Lights are on, but PAW not at home....

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Folks,

I'm not sure if I've done something nasty to my PAW while trying to get it to fire NMEA GPS data (for ADS-B) in to a newly acquired Trig TT21, but it seems to have gone in to a sulk.

The red and green lights are on continuously, no WiFi detected from the unit, no flashing light on the GPS Dongle.

I've tried different power leads and power supplies. The spare PAW works in the same configuration. I've opened the unit up and checked for anything loose, but as far as I can see it's all OK, it just doesn't work....

Is it dead? Do I need to repair it with a new one?


Question No. 2 (well, trying to get money's worth while I'm here)

Is there any setting in the PAW for sending NMEA position data to a transponder (Trig TT21 in my case). The lights on the Farnell USB > RS232 cable flash initially, but then nothing. The TT21 then complains about no data.


All help gratefully received.

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[Ian Melville]

Q2 first, yes there are some settings, but that is a bit academic if it wont work. On the PAW config page there are setting to tell the USB ports what they should be doing and at what speed. Not sure if the TT21 also needs setting up? I think there are some threads about that.

Q2 Remove al devices from the USB except the P3i antenna and the WiFi Dongle. Does that boot and are you able to connect to it? If not swap the SD cards between the two PAW and try again. What happens?

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for the reply.

Tests on PAW:

1. Remove al devices from the USB except the P3i antenna and the WiFi Dongle. Red and Green lights on, no other activity, nothing seen on WiFi.

2. If not swap the SD cards between the two PAW  Changed SD cards over, again nothing happened, Red and Green lights on steady, nothing on WiFi.


NMEA comms between PAW and Trig TT21

The TT21 will accept NMEA at either 4800 or 9600 baud. I've tried both PAW units. Obviously the ‘dead’ one doesn't do anything, the other one flashes the lights on the Farnell USB > RS232 cable but once what appears to be the boot process is complete the lights don’t flash. The TT21 gives a warning message and the test screen shows no NMEA position data.

Thanks for your help.

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for the pointer to the settings on the Configure page.

I think I might have found the problem, as the setting for USB Port 4 was Auto. I'm assuming that Port 4 is the one that is used for NMEA Data out to the transponder. Looking at that box there is the option for Trig. I’ll try that later today when I head up to the airfield.

I noticed when testing yesterday that the TRX (RXTX) packet counter was increasing on TX, with obviously nothing on the RX count and no fails on the CRCFAIL counter.

Cheers,
Richard W.

[Ian Melville]

Half way to getting you sorted then :-)

With the PAW. That is not getting wifi, do you have a HDMI. Cable that you can connect to a monitor?

You could also try removing the WiFi dongle and connect using a LAN lead to your PC. Depending on your home router config, you may need to do a few extra steps so that the router does not clash with the PAW by using the same IP address. Details of this are somewhere else on the forum.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Sadly my wizard wheeze didn't work. No NMEA data being received by the Trig. Does anyone know if the lights on the Farnell USB > RS232 cable should flash when it's working? I did just check the plug on the transponder to ensure I'd got those wires correct - they seem to be. At least the spare is working, as Ridders can confirm, sadly not with ADS-B.

When I get home I'll try the various monitor options, as well as swapping over WiFi dongles.

[Ian Melville]

Yes they should flash Red. If it is the same cable as I have then Black(GND) and Orange (TXD) and should go to Pins 6 (GND) and 5(GPS Position In) respectively on the 25 Pin plug.

Having two of these leads and enough other bits and bobs, I was able to use terminal software on a PC to monitor the messages.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the Info.

Sadly I don’t have a monitor these days, having been on Notebooks and Tablets for a while now. I’ve tried swapping the WiFi Dongles, but it just sits there with its unblinking red and green lights, not talking to anyone.

I tried plugging the LAN cable in (which had worked previously for a software upgrade), but still the unblinking lights…

Do I just get a new board from Maplin, or isn't it that simple?


