I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for a minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.

Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like this:

LFLA213757GPS 7 45

Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)

Then I get some that look like this:

LFLA213857GPS 0 0

No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds before and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about that many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).

This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2 firmware "upgrade".

Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that describes it.

On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for a minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.
>
> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like this:
>
> LFLA213757GPS 7 45
>
> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
>
> Then I get some that look like this:
>
> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
>
> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds before and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about that many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).
>
> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2 firmware "upgrade".
>
> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that describes it.

I note in looking at IGC logs from prior years (before the 6.0 firmware) that these comment sentences didn't exist. I wonder if someone could look at a post 6.0 firmware IGC log from their PowerFlarm, and see if there are some "LFLAxxxxxxGPS 0 0" entries. Can't tell if this is normal or not.

On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for a minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.
>
> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like this:
>
> LFLA213757GPS 7 45
>
> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
>
> Then I get some that look like this:
>
> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
>
> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds before and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about that many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).
>
> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2 firmware "upgrade".
>
> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that describes it.

was there military GPS jamming going on at the time?. I got lots of dropouts and a blackout for 40 minutes near mono lake last week. My backup Oudie GPS also showed dropouts.

Matt

On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 8:00:52 AM UTC-7, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
> > I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for a minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.
> >
> > Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like this:
> >
> > LFLA213757GPS 7 45
> >
> > Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
> >
> > Then I get some that look like this:
> >
> > LFLA213857GPS 0 0
> >
> > No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds before and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about that many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).
> >
> > This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2 firmware "upgrade".
> >
> > Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that describes it.
>
> was there military GPS jamming going on at the time?. I got lots of dropouts and a blackout for 40 minutes near mono lake last week. My backup Oudie GPS also showed dropouts.
>
> Matt

In the Flarm IGC file there appear to be no skipped Lat Long records around these messages. Time correlating to the Air Av IGC log, at each of the instances there are no missing fixes.

My guess is that it is a Air (Butterfly) vario thing. The Flarm NMEA stream must have changed to introduce some new stuff at the 6.0 change, and the vario is choosing to warn about things that might be better unsaid. But I was trying to get more info on the PowerFlarm first.

I have the same problem. I just turned down the voice volume to 0. A better solution would be nice.
Dale

On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 8:40:05 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> I have the same problem. I just turned down the voice volume to 0. A better solution would be nice.
> Dale

The GPS rx threshold for these messages seems too low. I've had the same message in the Air vario while using one antenna for three devices. The other devices were perfectly happy.
Incrementally tilting the instrument panel up will provide the message before other devices lose GPS.
Personally wouldn't turn the messages down, no longer use FLARM visual displays.
Jim

Jon,

I flew 3 hours today, and my Butterfly vario was happy with all of the messages from my Flarm (v6.03). My messages typically look like LFLA185213GPS 10 45.

I'm in PA, so maybe there's something to Matt's GPS jamming theory.

-John, Q3

On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 11:26:00 AM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
> In the Flarm IGC file there appear to be no skipped Lat Long records around these messages. Time correlating to the Air Av IGC log, at each of the instances there are no missing fixes.
>
> My guess is that it is a Air (Butterfly) vario thing. The Flarm NMEA stream must have changed to introduce some new stuff at the 6.0 change, and the vario is choosing to warn about things that might be better unsaid. But I was trying to get more info on the PowerFlarm first.

Aaaargh - correction. V6.02, not v6.03. And there were no messages at all of the form LFLAxxxxxxGPS 0 0. For what it's worth, my hardware is v1.1.

-John, Q3

On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 11:18:55 PM UTC-4, John Carlyle wrote:
> Jon,
>
> I flew 3 hours today, and my Butterfly vario was happy with all of the messages from my Flarm (v6.03). My messages typically look like LFLA185213GPS 10 45.
>
> I'm in PA, so maybe there's something to Matt's GPS jamming theory.
>
> -John, Q3

On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 9:38:17 AM UTC-7, JS wrote:
> On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 8:40:05 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > I have the same problem. I just turned down the voice volume to 0. A better solution would be nice.
> > Dale
>
> The GPS rx threshold for these messages seems too low. I've had the same message in the Air vario while using one antenna for three devices. The other devices were perfectly happy.
> Incrementally tilting the instrument panel up will provide the message before other devices lose GPS.
> Personally wouldn't turn the messages down, no longer use FLARM visual displays.
> Jim

More to this, of more general interest.

