken pipe", came up 3 times

On the home page all green, under "navigation" it shows "0 devices", all green except amber on "TRX(RXTX)" with status "TX=0, RX=0, CRFAIL=0";
ah, FILESYS Mount  RO and RW just came up, radio ok, now also green, and another broken pipe alert (4mins in after reboot); navigation is still "connected 0 devices", and the other ipad still doesn't connect on 192.1.68.1.1

Hi Mr S,

I have been following your problem with interest as it is very similar to problems I was having with a recent engineering test version of Piloraware, which Lee has since resolved.

Thr TRX light not being green is normal until the PAW gets a gps fix and starts transmitting, so I wouldn't be concerned about that, though I can't remember ever seeing it Amber - usually red then straight to green. Similarly 'Navigation connected 0 devices' is normal until you actually start your nav programme after connecting the pad to PAW, so unlikely to be significant.

I see from your later post that it has started working, but you will still be worrying about reliability -as will Lee. I'm sure he will want to get to the bottom of what has been going on here so please keep letting us know how things go.

Regards

Peter

2347

Technical Support / Re: Upgrade 20160708

« on: July 11, 2016, 07:53:23 am »

Hi Graham,

Well done! Whatever the Broom effect may be it seems to have had a positive result on this occasion!

Judging by some of the loops I have been through myself over the last few weeks, might need to research it as the 'Broom-Robertson' effect. Welcome to the club.

Regards

Peter R

2348

General Discussion / Re: Several flights with PAW this week

« on: July 08, 2016, 12:32:44 pm »

Hi David,

As Dave S says, the P3i antenna is the critical bit for plane to plane operation with other PAWS. The replacement antenna he is talking about is the one I suggested to you yesterday. An alternative would be to simply turn your Pi case round the other way so the P3i antenna is towards you. The antenna will then fit in the vertical orientation without significantly affecting your view and will be out in the clear away from any aircraft metalwork - all good!

The battery pack can be tied to the Pi with cable ties or simply elastic bands (yours will fit easily underneath the Pi) and I have found these short right angled cables work well...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221712730771?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

...these particular ones which I bought came from China but only took about a week.

The ADSB cable can be simply coiled and shortened with a couple of small cable ties or tie wraps (as you have done already). This makes a really neat little package which will sit fairly still on the coaming of most aircraft, but with the antennas vertical. Please give it a try - you won't be disappointed.

Regards

Peter

2349

General Discussion / Re: Track File : Post Processor

« on: July 08, 2016, 12:53:45 am »

Hi Pete,
I had +/- 2000, and off the top of my head the medium setting. I am away from Home not until Sunday, so cannot be more precise. Today took the range to the next shorter (not the shortest Ultra Short) and could see an approaching mode S only helicopter blasting through the circuit, at circuit height  ,but he was less than a Km away before PAW spotted him. I also did not see the Reds who passed to the south, close to Enstone, visually or on PAW.

One thing I did notice is the OSF motor glider, which is S only kept appearing and disappearing from my Skydemon screen. We were doing circuits at the same time.

Hi Ian,

Alan G and I usually run with the Medium or Short Range Mode S settings these days. We developed 'Ultra Short' to deal with close proximity to high-power CAT Mode S or high power CAT ground radar signals, which otherwise swamp the Mode S triggers, causing continuous Danger Alerts, but would only use this setting if operating from or very close to a big CAT airfield - not likely in a flexwing, but you never know. Generally Zone Transits, including through the overhead, can be done quite satisfactorily using Medium or Short Range.

WRT the Reds - they may of course not have been transponding.

In the circuit, Mode S (or PAW for that matter) are more susceptible to being blocked by both your engines/bodies/ bodywork/whatever. You won't of course get any specific position information for Mode S anyway, but they will generally be visible for enough of the circuit so you know they are there. The signals are, however, often reliable throughout the circuit. It depends to a fair degree on the construction of each aircraft and the quality of the installation.

Best Regards

Peter

2350

General Discussion / Re: Several flights with PAW this week

« on: July 07, 2016, 09:53:24 pm »

Hi David,

The hash marks mean it is a PAW equipped aircraft using the same 'Group ID' as yourself (on the Configure Screen - PAWGRP by default but you can set something else e.g. for fly outs set your club name and all your club aircraft - and only those with your group ID will show the hash brackets).

SkyDemon can drop out if you swap between screens a lot, e.g. to look at the PAW traffic screen. This then presents when SD is reselected as "The connection to your GPS has been lost'. Reselect 'go flying' , 'use FLARM' and it should come back up. Not saying this is the reason but might be.

