PowerFlarm display

I have the stand-alone unit and have been flying with it for a few
months now. I am curious about the display.

Is it supposed to show the flarm targets in color, or in black? The
manual shows lot's of colorful icons floating across the screen, all I
see are black triangles with numbers and arrows.

I'm sure the flarm information I am getting is correct, but spending a
few paychecks on this little unit and having a bad display is a little
annoying, if in fact it should be in color.

thanks,
Brad

On 7/23/2012 5:26 PM, Brad wrote:
I have the stand-alone unit and have been flying with it for a few
months now. I am curious about the display.

Is it supposed to show the flarm targets in color, or in black? The
manual shows lot's of colorful icons floating across the screen, all I
see are black triangles with numbers and arrows.

I'm sure the flarm information I am getting is correct, but spending a
few paychecks on this little unit and having a bad display is a little
annoying, if in fact it should be in color.

They are supposed to be green, but the current color selection is so
dark it looks black. I'm told that will be adjusted in the next update.

I've seen PCAS warnings in red, but haven't gotten Flarm warnings, so I
can't say what I'd see, but they are supposed to be red, also. I'm not
sure I've seen any orange "alerts", but I think that is the other color
used.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

On Monday, July 23, 2012 7:58:31 PM UTC-7, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 7/23/2012 5:26 PM, Brad wrote:
> I have the stand-alone unit and have been flying with it for a few
> months now. I am curious about the display.
>
> Is it supposed to show the flarm targets in color, or in black? The
> manual shows lot's of colorful icons floating across the screen, all I
> see are black triangles with numbers and arrows.
>
> I'm sure the flarm information I am getting is correct, but spending a
> few paychecks on this little unit and having a bad display is a little
> annoying, if in fact it should be in color.

They are supposed to be green, but the current color selection is so
dark it looks black. I'm told that will be adjusted in the next update.

I've seen PCAS warnings in red, but haven't gotten Flarm warnings, so I
can't say what I'd see, but they are supposed to be red, also. I'm not
sure I've seen any orange "alerts", but I think that is the other color
used.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

OK, so I installed my Powerflarm Brick, read all the manuals, and now am confused, and am sure that others will be as well. I assumed all along that the main difference between powerflarm portable and brick is mostly the packaging and antennas, but apparently they function differently, or at least according to the manual. The UI is quiet different, especially when it comes to displaying threats (radar style in portable vs traditional led like alert in brick, which seem to be far inferior to the portable). Also the setup is quiet different, with significantly less configuration options for the brick.
So am I misunderstanding the manuals, or those are really two different devices with different functionality and displays?? If the later, I must wonder why, as any differences will result in confusions, and it introduces additional considerations between the two units which is not limited to panel space.

Ramy

Yes, the display you use determines what you see. The warning on the Butterfly displays is different than the portable. Before you judge the display fly with it in the real world.

One a small display under real flight conditions the Butterfly warning screen is effective. The change in display tends to work with the human persception filters that pick up new things in our field of view. At 120 knots my cockpit was so loud with air noise and vario that I did not hear the the warning tones from the PowerFLARM but the change in display caught my eye to a target straight ahead and at my altitude. I turned iimmediately and in time to see the other glider pass at the same speed.

Not sure if the portable would have been enough of a difference to pick up the warning.

On Thursday, July 26, 2012 9:46:37 PM UTC-7, Tim Taylor wrote:
At 120 knots my cockpit was so loud with air noise and vario that I did not hear the the warning tones from the PowerFLARM but the change in display caught my eye to a target straight ahead and at my altitude. I turned iimmediately and in time to see the other glider pass at the same speed.

Not sure if the portable would have been enough of a difference to pick up the warning.

The portables audio out jack makes it straightforward to add a super bright LED alert light. The LED is driven by a transistor switch that get's its drive from the audio out jack, along with 12 volts from the power-in jack (which is internally wired in parallel to the RJ jack that I'm using to power the portable).

Works well in my Husky power plane as well as in the glider. Alternately it would be easy to boost the audio alert volume with a small amplified speaker (available at Radio Trash etc).
http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/v...alertlight.jpg

bumper