I flew today and got some extended periods of "no GPS" warnings. Again the IGC file looks ok, but there are the "GPS 0 0" messages where I was getting the voice warnings. I then overlaid the flight logs from the Flarm and the Triadis logger in Seeyou, and it is obvious that in fact the Flarm does not have a fix, and is merely filling in interpolated fixes after the fact to generate a straight line between the valid ones. This is quite obvious in SeeYou. Looking at yesterday's traces, same thing. Looking at some traces from last year, they overlay exactly. In the SeeYou graph, you can display fix accuracy and see it as well, large intervals of essentially no accuracy.

So something has gone wrong with my Flarm, either the firmware update or winter storage has caused it to be unreliable. If you did not recognize this, you would turn in a file at a contest and get short changed because corners are cut. Or maybe the scoring software would throw it out.

On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 9:38:17 AM UTC-7, JS wrote:
> On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 8:40:05 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > I have the same problem. I just turned down the voice volume to 0. A better solution would be nice.
> > Dale
>
> The GPS rx threshold for these messages seems too low. I've had the same message in the Air vario while using one antenna for three devices. The other devices were perfectly happy.
> Incrementally tilting the instrument panel up will provide the message before other devices lose GPS.
> Personally wouldn't turn the messages down, no longer use FLARM visual displays.
> Jim

Dale and Jim, if you overlay the Flarm IGC file on the Air Vario IGC file from the same flight in SeeYou, do you see problems? Or can you email the files to me and I can try it?

At 03:18 04 July 2015, John Carlyle wrote:
>Jon,
>
>I flew 3 hours today, and my Butterfly vario was happy with all of the
>mess=
>ages from my Flarm (v6.03). My messages typically look like LFLA185213GPS
>1=
>0 45.=20
>
>I'm in PA, so maybe there's something to Matt's GPS jamming theory.=20
>
>-John, Q3
>
>On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 11:26:00 AM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
>> In the Flarm IGC file there appear to be no skipped Lat Long records
>arou=
>nd these messages. Time correlating to the Air Av IGC log, at each of the
>i=
>nstances there are no missing fixes.=20
>>=20
>> My guess is that it is a Air (Butterfly) vario thing. The Flarm NMEA
>stre=
>am must have changed to introduce some new stuff at the 6.0 change, and
>the=
> vario is choosing to warn about things that might be better unsaid. But
I
>=
>was trying to get more info on the PowerFlarm first.
>
>
If you look at the GPS Altitude trace in SeeYou, this Should go to zero
when there are no valid GPS Positions.

On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 2:15:06 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> At 03:18 04 July 2015, John Carlyle wrote:
> >Jon,
> >
> >I flew 3 hours today, and my Butterfly vario was happy with all of the
> >mess=
> >ages from my Flarm (v6.03). My messages typically look like LFLA185213GPS
> >1=
> >0 45.=20
> >
> >I'm in PA, so maybe there's something to Matt's GPS jamming theory.=20
> >
> >-John, Q3
> >
> >On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 11:26:00 AM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
> >> In the Flarm IGC file there appear to be no skipped Lat Long records
> >arou=
> >nd these messages. Time correlating to the Air Av IGC log, at each of the
> >i=
> >nstances there are no missing fixes.=20
> >>=20
> >> My guess is that it is a Air (Butterfly) vario thing. The Flarm NMEA
> >stre=
> >am must have changed to introduce some new stuff at the 6.0 change, and
> >the=
> > vario is choosing to warn about things that might be better unsaid. But
> I
> >=
> >was trying to get more info on the PowerFlarm first.
> >
> >
> If you look at the GPS Altitude trace in SeeYou, this Should go to zero
> when there are no valid GPS Positions.

Yes it does. Pressure altitude is still present, and perfectly tracks the Triadis log. Further dissecting the B records, for those that are bad, the fix is indicated as "V" (2D), fix accuracy as "999", and satellites tracked as "00". The latitude and longitude are repeats of the last valid fix, as required by the IGC spec.

The conclusion is that the voice warnings are real, and the PowerFlarm GPS has gone Tango Uniform. The fact that it works in approximately the second half of the flight makes me suspect heat susceptibility (ground temps in the 90's F, vs. 50 at altitude). I will try playing with the antenna location (but it is the same as last year when it worked fine).

Further confirmation of my long held belief that anything over 80 degrees F should be illegal... <grin>

-John, Q3

On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 11:54:16 AM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
> The conclusion is that the voice warnings are real, and the PowerFlarm GPS has gone Tango Uniform. The fact that it works in approximately the second half of the flight makes me suspect heat susceptibility (ground temps in the 90's F, vs. 50 at altitude). I will try playing with the antenna location (but it is the same as last year when it worked fine).

