#experimentalaviation — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #experimentalaviation, aggregated by home.social.
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@Aut silly question - are you thinking of making a radio, or just (!) the audio panel? Either way I very much look forward to seeing how you go about it!
#homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #kitAirplanes #aeroplanes #airplanes #aviation
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@Aut silly question - are you thinking of making a radio, or just (!) the audio panel? Either way I very much look forward to seeing how you go about it!
#homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #kitAirplanes #aeroplanes #airplanes #aviation
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@Aut silly question - are you thinking of making a radio, or just (!) the audio panel? Either way I very much look forward to seeing how you go about it!
#homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #kitAirplanes #aeroplanes #airplanes #aviation
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@Aut silly question - are you thinking of making a radio, or just (!) the audio panel? Either way I very much look forward to seeing how you go about it!
#homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #kitAirplanes #aeroplanes #airplanes #aviation
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@Aut silly question - are you thinking of making a radio, or just (!) the audio panel? Either way I very much look forward to seeing how you go about it!
#homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #kitAirplanes #aeroplanes #airplanes #aviation
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@jalefkowit
https://scalebirds.com/p40
ScaleBirds are working on a scaled-down P36 airplane kit, and thence, they expect, a P40. If you need a cheaper path to victory!#scalebirds #kitplanes #homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #aviation #aircraft
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@jalefkowit
https://scalebirds.com/p40
ScaleBirds are working on a scaled-down P36 airplane kit, and thence, they expect, a P40. If you need a cheaper path to victory!#scalebirds #kitplanes #homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #aviation #aircraft
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@jalefkowit
https://scalebirds.com/p40
ScaleBirds are working on a scaled-down P36 airplane kit, and thence, they expect, a P40. If you need a cheaper path to victory!#scalebirds #kitplanes #homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #aviation #aircraft
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@jalefkowit
https://scalebirds.com/p40
ScaleBirds are working on a scaled-down P36 airplane kit, and thence, they expect, a P40. If you need a cheaper path to victory!#scalebirds #kitplanes #homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #aviation #aircraft
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@jalefkowit
https://scalebirds.com/p40
ScaleBirds are working on a scaled-down P36 airplane kit, and thence, they expect, a P40. If you need a cheaper path to victory!#scalebirds #kitplanes #homebuiltAircraft #experimentalAviation #aviation #aircraft
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The main issue with just using velcro straps is going to be vibration prevention. I really don’t want this to vibrate against the center console panel. #VansAircraft #Aviation #avgeek #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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The main issue with just using velcro straps is going to be vibration prevention. I really don’t want this to vibrate against the center console panel. #VansAircraft #Aviation #avgeek #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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The main issue with just using velcro straps is going to be vibration prevention. I really don’t want this to vibrate against the center console panel. #VansAircraft #Aviation #avgeek #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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The main issue with just using velcro straps is going to be vibration prevention. I really don’t want this to vibrate against the center console panel. #VansAircraft #Aviation #avgeek #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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The main issue with just using velcro straps is going to be vibration prevention. I really don’t want this to vibrate against the center console panel. #VansAircraft #Aviation #avgeek #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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#VansAircraft came out with a fleet-wide service bulletin to install egress hammers. Kind of a no-brainer, but I’ll admit to never having thought of this (fire extinguisher yes, egress hammer, no). https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sb-00079/
This shouldn’t be hard to comply with - Vans sells these for $25 each, and assuming they actually ship relatively quickly (big if, for real. I see these are already on backorder), the annoying part is just figuring out where and how to mount it. Might be able to rivet some velcro straps to the center console and have that be the install method?
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#VansAircraft came out with a fleet-wide service bulletin to install egress hammers. Kind of a no-brainer, but I’ll admit to never having thought of this (fire extinguisher yes, egress hammer, no). https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sb-00079/
This shouldn’t be hard to comply with - Vans sells these for $25 each, and assuming they actually ship relatively quickly (big if, for real. I see these are already on backorder), the annoying part is just figuring out where and how to mount it. Might be able to rivet some velcro straps to the center console and have that be the install method?
-
#VansAircraft came out with a fleet-wide service bulletin to install egress hammers. Kind of a no-brainer, but I’ll admit to never having thought of this (fire extinguisher yes, egress hammer, no). https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sb-00079/
This shouldn’t be hard to comply with - Vans sells these for $25 each, and assuming they actually ship relatively quickly (big if, for real. I see these are already on backorder), the annoying part is just figuring out where and how to mount it. Might be able to rivet some velcro straps to the center console and have that be the install method?
-
#VansAircraft came out with a fleet-wide service bulletin to install egress hammers. Kind of a no-brainer, but I’ll admit to never having thought of this (fire extinguisher yes, egress hammer, no). https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sb-00079/
This shouldn’t be hard to comply with - Vans sells these for $25 each, and assuming they actually ship relatively quickly (big if, for real. I see these are already on backorder), the annoying part is just figuring out where and how to mount it. Might be able to rivet some velcro straps to the center console and have that be the install method?
