Clive,
I haven’t been on the Forum for quite a while. I got out of the habit as there was (as you have reported) nothing new on here for months, and I am only now back on and playing catch-up!
Have you managed to resolve this yet?
Just a few comments to hopefully help clarify a few points…
Thanks for all the feedback.
The traffic MODE column above shows traffic at up to 800km away so I figure that's coming through either the ATOM or the dongle.
The MODE column indicates the type of signal being received by your PilotAware from each aircraft - C = Mode C, S = Mode S, A = ADSB (commercial or from a transponder) reports as ‘CSA’ because the transponder is still transmitting Mode-C (altitude) + Mode-S (hexID and other data) in addition to the ADSB signal, ‘lower case’ a = df18 ADSB (e.g. from a SkyEcho), P = PilotAware. All of the aforementioned indicate direct reception via you antennas unless accompanied by one of the following) - O = ‘Other Mode (normally FLARM / FANET), ’ M = MLAT (triangulated Mode-S/3D), U = Uplink from an ATOM and G = uplink via iGRID.
I’m a bit confused by your comment about ‘traffic at up to 800km away’, - that’s a heck of a long way for direct reception and uplinks are normally restricted to around 60Km from your location (though this can vary depending on where you are).
I messed with the 1090 extension cable and things were better so I bought a good quality RG58 cable that doesn't seem to have made any odds, the old one was a flimsy one. My hangar mate re-appeared again the other day when flying together so all I have atm is ok.
This certainly seems to indicate an issue with the cable or connectors. RG58 is by the way getting near its ‘acceptable loss limits’ at 1090MHz, so is only advised for relatively short runs. I’m pretty sure the cables supplied by PilotAware are LM240 or similar, though I’d need to check.
Dongle reception; metal aeroplane under a metal panel, a dongle in my son's fibreglass plane even was much better with the pad antenna. The Dongle is the types that look like a zip drive.
A 4G dongle or other 4G receiver, such as a phone, needs to be able to ‘see’ the antennas on cellular towers on the ground, so not great if sealed inside a metal (or carbon fibre) box. Experience, however, indicates that a normal phone works fairly well in most aircraft if it has a reasonable view outside the ‘metal box’. In a fabric or fibreglass aircraft it will usually work fine even in your pocket.
How do I power the dongle externally but still have it giving data to the PAW unit via the USB?
This has already been covered. You can power the dongle from a USB power pack (battery) or a
separate USB source powered from your aircraft power supply. It can’t, however, supply the received data to your PAW via USB - You have to set up a WiFi hotspot on the dongle - (though you seem to be saying yours doesn’t provide that option which surprises me) - or from your phone or tablet, then connect your PAW to that hotspot by setting up an iGRID link on the PAW Network Screen.
NOTE: the iGRID Network field won’t appear on the PAW Network Screen until you have an iGRID Access Dongle plugged into one of the PAW USB ports. You mention elsewhere using the redundant WiFi dongle from your original ‘Classic’ setup. While this may work, I would advise using a new iGRID Access Dongle from the PAW Store as your old dongle could well have become faulty through extended use.
406436 is my number. I'd still like the PAW signals to look a little better so aircraft don't disappear and re-appear when close. Going to try the old antenna on the panel to see if it has a better view out the front than the external BNC connected metal one under the belly, under the rudder pedals, below the 0-320 which is a big lump of obscuration of course.
Thanks all, Regards, Clive
I tried to look your aircraft reports up on the PilotAware database, but for some reason the server isn’t coming up at the moment. I will try again later. I did manage to get you up on Vector via the link from pilotaware.com. Your ADSB transmissions are looking good, but your P3i coverage
and range are both very poor, which normally indicates an antenna issue. First thing to do is thoroughly check the P3i antenna and connections. If you don’t have an antenna tester, you can do a simple test by disconnecting the antenna cable from the PilotAware and checking electrical continuity with a multi-meter on a resistance (Ohms) setting (you can use a length of insulated wire to extend the probe to reach under the aircraft). Centre pin at PAW end of coax to antenna radiating element under the aircraft (assuming this is exposed) should be zero or at least very low resistance - the same with outer of plug at PAW and the ground plane or metal body of the aircraft. Centre pin to outer (at both ends of the cable, and between the wire radiating element and aircraft ground, on the other hand, should be infinitely high resistance. If any of these readings are not what they should be, there is a break or bad in the cable/plugs (high or infinite resistance in the first two) or in the latter case - low or zero resistance indicates a short circuit somewhere along the line (such as a rogue strand of the coax braid touching the centre conductor inside a plug). If no improvement is noted, by all means try your end feed antenna directly on the PAW, but be aware that externally mounted antennas under the aircraft should give far better results - especially in terms of communication and uplink from ground-based ATOM Stations as long as they aren’t hidden close to (for example) undercarriage legs or similar.
Hope this helps
Best Regards
Peter
p.s. when Lee says ‘The status page will give a warning’, he means the ‘STATUS’ row on the PAW Home Screen - Thro=OK will change to Thro= throttled (usually accompanied by VOLT=Error in the first box on that row).