At 15:54 04 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
>On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 2:15:06 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
>> At 03:18 04 July 2015, John Carlyle wrote:
>> >Jon,
>> >
>> >I flew 3 hours today, and my Butterfly vario was happy with all of the
>> >mess=3D
>> >ages from my Flarm (v6.03). My messages typically look like
>LFLA185213GP=
>S
>> >1=3D
>> >0 45.=3D20
>> >
>> >I'm in PA, so maybe there's something to Matt's GPS jamming
theory.=3D20
>> >
>> >-John, Q3
>> >
>> >On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 11:26:00 AM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
>> >> In the Flarm IGC file there appear to be no skipped Lat Long records
>> >arou=3D
>> >nd these messages. Time correlating to the Air Av IGC log, at each of
>th=
>e
>> >i=3D
>> >nstances there are no missing fixes.=3D20
>> >>=3D20
>> >> My guess is that it is a Air (Butterfly) vario thing. The Flarm NMEA
>> >stre=3D
>> >am must have changed to introduce some new stuff at the 6.0 change,
and
>> >the=3D
>> > vario is choosing to warn about things that might be better unsaid.
But
>> I
>> >=3D
>> >was trying to get more info on the PowerFlarm first.
>> >
>> >
>> If you look at the GPS Altitude trace in SeeYou, this Should go to zero
>> when there are no valid GPS Positions.
>
>Yes it does. Pressure altitude is still present, and perfectly tracks the
>T=
>riadis log. Further dissecting the B records, for those that are bad, the
>f=
>ix is indicated as "V" (2D), fix accuracy as "999", and satellites
tracked
>=
>as "00". The latitude and longitude are repeats of the last valid fix,
as
>=
>required by the IGC spec.=20
>
>The conclusion is that the voice warnings are real, and the PowerFlarm
GPS
>=
>has gone Tango Uniform. The fact that it works in approximately the
second
>=
>half of the flight makes me suspect heat susceptibility (ground temps in
>th=
>e 90's F, vs. 50 at altitude). I will try playing with the antenna
>location=
> (but it is the same as last year when it worked fine).
>

Don't know how relevant this is, but on a UK Newsgroup it was written:

>At 14:13 01 July 2015, John Firth wrote:
>>At 15:57 29 June 2015, Guy Corbett wrote:
>>>Late morning last Wednesday (24th) launching was delayed in the
>>Shenington
>>>regionals because all competitors lost GPS coverage. 0 satellites were
>>>being tracked, after a couple of minutes coverage returned. Was this a
>>>local effect or did it happen elsewhere? The organisers found no
>>relevant
>>>NOTAMS.
>>Don't blame Hilary.
>>
>>Has no one heard of solar storms? The ejected electrons
>>and protons hit the tenous outer atmosphere, causing
>>intense ionisation ( lots of electrons) and block
>>radio signals from space.
>>there were two intense solar flares that week and ai suspect
>>for a few minutes the lecetron density was such that
>>GPS signals were blocked.
>>
>>http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
>>
>>Soaring needs the sun.
>>

