midair in Bay Area Nov 7

On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 10:51:35 AM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 4:35:39 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 9:17:51 PM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 9:47:43 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 12:37:32 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
My biggest complaint with Flarm is that ,when flying along with a friend
a hundred or so yards apart, co-altitude and not in any danger of a
collision, the thing screams continuously about an imminent threat.
Add to your configuration file:

# set competition mode (ON = 2, OFF = 0)
$PFLAC,S,CFLAGS,2

Enjoy. You're welcome. Read flarm docs for details.

T8
Many flarm displays allows you to configure low, medium, high for collision. I never have false alarms as mine is configured to high. I only get alarm when I should. I do not recommend competition mode unless you fly comp.

Ramy
I have no idea what you mean when you say "mine is configured to high". In my experience, all one can do at the display is suppress one or two of the three alarm states. Competition mode preserves all three alarm states, but eliminates nuisance alarms of the type that Dan describes, which is why I made the recommendation. It's my standard mode of operation.

I don't think suppressing alarms in 'normal mode' is a good solution to this problem because it reduces warning time for all encounters, including the head on scenario under discussion. Competition mode doesn't appear to have any adverse effect on how flarm works during a head on encounter. (It would be great if a knowledgeable Flarm insider could comment on this).

best,
T8
I was referring to a setting in the flarm display. LXNAV has low/mid/high warning level.
Dan was describing continuous alarms, so I don’t believe competition mode will change that. I believe competition mode only reduces flarm data on the screen and has no impact on alarms.
From my experience when people complain of too many alarms, it is from one of these reasons:
1- The warning level is set to Low which gives loud alarm for distance targets. Changing it to mid or high will reduce those alarms.
2- mode C alarm is on, resulting in continues alarm when you fly near or thermaling with someone
You should disable mode C and select traffic alert only so you will get notification but not alarm.

Ramy

Hi Ramy,

I think you are confusing competition mode with stealth mode, at least in part. They are completely different. The only purpose of competition mode is to suppress nuisance alarms when flying in formation (smooth gaggle flying is formation flying).

Suppressing some of the alerts at the display level has inherent disadvantages (already covered), so I recommend not doing this.

best,
T8

On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 8:05:23 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 10:51:35 AM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 4:35:39 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 9:17:51 PM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 9:47:43 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 12:37:32 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
My biggest complaint with Flarm is that ,when flying along with a friend
a hundred or so yards apart, co-altitude and not in any danger of a
collision, the thing screams continuously about an imminent threat.
Add to your configuration file:

# set competition mode (ON = 2, OFF = 0)
$PFLAC,S,CFLAGS,2

Enjoy. You're welcome. Read flarm docs for details.

T8
Many flarm displays allows you to configure low, medium, high for collision. I never have false alarms as mine is configured to high. I only get alarm when I should. I do not recommend competition mode unless you fly comp.

Ramy
I have no idea what you mean when you say "mine is configured to high". In my experience, all one can do at the display is suppress one or two of the three alarm states. Competition mode preserves all three alarm states, but eliminates nuisance alarms of the type that Dan describes, which is why I made the recommendation. It's my standard mode of operation.

I don't think suppressing alarms in 'normal mode' is a good solution to this problem because it reduces warning time for all encounters, including the head on scenario under discussion. Competition mode doesn't appear to have any adverse effect on how flarm works during a head on encounter. (It would be great if a knowledgeable Flarm insider could comment on this).

best,
T8
I was referring to a setting in the flarm display. LXNAV has low/mid/high warning level.
Dan was describing continuous alarms, so I don’t believe competition mode will change that. I believe competition mode only reduces flarm data on the screen and has no impact on alarms.
From my experience when people complain of too many alarms, it is from one of these reasons:
1- The warning level is set to Low which gives loud alarm for distance targets. Changing it to mid or high will reduce those alarms.
2- mode C alarm is on, resulting in continues alarm when you fly near or thermaling with someone
You should disable mode C and select traffic alert only so you will get notification but not alarm.

Ramy
Hi Ramy,

I think you are confusing competition mode with stealth mode, at least in part. They are completely different. The only purpose of competition mode is to suppress nuisance alarms when flying in formation (smooth gaggle flying is formation flying).

Suppressing some of the alerts at the display level has inherent disadvantages (already covered), so I recommend not doing this.

best,
T8

I didn’t try competition mode but this is what the LX9000 says about competition mode:
“ Competition mode is intended only for competitions. If this mode is enabled the pilot will not be able to see any FLARM data on the navigational screens. The competition mode status is recorded in the IGC file and can be checked during scoring. Range of view is also limited.�
It doesn’t mention anything about reducing alarms.
Perhaps it is implemented differently in different displays, which will be bad.
I did however tried the low alarm setting , and it was giving me alarms for gliders which were hundreds of feet below, so reduced it to mid or high (can’t recall which).

Ramy

On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 11:33:48 AM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 8:05:23 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 10:51:35 AM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 4:35:39 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 9:17:51 PM UTC-5, Ramy wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 9:47:43 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 12:37:32 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
My biggest complaint with Flarm is that ,when flying along with a friend
a hundred or so yards apart, co-altitude and not in any danger of a
collision, the thing screams continuously about an imminent threat.
Add to your configuration file:

# set competition mode (ON = 2, OFF = 0)
$PFLAC,S,CFLAGS,2

Enjoy. You're welcome. Read flarm docs for details.

T8
Many flarm displays allows you to configure low, medium, high for collision. I never have false alarms as mine is configured to high. I only get alarm when I should. I do not recommend competition mode unless you fly comp.

Ramy
I have no idea what you mean when you say "mine is configured to high". In my experience, all one can do at the display is suppress one or two of the three alarm states. Competition mode preserves all three alarm states, but eliminates nuisance alarms of the type that Dan describes, which is why I made the recommendation. It's my standard mode of operation.

I don't think suppressing alarms in 'normal mode' is a good solution to this problem because it reduces warning time for all encounters, including the head on scenario under discussion. Competition mode doesn't appear to have any adverse effect on how flarm works during a head on encounter. (It would be great if a knowledgeable Flarm insider could comment on this).

best,
T8
I was referring to a setting in the flarm display. LXNAV has low/mid/high warning level.
Dan was describing continuous alarms, so I don’t believe competition mode will change that. I believe competition mode only reduces flarm data on the screen and has no impact on alarms.
From my experience when people complain of too many alarms, it is from one of these reasons:
1- The warning level is set to Low which gives loud alarm for distance targets. Changing it to mid or high will reduce those alarms.
2- mode C alarm is on, resulting in continues alarm when you fly near or thermaling with someone
You should disable mode C and select traffic alert only so you will get notification but not alarm.

Ramy
Hi Ramy,

I think you are confusing competition mode with stealth mode, at least in part. They are completely different. The only purpose of competition mode is to suppress nuisance alarms when flying in formation (smooth gaggle flying is formation flying).

Suppressing some of the alerts at the display level has inherent disadvantages (already covered), so I recommend not doing this.

best,
T8
I didn’t try competition mode but this is what the LX9000 says about competition mode:
“ Competition mode is intended only for competitions. If this mode is enabled the pilot will not be able to see any FLARM data on the navigational screens. The competition mode status is recorded in the IGC file and can be checked during scoring. Range of view is also limited.�
It doesn’t mention anything about reducing alarms.
Perhaps it is implemented differently in different displays, which will be bad.
I did however tried the low alarm setting , and it was giving me alarms for gliders which were hundreds of feet below, so reduced it to mid or high (can’t recall which).

Ramy

That explanation of competition mode is simply wrong. It's clearly confused with stealth mode.

T8