Flarm collision alert from Tow Plane ADS-B

On Monday, March 19, 2018 at 10:26:16 AM UTC-6, Dirk_PW wrote:
I'm having a similar problem with just a mode-c transponder in the towplane. I'm not getting a 'collision' warning per se, but the S80 does indicate a xpndr equipped aircraft is in close proximity. The issue with this is that the display is simply locked out from all other functions during the entire tow. That is, there is no way to get your vario display back until after the tow and the aircraft exceeds the threat threshold. This 'problem' also occurs when flying close to xpdr equipped gliders. I had caught up to a friend that had a mode-c xpdr and we flew together for over an hour. During the whole time, the S80 displayed the xpdr traffic page and I couldn't navigate past it to see any other pages. I had to ask my friend to turn off his transponder while we were flying together. It would be nice if the instrument had an "acknowledge" feature where I could suppress the alert for some configurable period of time so I can get access to the rest of the vario features (similar to the way modern computers handle airspace warnings). I want to tell the computer... "I see the traffic, now go away for 5 minutes", but I don't want to turn it off permanently, however for obvious reasons.

Has anyone else experienced this and have a solution?

I like the idea of an "acknowledge" feature similar to airspace warnings on the LXNav S80. I've sent LXNav a comment on this problem with ADS-B out. Let see what they say... I'm also using the Flarm as my GPS source to the S80 and Oudie, so turning it off during tow is not a good option for me.

Campbell,

Please post what you get back from LXNav about the handling of FLARM alerts.. I doubt the ADS-B alerts are a concern, but regular mode-C equipped gliders flying with you will 'jam' your vario (i.e. you can't push any buttons to get rid of the alert short of turning off the alerts entirely from the config page - or having your buddy turn off their xpdr). BTW, that is exactly how I am solving this problem, I've turned off FLARM alerts on the vario.. I have a FLARM LED and an Oudie still getting FLARM inputs so I don't really need it displayed on the vario also. It is unfortunate because I like the way the S80 displays FLARM and ADS-B targets that are not an immediate threat. Hopefully they can offer a suppression mechanism (for mode-c xpdr traffic specifically) in a future software release. I have been very impressed with their customer support so far.

Dirk, Campbell,

I reported the mode C issue to LXNAV and after few back and forth I managed to convince them this is a real problem and not user error, and they promised to fix it in the next release. So far I found the LXNav folks to be very responsive, so I expect a fix soon.
I also just reported the tow plane ADSB problem as I experienced it as well, hopefully they will come up with a solution for that as well.
The best way to resolve these sorts of issues is to report the issue to the manufacture of your device, not just RAS. They normally don’t read RAS.

Ramy

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 2:16:55 PM UTC-6, Dirk_PW wrote:
Campbell,

Please post what you get back from LXNav about the handling of FLARM alerts. I doubt the ADS-B alerts are a concern, but regular mode-C equipped gliders flying with you will 'jam' your vario (i.e. you can't push any buttons to get rid of the alert short of turning off the alerts entirely from the config page - or having your buddy turn off their xpdr). BTW, that is exactly how I am solving this problem, I've turned off FLARM alerts on the vario. I have a FLARM LED and an Oudie still getting FLARM inputs so I don't really need it displayed on the vario also. It is unfortunate because I like the way the S80 displays FLARM and ADS-B targets that are not an immediate threat. Hopefully they can offer a suppression mechanism (for mode-c xpdr traffic specifically) in a future software release. I have been very impressed with their customer support so far.

I have provided details of the ADS-B Flarm alert problem to both Flarm and LXVav. I'll let you know what they say on this problem.