On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 10:00:22 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> At 15:54 04 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
> >On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 2:15:06 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> >> At 03:18 04 July 2015, John Carlyle wrote:
> >> >Jon,
> >> >
> >> >I flew 3 hours today, and my Butterfly vario was happy with all of the
> >> >mess=3D
> >> >ages from my Flarm (v6.03). My messages typically look like
> >LFLA185213GP=
> >S
> >> >1=3D
> >> >0 45.=3D20
> >> >
> >> >I'm in PA, so maybe there's something to Matt's GPS jamming
> theory.=3D20
> >> >
> >> >-John, Q3
> >> >
> >> >On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 11:26:00 AM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
> >> >> In the Flarm IGC file there appear to be no skipped Lat Long records
> >> >arou=3D
> >> >nd these messages. Time correlating to the Air Av IGC log, at each of
> >th=
> >e
> >> >i=3D
> >> >nstances there are no missing fixes.=3D20
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> My guess is that it is a Air (Butterfly) vario thing. The Flarm NMEA
> >> >stre=3D
> >> >am must have changed to introduce some new stuff at the 6.0 change,
> and
> >> >the=3D
> >> > vario is choosing to warn about things that might be better unsaid.
> But
> >> I
> >> >=3D
> >> >was trying to get more info on the PowerFlarm first.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> If you look at the GPS Altitude trace in SeeYou, this Should go to zero
> >> when there are no valid GPS Positions.
> >
> >Yes it does. Pressure altitude is still present, and perfectly tracks the
> >T=
> >riadis log. Further dissecting the B records, for those that are bad, the
> >f=
> >ix is indicated as "V" (2D), fix accuracy as "999", and satellites
> tracked
> >=
> >as "00". The latitude and longitude are repeats of the last valid fix,
> as
> >=
> >required by the IGC spec.=20
> >
> >The conclusion is that the voice warnings are real, and the PowerFlarm
> GPS
> >=
> >has gone Tango Uniform. The fact that it works in approximately the
> second
> >=
> >half of the flight makes me suspect heat susceptibility (ground temps in
> >th=
> >e 90's F, vs. 50 at altitude). I will try playing with the antenna
> >location=
> > (but it is the same as last year when it worked fine).
> >
>
> Don't know how relevant this is, but on a UK Newsgroup it was written:
>
> >At 14:13 01 July 2015, John Firth wrote:
> >>At 15:57 29 June 2015, Guy Corbett wrote:
> >>>Late morning last Wednesday (24th) launching was delayed in the
> >>Shenington
> >>>regionals because all competitors lost GPS coverage. 0 satellites were
> >>>being tracked, after a couple of minutes coverage returned. Was this a
> >>>local effect or did it happen elsewhere? The organisers found no
> >>relevant
> >>>NOTAMS.
> >>Don't blame Hilary.
> >>
> >>Has no one heard of solar storms? The ejected electrons
> >>and protons hit the tenous outer atmosphere, causing
> >>intense ionisation ( lots of electrons) and block
> >>radio signals from space.
> >>there were two intense solar flares that week and ai suspect
> >>for a few minutes the lecetron density was such that
> >>GPS signals were blocked.
> >>
> >>http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
> >>
> >>Soaring needs the sun.
> >>

It is possible the Flarm GPS is simply weaker than every other one, and if the S/N ratio goes down due to solar flares or whatever, the Flarm fails first. I have 4 other GPS receivers in the glider (iPhone 5s, iPhone 6+, inReach, Air Vario), none of them seemed to have any trouble while the Flarm did.

I have also talked to more that a few Flarm owners who think that there are many more dropouts this year compared to last year. Which makes me wonder all the more about what was done in the 6xx firmware.

I was getting a "Flarm Fault 3" message
from my Air Glide
vario. The manufacturer advised me to
install the latest software version (which
seems not to have been announced)
which was issued for compatibility with
the new PowerFlarm release.

Fixed that problem for me.

On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 4:15:04 PM UTC-7, George Haeh wrote:
> I was getting a "Flarm Fault 3" message
> from my Air Glide
> vario. The manufacturer advised me to
> install the latest software version (which
> seems not to have been announced)
> which was issued for compatibility with
> the new PowerFlarm release.
>
> Fixed that problem for me.

The "Flarm Fault 3" message is due to the Flarm serial link being unresponsive, which could be due to several reasons (and the Air Vario in prior firmware revisions created some of these reasons). However I am running the latest Air Vario firmware (labeled 2242 but reports as 2240). This is a different problem, and the source appears to be the Flarm.

On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for a minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.
>
> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like this:
>
> LFLA213757GPS 7 45
>
> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
>
> Then I get some that look like this:
>
> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
>
> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds before and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about that many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).
>
> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2 firmware "upgrade".
>
> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that describes it.

I have now written an XL parser for the Flarm IGC file, which counts the instances of dropped fixes. I found no dropped fixes at all from flights in 2013. I found dropped fixes in one flight in 2014, 56 dropped on one particular flight, none in any others. I have now 3 flights in 2015 with the new firmware. 1st flight shows 19 dropped fixes, 2nd flight 373 dropped fixes, 3rd flight 882 (and all fairly short flights too). Not an encouraging trend.

The reason I am now aware of it, is that the new Flarm firmware announces bad fixes with the Lxxxxxx GPS 0 0 comment line, and the Air Vario announces it to me with a voice warning. Didn't do that before.

I had issues right after I upgraded my brick a couple of months ago. Turned out to be a loose GPS cable connection to the brick as the GPS antenna does not screw on just pushes on. I pushed it back on and hasn't had a problem since.

On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 8:17:08 PM UTC-7, wrote:
> I had issues right after I upgraded my brick a couple of months ago. Turned out to be a loose GPS cable connection to the brick as the GPS antenna does not screw on just pushes on. I pushed it back on and hasn't had a problem since.

