Lost GPS (Merged)

[Ian Melville]

Alex, I suggested doing this before. But I would also update to the latest version of the software.

Cheers
Ian

[a.alexeev.p]

Alex, I suggested doing this before. But I would also update to the latest version of the software.

Cheers
Ian

Thank you Ian! Yes, all credits to you:) It is just that I do not fly super often so had to check all other options people suggested at home.

Though, I must admit that if that is the solution - great yet unfortunate. One would not normally need their phone in flight, but what if.. say check METAR for diversion

[Seanhump]

More progress today...

I hooked the GPS up on a 50cm usb extension so I could mount it flat in the aircraft, and keep it away from the Ipad ... seemed to work ok for a while, then it froze...
A quick look at  the status screen showed the GPS as red, and nothing showing as connected in the device list below (just the ADSB and Wifi showed as connected..)

SD had an interesting message - searching for Satelites, 9 Found (in the green box) , but stuck displaying that ....

Pulling the GPS from the end of the extension and connecting back into the PAW (vertical this time) brought is back online, and all continued to run for the next 90mins or so - SD ran as expected with Nav and traffic data showing up as expected ....

ll try a different USB extension tomorrow (I have a longer, better quality one) just in case that caused issues , but that's the best session I've had in the air so far ...
I may just have to stick to using the Mouse GPS and having it mounted some where away from the ipad ...

All in all, progress, and no Wifi drop outs either ...

Pic shows the message, and the location of the (flat) GPS dongle before popping it back into the Pi

[PeterG]

I had a drop out of the wifi signal on Friday. SD dropped the flight with an error message that vanished before I could read it. Then when I checked the wifi connections pilotaware wasn't there as being available. In the end I unplugged the wifi, ADSB, GPS and battery, then plugged them back in. It worked after that.

I'll look at the log tomorrow to see if there are any obvious messages there. 

[Seanhump]

So.... just to update things ...

I took the PAW and a couple of iPads out .. Nottingham to Swansea & return via shondon ...

Configured as per originally shipped with the addition of the GPS dongle on a better quality extension, albeit still curled up behind the iPad ..!

Software had been updated to the latest release, and the PAW powered from the Dell power companion as per normal ..  I did use the PilotAware protocol instead of flarm this time.

No dropouts  seen at all through out all 3 legs (I left the PAW powered up during the stops), and plenty of traffic displayed on SD - big (and high) commercial stuff and plenty of lower level GA type stuff too, but nothing transmitting P3i ...

I’ll be leaving this setup as is for now as it seems to be running well.

I’ve picked up another RPi and cloned the Micro SD card over to it. GPS , ADSB and WiFi are functioning correctly using the Nooelec Nano , VK 162 mouse GPS and an identical WiFi dongle (no bridge yet, and a 28 day temporary license, but it’s the WiFi / GPS area I’m concerntrating on as they were the areas that I had issues with...) I’m using this one to test the case based setup to see if that has any hiccups that I can duplicate

All in all a good session...!

[Admin]

All in all a good session...!

Good news!
There was a lot of work put in to try and improve this, so lets see if this does improve things.
I think there are still issues with 'electrically noisy' environments, but these are more difficult to overcome unless moving to a wired interface

Thx
Lee

[exfirepro]

Excellent news Sean, Glad to hear things are working better. I’m sure you will keep us informed on developments.

Best Regards

Peter

[Seanhump]

Evening all ...

More testing carried out today during a long stint of pleasure flying .. this time again with 2 ipads. The usual one running Skydemon and the mini showing the web based radar display.

PAW left running from 10:30 to 15:35 on the Dell power companion and only used 40% of the battery which was a good result in my book.

But back to PAW - flawless today - Skydemon had no GPS drop-outs at all, with both devices retaining their connections and displaying traffic / alerts correctly (A friend of mine flew by and was surprised when I called him up having seen approaching on Skydemon...)

As has been mentioned, I've upgraded to the most recent software version and use the PilotAware connection in SD .... plus I'm using the VK-162 GPS Mouse for better placement options and it's all working really well.

I'll take out the cased 'V2' version on my next flights - it's just a RPi running a clone of my SD card on a trial license (seems to be working fine) with a NooElec ADSB dongle and the VK-162 GPS (wifi dongle is the same as the stock unit). I don't have a second bridge but in testing it's worked well enough showing Mode C/S traffic from the ADSB side of things so I'll see how that one works out .

Interestingly, doing some ground based testing shows that the standard ADSB dongle with a cut down stock antenna shows exactly the same traffic as the NooElec Nano 3 (again with a cut down stock antenna), but when I pop the 'Tuned' stubby NooElec antenna on the Nano 3 far less traffic is shown ... I've yet to do some in the air testing, but on the ground the stock antenna seems to be a better bet ...

Assuming the cased PAW tests out ok in the air, I'll try with the iPad mini re-attached to the front of the enclosure and see what that does .... I'd really like to get that working as it's a one box solution that's easily moved between aircraft.

Cheers for now
Sean

[woodysr2]

Hi there I wonder if you guys can help out here I have just purchased pilot aware again (built version this time)
I have input license key but have no gps signal keeps telling me no data for too long and to check settings
Tried to download the latest release to sd card but was informed (by computer) that sd card required reformatting
I have downloaded and copied files across as requested by the read me file but still getting same message also got flashing red(2)lights and green Lights(3)which I have read as an error message?
Can you help?

[Ian Melville]

Can you post screenshots of your home page and config page?

[woodysr2]

Can't even get that far I got my pilot aware system from Tommy came home and went through registration process got the code input the code then connected pilot aware to skydemon to get no gps message can't get to a home page or configuration page and I can't get back into registration page  as Pilot aware is telling me that the mac address is in use?

[Ian Melville]

You've lost me there.
Who is Tommy?
SkyDemon has nothing to do with my request.

What do you get when you connect your tablet or phone to the PilotAware hotspot and after it has connected, enter the IP address of http://192.168.1.1 into your tablet or phone internet browser?

Please post a screenshot of the display. Shout if you don't know how to do this (we need the tablet or phone type)

[AlanG]

Hi Woodysr

Sounds like you may have purchased this unit 2nd hand and trying to re-licence it using a different email address to what it was originally registered.  I think this is probably why you are being told that the Mac address is in use as it has been licenced to a previous owners email address.  I think Lee may have to sort that one out for you.
There is also the possibility that if you have used a previously cashed config page in your browser that it could have caused the wrong mac address to be saved to the config file.  You may have to do a full re-install of the software via the SD card if that is the case.

Alan

[Admin]

Hi Woodysr2

Back to stage 1.

Are you saying that when you browse from your iPad for a WiFi HotSpot, you cannot see one called
PilotAware-xxxxxxxxxxxx ?

What led's are flashing on the pilotAware unit

Thx
Lee

[woodysr2]

Hi there again sorry just got back in from Gym
I have managed to get home page loaded
I am being told license has expired GPS unavailable clients disconnected adsb disconnected trx disconnected
don't know how to take screenshot on ipad mini will check and see if I can do that in a minute
main problem was I was trying to go to homepage on PC I think although I did make sure that PC was connected to pilotaware wifi.
I have already had to re install software as I followed instructions on the read me text telling me to download software format sd card extract files then copy to SD card