-
#VansAircraft came out with a fleet-wide service bulletin to install egress hammers. Kind of a no-brainer, but I’ll admit to never having thought of this (fire extinguisher yes, egress hammer, no). https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sb-00079/
This shouldn’t be hard to comply with - Vans sells these for $25 each, and assuming they actually ship relatively quickly (big if, for real. I see these are already on backorder), the annoying part is just figuring out where and how to mount it. Might be able to rivet some velcro straps to the center console and have that be the install method?
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Like most GA aircraft, my plane has a very loud interior. Whenever I fly, my watch fairly constantly warns me about excessive noise levels. Usually 95 db, occasionally I see 100 db. Noise cancelling headsets are basically required to be in the aircraft while the engine's running. But even then, the noise is still noticeable.
Searching on the vansairforce forums (<3 old school forums), it seems that a lot of the cause of excessive cabin noise is basically panels vibrating against each other, and adding soundproofing material (tape, foam, etc.) helps to massively reduce the noise. The problem then becomes an optimization problem of where to apply the soundproofing to maximize effect while minimizing weight.
I'm thinking of taping a bunch of cheap mics to various spots in the airplane, recording the sound amplitude to try to figure this out. I'm hoping to be able to achieve a noticeable decrease in sound levels doing this.
Of course, I'll also decrease sound levels by just adding carpet to various panels, which I want to do anyway (my cabin is spartan). But I also want to see what the combined improvement will be.
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Like most GA aircraft, my plane has a very loud interior. Whenever I fly, my watch fairly constantly warns me about excessive noise levels. Usually 95 db, occasionally I see 100 db. Noise cancelling headsets are basically required to be in the aircraft while the engine's running. But even then, the noise is still noticeable.
Searching on the vansairforce forums (<3 old school forums), it seems that a lot of the cause of excessive cabin noise is basically panels vibrating against each other, and adding soundproofing material (tape, foam, etc.) helps to massively reduce the noise. The problem then becomes an optimization problem of where to apply the soundproofing to maximize effect while minimizing weight.
I'm thinking of taping a bunch of cheap mics to various spots in the airplane, recording the sound amplitude to try to figure this out. I'm hoping to be able to achieve a noticeable decrease in sound levels doing this.
Of course, I'll also decrease sound levels by just adding carpet to various panels, which I want to do anyway (my cabin is spartan). But I also want to see what the combined improvement will be.
-
Like most GA aircraft, my plane has a very loud interior. Whenever I fly, my watch fairly constantly warns me about excessive noise levels. Usually 95 db, occasionally I see 100 db. Noise cancelling headsets are basically required to be in the aircraft while the engine's running. But even then, the noise is still noticeable.
Searching on the vansairforce forums (<3 old school forums), it seems that a lot of the cause of excessive cabin noise is basically panels vibrating against each other, and adding soundproofing material (tape, foam, etc.) helps to massively reduce the noise. The problem then becomes an optimization problem of where to apply the soundproofing to maximize effect while minimizing weight.
I'm thinking of taping a bunch of cheap mics to various spots in the airplane, recording the sound amplitude to try to figure this out. I'm hoping to be able to achieve a noticeable decrease in sound levels doing this.
Of course, I'll also decrease sound levels by just adding carpet to various panels, which I want to do anyway (my cabin is spartan). But I also want to see what the combined improvement will be.
-
Like most GA aircraft, my plane has a very loud interior. Whenever I fly, my watch fairly constantly warns me about excessive noise levels. Usually 95 db, occasionally I see 100 db. Noise cancelling headsets are basically required to be in the aircraft while the engine's running. But even then, the noise is still noticeable.
Searching on the vansairforce forums (<3 old school forums), it seems that a lot of the cause of excessive cabin noise is basically panels vibrating against each other, and adding soundproofing material (tape, foam, etc.) helps to massively reduce the noise. The problem then becomes an optimization problem of where to apply the soundproofing to maximize effect while minimizing weight.
I'm thinking of taping a bunch of cheap mics to various spots in the airplane, recording the sound amplitude to try to figure this out. I'm hoping to be able to achieve a noticeable decrease in sound levels doing this.
Of course, I'll also decrease sound levels by just adding carpet to various panels, which I want to do anyway (my cabin is spartan). But I also want to see what the combined improvement will be.
-
Like most GA aircraft, my plane has a very loud interior. Whenever I fly, my watch fairly constantly warns me about excessive noise levels. Usually 95 db, occasionally I see 100 db. Noise cancelling headsets are basically required to be in the aircraft while the engine's running. But even then, the noise is still noticeable.
Searching on the vansairforce forums (<3 old school forums), it seems that a lot of the cause of excessive cabin noise is basically panels vibrating against each other, and adding soundproofing material (tape, foam, etc.) helps to massively reduce the noise. The problem then becomes an optimization problem of where to apply the soundproofing to maximize effect while minimizing weight.
I'm thinking of taping a bunch of cheap mics to various spots in the airplane, recording the sound amplitude to try to figure this out. I'm hoping to be able to achieve a noticeable decrease in sound levels doing this.