I tried pulling and reseating the connector. I wonder if a more efficient antenna would work better on the Flarm. Is anyone using a larger patch antenna with it?

At 00:31 05 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
>On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
>> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for
>a=
> minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.=20
>>=20
>> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like
>thi=
>s:
>>=20
>> LFLA213757GPS 7 45=20
>>=20
>> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
>>=20
>> Then I get some that look like this:
>>=20
>> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
>>=20
>> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds
>befo=
>re and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about
>tha=
>t many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).=20
>>=20
>> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2
firmware
>=
>"upgrade".=20
>>=20
>> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that
>de=
>scribes it.
>
>I have now written an XL parser for the Flarm IGC file, which counts the
>in=
>stances of dropped fixes. I found no dropped fixes at all from flights in
>2=
>013. I found dropped fixes in one flight in 2014, 56 dropped on one
>particu=
>lar flight, none in any others. I have now 3 flights in 2015 with the new
>f=
>irmware. 1st flight shows 19 dropped fixes, 2nd flight 373 dropped fixes,
>3=
>rd flight 882 (and all fairly short flights too). Not an encouraging
>trend.=
>=20
>
>The reason I am now aware of it, is that the new Flarm firmware announces
>b=
>ad fixes with the Lxxxxxx GPS 0 0 comment line, and the Air Vario
>announces=
> it to me with a voice warning. Didn't do that before.
>
Not beyond the bounds of possibility that reporting No GPS in the L-record
is a new feature Introduced with Version 6?

On Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 10:00:07 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> At 00:31 05 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
> >On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
> >> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it for
> >a=
> > minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.=20
> >>=20
> >> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look like
> >thi=
> >s:
> >>=20
> >> LFLA213757GPS 7 45=20
> >>=20
> >> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
> >>=20
> >> Then I get some that look like this:
> >>=20
> >> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
> >>=20
> >> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds
> >befo=
> >re and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and about
> >tha=
> >t many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).=20
> >>=20
> >> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2
> firmware
> >=
> >"upgrade".=20
> >>=20
> >> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm that
> >de=
> >scribes it.
> >
> >I have now written an XL parser for the Flarm IGC file, which counts the
> >in=
> >stances of dropped fixes. I found no dropped fixes at all from flights in
> >2=
> >013. I found dropped fixes in one flight in 2014, 56 dropped on one
> >particu=
> >lar flight, none in any others. I have now 3 flights in 2015 with the new
> >f=
> >irmware. 1st flight shows 19 dropped fixes, 2nd flight 373 dropped fixes,
> >3=
> >rd flight 882 (and all fairly short flights too). Not an encouraging
> >trend.=
> >=20
> >
> >The reason I am now aware of it, is that the new Flarm firmware announces
> >b=
> >ad fixes with the Lxxxxxx GPS 0 0 comment line, and the Air Vario
> >announces=
> > it to me with a voice warning. Didn't do that before.
> >
> Not beyond the bounds of possibility that reporting No GPS in the L-record
> is a new feature Introduced with Version 6?

As I said, this was introduced in V6. The same information was available in the B record in prior versions, but you had to dig for it a bit more. Of course the Vario is not looking at the IGC file, only the serial stream, which I do not have the equipment to directly capture, so I do not know what changes where made to it, and what changes to the interpretation.

