On Monday, September 29, 2014 10:41:45 AM UTC-7, wrote:
I was really surprised to see this in the PowerFLARM Core manual:



'CORE has two separate FLARM radio transceivers FLARM A and FLARM B. FLARM A is used to receive and transmit and must always be connected to an antenna. FLARM B is only used to receive, an optional antenna may be used for better reception performance. Usage of FLARM B requires purchase of the respective feature licence.'



Feature licence? Turns out it's a 44EUR charge http://www.air-avionics.com/support/...rflarm_lic.pdf to enable this feature. My understanding is that this fee is just a software activation; the hardware (antenna and cables) seems to be extra.



Later in the manual:



'The primary antenna (FLARM A) should have good view into the direction of flight. FLARM B (if used) should be placed to complement the field of view of FLARM A.'



.. So, if you're following the recommended install, the secondary FLARM B antenna should be configured solely to reduce your radio reception blind spot.



From the description, it looks like this functionality is entirely safety related; assuming you follow the recommended install, it won't provide any real advantage for the more frivolous functions of FLARM (ie being able to track traffic way ahead of you)



Hopefully I've completely misunderstood the situation, because this seems like a really odd decision by FLARM. What's a feature charge going to do except actively discourage users from fitting the ideal antenna configuration for their aircraft?

I am also surprised to hear about it, especially that I just installed a Flarm B antenna. I agree it doesn't sound right to charge for this, and I dont recall reading anything about an additional charge or a way to enable this in the original manual which came with the original brick. Perhaps this does not apply to the original units?

Ramy