I use a similar Anker battery - should be fine, but you need to make sure you are using a heavy enough power cable (at least 20awg is required).

Points noted re getting sucked in by the screen. With use, you will do this much less.

Be careful about randomly changing antennas. The long fat one is the PAW P3i transmit antenna. It is a 'tuned' end-fed 1/2 wave dipole antenna. If you want to change it, I would suggest the centre-fed dipole as sold on the hardware site. Only use a shorter 1/4 wave if you can fit it to a metal ground plane.

The other (shorter thin) antenna is for 1090mHz ADSB / Mode S reception. It can be cut down if desired to about half its length without any serious side effects, but don't cut it any shorter as this might affect the efficiency of the Mode S alert triggers. There are threads on here which will show you how to cut this antenna and its coax feed cable down if you do a search.

I also have ADSB out. GA ADSB is lower power than commercial airliners, but you should still pick it up to st least 25/50 miles in the air. As you say yourself, it may have been screened from you in the circuit.

The question of changing hex code between different aircraft has been raised before, but so far no simple solution has appeared. If any of the aircraft you want to use your PAW in are ADSB out or have transponders make sure you do set the hex and ID (Reg) correctly or you will get false alerts from your own aircraft.

Looking at your screenshots you are seeing a good variety of contacts. IIRC G-OXFB is ADSB out, #G-AWKD# is definitely PAW as is probably 40179F and G-EEGU may be either ADSB, or PAW with the group ID changed from the default. The best way to check this is by reference to your traffic screen. See this thread (amongst others)

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,419.msg5447.html#msg5447

Hope this helps clarify things.

Best Regards

Peter
Mode S Development Tester

Edit: Just noticed you say you are still running software version 20160307. I would definitely recommend an update to the latest software. The current version is 20160530, though you will have to use the manual update method in the first instance as auto-update is not available from the version you are running. This will definitely improve stability, so should help with your Wifi issues, though you won't get the full functionality as Mode S detection and the audio alerts are only available if running on a Pi2B. If in doubt as to what to do see the Pilotaware Operating Manual here...
http://www.pilotawarehardware.com/dl/PAWOperationManual.pdf
and have a read at this thread...
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,465.msg5923.html#msg5923

Peter

2351

General Discussion / Re: Ground Station

« on: July 07, 2016, 07:03:59 pm »

That of course is the other possibility Jeremy - I mean your TX being faulty, not nobody being interested in your offer. More likely to be Brinsley's receiver though as he says he has done several tests with similar results.

Peter

2352

General Discussion / Re: Ground Station

« on: July 07, 2016, 06:54:32 pm »

Definitely something strange going on Brinsley. Alan and I have been getting 5- 10 miles reliably with pretty much  standard kit. You will get some screening forward left and down from your engine with the P3i antenna in that position, but should have 'seen' Jeremy well before the point where that might have become an issue.

Assuming you were in G-OAWM and he saw you at up to 7.6km, you are certainly transmitting. A bit surprised that you lost your old Bucks contact at 500 metres too - definitely sounds like a receiver issue to me.

Peter

2353

General Discussion / Re: Ground Station

« on: July 07, 2016, 01:58:44 pm »

Hi Eric,

I was just illustrating that about half large public transport aircraft
do not transmit ADSB.
PAW users can expect  no distance info from many aircraft.

That's why I had no concerns with my original statement - until Alan picked me up on it  And let's not forget all those out there who either haven't bought or can't afford a transponder - or have one but fly with it switched off. That's what makes PAW with its definite gps-based location info such a bonus!

Regards

Peter

2354

General Discussion / Re: Ground Station

« on: July 07, 2016, 10:36:22 am »

Yes Eric,

PAW and ADSB both show in a similar manner on the PAW traffic screen, though PAW, being much less powerful transmitters, generally don't have a significant SIGnal strength. Also the SQuawk for a PAW transmission will be the group-ID (e.g. the default 'PAWGRP' or whatever the user has set) as PAW doesn't transmit a conventional squawk.

Regards

Peter

2355

General Discussion / Re: Track File : Post Processor

« on: July 07, 2016, 10:15:18 am »

Hi Ian,

What Mode S range setting are you using? Also what vertical separation do you have selected? I suspect most of the Mode S contacts which you 'weren't seeing' were probably high power transponders e.g. CAT. Unfortunately this is an issue we have to live with, with Mode S, though reducing your separation level to say +/- 1000ft removes most of these. Changing to a shorter 'Range' would also help, but might have meant you saw the Puma before you got the alert. Just a question of balancing your settings to flying conditions.

Regards

Peter