At 05:54 06 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
>On Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 10:00:07 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
>> At 00:31 05 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
>> >On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
>> >> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it
>fo=
>r
>> >a=3D
>> > minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.=3D20
>> >>=3D20
>> >> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look
like
>> >thi=3D
>> >s:
>> >>=3D20
>> >> LFLA213757GPS 7 45=3D20
>> >>=3D20
>> >> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
>> >>=3D20
>> >> Then I get some that look like this:
>> >>=3D20
>> >> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
>> >>=3D20
>> >> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds
>> >befo=3D
>> >re and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and
about
>> >tha=3D
>> >t many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).=3D20
>> >>=3D20
>> >> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2
>> firmware
>> >=3D
>> >"upgrade".=3D20
>> >>=3D20
>> >> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm
that
>> >de=3D
>> >scribes it.
>> >
>> >I have now written an XL parser for the Flarm IGC file, which counts
the
>> >in=3D
>> >stances of dropped fixes. I found no dropped fixes at all from flights
>i=
>n
>> >2=3D
>> >013. I found dropped fixes in one flight in 2014, 56 dropped on one
>> >particu=3D
>> >lar flight, none in any others. I have now 3 flights in 2015 with the
>ne=
>w
>> >f=3D
>> >irmware. 1st flight shows 19 dropped fixes, 2nd flight 373 dropped
>fixes=
>,
>> >3=3D
>> >rd flight 882 (and all fairly short flights too). Not an encouraging
>> >trend.=3D
>> >=3D20
>> >
>> >The reason I am now aware of it, is that the new Flarm firmware
>announce=
>s
>> >b=3D
>> >ad fixes with the Lxxxxxx GPS 0 0 comment line, and the Air Vario
>> >announces=3D
>> > it to me with a voice warning. Didn't do that before.
>> >
>> Not beyond the bounds of possibility that reporting No GPS in the
>L-recor=
>d
>> is a new feature Introduced with Version 6?
>
>As I said, this was introduced in V6. The same information was available
>in=
> the B record in prior versions, but you had to dig for it a bit more. Of
>c=
>ourse the Vario is not looking at the IGC file, only the serial stream,
>whi=
>ch I do not have the equipment to directly capture, so I do not know what
>c=
>hanges where made to it, and what changes to the interpretation.
>
Have you looked at the .IGC records that begin with "F"? These contain
firstly the time, followed by pairs of characters which give the satellite
ID? These records should occur at leats every five minutes.

On Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 11:45:06 PM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> At 05:54 06 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
> >On Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 10:00:07 AM UTC-7, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> >> At 00:31 05 July 2015, jfitch wrote:
> >> >On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 10:12:49 PM UTC-7, jfitch wrote:
> >> >> I am getting this bitching Betty alarm every so often. It may do it
> >fo=
> >r
> >> >a=3D
> >> > minute or so, then goes away, then comes again.=3D20
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> Looking at the Flarm IGC file, there are comment lines that look
> like
> >> >thi=3D
> >> >s:
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> LFLA213757GPS 7 45=3D20
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> Which I believe represents GPS status (7 satellites?)
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> Then I get some that look like this:
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> LFLA213857GPS 0 0
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> No satellites? The B field time stamps show a lat and long 4 seconds
> >> >befo=3D
> >> >re and 4 seconds after. In the flight today I got 14 of these and
> about
> >> >tha=3D
> >> >t many warnings (I didn't count the warnings).=3D20
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> This didn't happen last year, started coincident with the 6.0.2
> >> firmware
> >> >=3D
> >> >"upgrade".=3D20
> >> >>=3D20
> >> >> Can anyone shed any light on this? Can't find any spec from Flarm
> that
> >> >de=3D
> >> >scribes it.
> >> >
> >> >I have now written an XL parser for the Flarm IGC file, which counts
> the
> >> >in=3D
> >> >stances of dropped fixes. I found no dropped fixes at all from flights
> >i=
> >n
> >> >2=3D
> >> >013. I found dropped fixes in one flight in 2014, 56 dropped on one
> >> >particu=3D
> >> >lar flight, none in any others. I have now 3 flights in 2015 with the
> >ne=
> >w
> >> >f=3D
> >> >irmware. 1st flight shows 19 dropped fixes, 2nd flight 373 dropped
> >fixes=
> >,
> >> >3=3D
> >> >rd flight 882 (and all fairly short flights too). Not an encouraging
> >> >trend.=3D
> >> >=3D20
> >> >
> >> >The reason I am now aware of it, is that the new Flarm firmware
> >announce=
> >s
> >> >b=3D
> >> >ad fixes with the Lxxxxxx GPS 0 0 comment line, and the Air Vario
> >> >announces=3D
> >> > it to me with a voice warning. Didn't do that before.
> >> >
> >> Not beyond the bounds of possibility that reporting No GPS in the
> >L-recor=
> >d
> >> is a new feature Introduced with Version 6?
> >
> >As I said, this was introduced in V6. The same information was available
> >in=
> > the B record in prior versions, but you had to dig for it a bit more. Of
> >c=
> >ourse the Vario is not looking at the IGC file, only the serial stream,
> >whi=
> >ch I do not have the equipment to directly capture, so I do not know what
> >c=
> >hanges where made to it, and what changes to the interpretation.
> >
> Have you looked at the .IGC records that begin with "F"? These contain
> firstly the time, followed by pairs of characters which give the satellite
> ID? These records should occur at leats every five minutes.

I have looked at them, they are unremarkable. They do not appear near the dropped fixes. The IGC spec requires them only every 5 minutes or when the constellation changes.