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Old July 12th 17, 11:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Andrzej Kobus
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Default PowerFlarm “Own Transponder Detection" Rate

On Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 10:35:02 AM UTC-4, John Carlyle wrote:
I’ve been trying to get the rate of "own transponder detection" by my PowerFlarm Core as low as possible. Nothing I’ve done has improved it beyond roughly every 10 minutes, on average. Sometimes it’s much worse, showing up almost constantly. Turning off PCAS isn’t really an option for me, so I’d like to know if it’s possible to get a lower false alarm rate.

QUESTION - If you have a PowerFlarm with the PCAS function turned on, what false alarm rate are you getting? If the period is longer than 10 minutes, what did you do to get it (configuration settings, antenna placement, area you fly in)?

For reference, I’ve been working on this problem in both my old LS-8 (with a Mode S) and my new one (with a Mode C). Both ships used the same PowerFlarm configuration file settings, except for XPDR and MODESALT (both were set correctly for each ship). OWNMODEC was set to Aggressive in both ships. The PowerFlarm and transponder antennas were in the same position in both ships (glare shield and tail boom, respectively) and the PowerFlarm Core was the exact same unit for both ships, too.

-John, Q3


This is a common problem and it exists even with proper configuration. I think, it is an issue with PF hardware stability. If you look into log files you will find some interesting entries there. I guess I am lucky enough to only see an issue every 20-30 min. I would suggest experimenting with better PF antenna, but that is probably the only thing that can be done. I would also try to position the PF unit and run the antenna cable is such a way that there is minimal interference from other devices. I gave up. Short antenna cable can also cause a problem.