What Flarm really needs...

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 11:27:28 AM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
Awwww...* Way too logical.* I favor standing the glider on its nose
and walking around it to take up/down measurements!* :-D

Or you could more easily hoist YOUR fuselage vertical by the nose hook.

On Monday, June 8, 2015 at 4:54:11 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Flarm needs a box that is similar to that used by A&Ps to do transponder checks. Something portable that would allow you to test the send and receive range of your glider on the ground. Idally you would do sy 4 tests. Off the nose, behind, and left and right.

Range analysis tool is ok, but it's really pretty useless if you're trying to diagnose a problem.

If there were 10 of these boxes available in the US, I'd happily put down a significant deposit on the box and a reasonable rental to be able to check not just my glider, but all the gliders at my airport before returning the box to get my deposit back.

Doesn't Flarm broadcast in the blind all the time? There is plenty of test equipment available to test the field strengths of transmission. Not as cheap as the Portable recommendation, but probably more accurate. Look around your area for a lab that does EMI testing.

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 12:32:51 PM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:

Doesn't Flarm broadcast in the blind all the time? There is plenty of test equipment available to test the field strengths of transmission.


Flarm/Powerflarm use the ISM/SRD band. Wi-fi uses the same band (though maybe not the same exact frequencies?).

If the frequecies are common, maybe you could use something like http://www.ekahau.com/wifidesign/ekahau-heatmapper to map Flarm signal strength around the glider.

Why not use the Flarm range Analyzer?
https://flarm.com/support/tools-soft...ange-analyzer/

SF

Because if you are trouble shooting a problem, you'd have to go fly with a bunch of other gliders and then come back and see if anything changed.

What's needed is a box that could tell you on he ground that "yes, your flarm is transmitting at an acceptable power level, or no, you have a problem." Similarly, it would be just as important to determine that your Flarm is receiving a signal that duplicates a glider at say a 3km range"

On Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 4:39:22 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Because if you are trouble shooting a problem, you'd have to go fly with a bunch of other gliders and then come back and see if anything changed.

What's needed is a box that could tell you on he ground that "yes, your flarm is transmitting at an acceptable power level, or no, you have a problem." Similarly, it would be just as important to determine that your Flarm is receiving a signal that duplicates a glider at say a 3km range"

Links to example cheap chinese ebay parts for the setup Steve brought up earlier in the thread, $23 + $3 shipping. Its simple screw together connectors. This plus a trusty portable power flarm gives the functionality you are looking for. Stand back 100 ft and rotate the glider to demo a ~ 2 mile range. Check receive in your cockpit and transmit at the test flarm. Its a simple "can you hear me now" test, but quick and comparable to what you get from the flarm range analysis tool and as effective as the portable transponder checker.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pce-Adapter...em3f4b58 733d

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pce-Adapter...em3f40f0 144e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40dB-SMA-RF-...em5b0568 0a58

Dave is an RF Engineer, so his affirmation is significant. I agree with Dave that rotating the glider gets the same result as walking out on radials while probably being a little quicker and it's likely to be easier to find a good place to do the test that way.

Parts are one order. I'll report back on how it goes.

Thinking I might start next to the glider and then walk away until I lose signal first.

On Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 8:48:40 PM UTC-5, Dave Leonard wrote:

... Stand back 100 ft and rotate the glider to demo a ~ 2 mile range. Check receive in your cockpit and transmit at the test flarm. Its a simple "can you hear me now" test, but quick and comparable to what you get from the flarm range analysis tool and as effective as the portable transponder checker.

And with wing and tail dollies on, the "rotate" part is really easy. You can get a small bit on elevation, too, by putting the wing away from the portable on the ground, or placing the glider on a higher spot than the portable, as I hear not all places are as flat as where I typically fly.

And, since you are running two Flarms to do the test, you should be able to run it through the range analysis tool, too. Or, does one of them have to be moving to create a log file?

Steve Leonard

On Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 6:51:58 AM UTC-7, Steve Leonard wrote:
On Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 8:48:40 PM UTC-5, Dave Leonard wrote:

... Stand back 100 ft and rotate the glider to demo a ~ 2 mile range. Check receive in your cockpit and transmit at the test flarm. Its a simple "can you hear me now" test, but quick and comparable to what you get from the flarm range analysis tool and as effective as the portable transponder checker.

And with wing and tail dollies on, the "rotate" part is really easy. You can get a small bit on elevation, too, by putting the wing away from the portable on the ground, or placing the glider on a higher spot than the portable, as I hear not all places are as flat as where I typically fly.

And, since you are running two Flarms to do the test, you should be able to run it through the range analysis tool, too. Or, does one of them have to be moving to create a log file?

Steve Leonard

You could mount a Flarm on a helicopter drone, which could help if you really want to do a thorough and precise job. It would also allow you to test positive elevation angles. You can program many drones to fly a pre-programmed set of circular paths around a point. The FAA frowns on flying drones at airports so maybe you'd need to assemble at a local parking lot or park to do this.

As I understand the range tool you need a minimum number of points from at least 5 other Flarms for the tool to give a result. I doubt that it rejects non-moving targets since my Flarm display shows other gliders on the ground when I'm on the ground, but it would be hard to test since the tool only uses first/last contact to estimate maximum range, so motion is required to the extent that you need to move into/out of range to have the tool pick a max range point.

9B