ADS-B connection (from the PAW that still works)

Black(GND) and Orange (TXD) and should go to Pins 6 (GND) and 5(GPS Position In) respectively on the 25 Pin plug.

Ah, interesting. I’ve got the Orange wire going to Pin 5 and the black wire to Pin 4, as per the Trig TT21 installation manual. To be honest there are two versions of the Basic Interconnect Diagram. The paper one I have in the manual that came with the transponder shows the ADS-B RS232 input to Pin 5 and the ground to Pin 4. It does show Pins 1, 6 and 14 all connected to ground. This manual is dated 2009.

The latest PDF down load of the TT21 Installation Manual (dated 2015) still shows the ADS-B Input connected to Pin 4 (Ground) and Pin 5 (GPS Input), but uses Pins 6 (Ground) and 7 (TIS Output) for the optional Traffic Display for TIS connection. Pins 1 and 14 are still connected to Ground.

If you have had success with GND (Black) Pin 6 and GPS In (Orange) Pin 5 I may just try that out. I guess your TT21 is an earlier one.

I may give my new best friends at Trig another call, I'm on first name terms and they must be heartily sick of me by now…

Thanks for the assistance.

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[Admin]

Richard
Please check the Micro SD card is seated correctly

Thx lee

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Lee,

I've tried that a few times and again just now. Sadly it's still the dreaded unblinking red and green lights...

Thanks for the assistance.

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[Ian Melville]

Hi Richrd, it should not matter which earth, and I would stick with Trigs pin 4 to avoid confusion. I don't have a Trig, or any other transponder for that matter, but know you need black ground and orange TXD.
I've been working on  data into a PAW rather than out, hence have the kit

Has your telly got a HDMI input? Just a big monitor if you have a HDMI to HDMI lead.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Ian,

Sorry, I don't have a HDMI cable, or a telly for that matter. Many years of working offshore worldwide lead to a minimalist approach to home entertainment....

Thinking about the ADS-B / NMEA data out to the transponder, with the 25 way D type connector disconnected from the transponder, would the PAW try and send data and hence flash the light in the USB end of the cable?  The other thought was if one of the flow control signals RTS / CTS floated up ( the wires are not connected) would that stop the transmission?

Admittedly this is all guessing in the dark and perhaps I've killed off the USB > RS232 cable with the same efficiency I killed off the PAW…

Thanks for the assistance.

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[Ian Melville]

I sometimes wonder why I have a telly as well.

With the cable disconnected the red LED should still flash at 1 sec interval. just tried it on mine. There is no flow control, it just blind sends the messages.

Have you set the correct USB Port to Trig?

It's a bit difficult to test an RS232 with only one adaptor. I can plug it into a USB port my Windows 10 PC. then using an application like Hype! Terminal (https://sourceforge.net/projects/hypeterminal/) I can send any text to that com port and see the red LED flash briefly, to see that it sent something. There are MAC OS equivalents, but I will plead the 5th on which one to use.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi Ian,

I’d made the rash assumption that the Trig / NMEA Out was Port 4. This was based on the Quick Start Guide, which seemed to indicate that:
Port 1 was the RTL-SDR Dongle,
Port 2 was the WiFi Dongle
Port 3 was the GPS Dongle.

I've set the Port 4 on the Configure page to be Transponder Trig at 9600 baud. I've set the transponder to receive NMEA at 9600 baud. I've also tried both at 4800 baud, with equal lack of success.

Setting the trp Log Interface Messages flag shows various NMEA messages being transmitted, although there’s no connector in that port at the moment (because it’s wired in to the Trig transponder and is in the hangar).

I do worry that I've got the wrong Port designation, which would be the easiest solution to the problem.

Thanks for the assistance.

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[Ian Melville]

From the full operations manual, any use?

Port 1 Top left USB port (with the Ethernet port to the left).
Port 2 Bottom left USB port (with the Ethernet port to the left).
Port 3 Top right USB port (with the Ethernet port to the left).
Port 4 Bottom right USB port (with the Ethernet port to the left).