Mark and everybody,

sorry for the inconvenience!

To help us track down the problem, would you be able to
create a flarmcfg.txt with the following line,
put it on the root directory of a USB stick and connect it to your brick
before switching on power:

$adsb,configure,mtlac,300
$pflac,s,pcasrange,9000

ATTENTION: The mtlac setting is non-permanent, so you'll
have to connect the USB stick every time the core starts up.
(Settings using $PFLAC are permanent).

If this improves the PCAS range then it's a software problem
and will be fixed in the upcoming firmware release.

The LED should flash green to confirm the setting.

You write your antenna installation is good. Do you get a display for
ADS-B targets?

Thanks for your help and sorry again for the inconvenience.

FYI: IGC format logging is under internal testing, a beta release
is upcoming.

Best
--Gerhard




Am Montag, 1. Oktober 2012 17:56:14 UTC+2 schrieb Mark:
Three members at my club (self included) have installed PowerFlarm bricks recently. We carefully read and have complied with the antenna separation requirements in the manual. As is stands currently, the maximum xperienced communication range (Flarm to Flarm) is about 2.2 miles and it frequently drops out around 1.3-1.5 miles. Regarding PCAS operation, the only alert I have received using the PowerFlarm Brick has been the towplane at a distance of about 1000-1500 feet lateraly, same altitude. At the same time my Zaon PCAS alerted to the same towplane at a range of 2+ miles and 1000 feet below.



The three gliders are a Ventus 1, Discus 2, and a PIK. All three seem to be experiencing the same issues with very poor range. Emails to FLARM have seemed to fall on deaf ears. We're curious if we're the only ones or if others are also seeing the same issues with BRICKS. We've heard plenty from portable users who are reporting 6+ miles Flarm to Flarm and PCAS alerts approaching 5 miles. If changes to the installation will fix this, great! We just need to know what to change. The US dealer has seen pics of our installation and says the antenna installations look good. They are all on the top of the glare shields so should be excellent visibility. We'd like this to work, but if there is no option to improve the performance then sending the stuff back is certainly on the table. More testing this weekend, but at the moment it's not looking good.