Of course, I'll also decrease sound levels by just adding carpet to various panels, which I want to do anyway (my cabin is spartan). But I also want to see what the combined improvement will be.
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My friend @cyanoacry (much more active on bluesky, @cyanoacry.bluesky.social) has a blog about the kinds of thing he gets up to with his Rutan Defiant. Yesterday, he posted a highlights of 2025, which included 2 live streams while flying! Plenty of people record and publish their flights after the fact, not that many livestream them!
https://cyanoacry.substack.com/p/defiant-hijinks-dec-2025-part-2
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My friend @cyanoacry (much more active on bluesky, @cyanoacry.bluesky.social) has a blog about the kinds of thing he gets up to with his Rutan Defiant. Yesterday, he posted a highlights of 2025, which included 2 live streams while flying! Plenty of people record and publish their flights after the fact, not that many livestream them!
https://cyanoacry.substack.com/p/defiant-hijinks-dec-2025-part-2
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My friend @cyanoacry (much more active on bluesky, @cyanoacry.bluesky.social) has a blog about the kinds of thing he gets up to with his Rutan Defiant. Yesterday, he posted a highlights of 2025, which included 2 live streams while flying! Plenty of people record and publish their flights after the fact, not that many livestream them!
https://cyanoacry.substack.com/p/defiant-hijinks-dec-2025-part-2
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My friend @cyanoacry (much more active on bluesky, @cyanoacry.bluesky.social) has a blog about the kinds of thing he gets up to with his Rutan Defiant. Yesterday, he posted a highlights of 2025, which included 2 live streams while flying! Plenty of people record and publish their flights after the fact, not that many livestream them!
https://cyanoacry.substack.com/p/defiant-hijinks-dec-2025-part-2
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My friend @cyanoacry (much more active on bluesky, @cyanoacry.bluesky.social) has a blog about the kinds of thing he gets up to with his Rutan Defiant. Yesterday, he posted a highlights of 2025, which included 2 live streams while flying! Plenty of people record and publish their flights after the fact, not that many livestream them!
https://cyanoacry.substack.com/p/defiant-hijinks-dec-2025-part-2
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Short final, runway 17, touch and go.
From a flight at the beginning of the month. 360 cameras are fun.
You’ll note that my nose wheel does not touch the ground during this. The nosegear variants of the Vans RVs are known to be rather weak and prone to collapse. I have the anti-splat nose reinforcement mod, and I was still advised to put as little weight on the nosegear as possible.
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Short final, runway 17, touch and go.
From a flight at the beginning of the month. 360 cameras are fun.
You’ll note that my nose wheel does not touch the ground during this. The nosegear variants of the Vans RVs are known to be rather weak and prone to collapse. I have the anti-splat nose reinforcement mod, and I was still advised to put as little weight on the nosegear as possible.
-
Short final, runway 17, touch and go.
From a flight at the beginning of the month. 360 cameras are fun.
You’ll note that my nose wheel does not touch the ground during this. The nosegear variants of the Vans RVs are known to be rather weak and prone to collapse. I have the anti-splat nose reinforcement mod, and I was still advised to put as little weight on the nosegear as possible.
-
Short final, runway 17, touch and go.
From a flight at the beginning of the month. 360 cameras are fun.
You’ll note that my nose wheel does not touch the ground during this. The nosegear variants of the Vans RVs are known to be rather weak and prone to collapse. I have the anti-splat nose reinforcement mod, and I was still advised to put as little weight on the nosegear as possible.
-
Short final, runway 17, touch and go.
From a flight at the beginning of the month. 360 cameras are fun.
You’ll note that my nose wheel does not touch the ground during this. The nosegear variants of the Vans RVs are known to be rather weak and prone to collapse. I have the anti-splat nose reinforcement mod, and I was still advised to put as little weight on the nosegear as possible.
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Lol, like, an hour after I posted this, I got a text telling me they were finished. So… yay! Lucky me. #avgeek #aviation #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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Lol, like, an hour after I posted this, I got a text telling me they were finished. So… yay! Lucky me. #avgeek #aviation #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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Lol, like, an hour after I posted this, I got a text telling me they were finished. So… yay! Lucky me. #avgeek #aviation #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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Lol, like, an hour after I posted this, I got a text telling me they were finished. So… yay! Lucky me. #avgeek #aviation #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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Lol, like, an hour after I posted this, I got a text telling me they were finished. So… yay! Lucky me. #avgeek #aviation #ExperimentalAviation #AirplaneOwnership
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My airplane has been in the shop for a week now. New transponder is installed and set up. During some tests, they discovered some leaks in my static system. Which… cool. Glad they’re taking care of that, even though I wish I had the plane available sooner. Also, glad they did this because I wouldn’t have known about it until conditional inspection time.
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My airplane has been in the shop for a week now. New transponder is installed and set up. During some tests, they discovered some leaks in my static system. Which… cool. Glad they’re taking care of that, even though I wish I had the plane available sooner. Also, glad they did this because I wouldn’t have known about it until conditional inspection time.
-
My airplane has been in the shop for a week now. New transponder is installed and set up. During some tests, they discovered some leaks in my static system. Which… cool. Glad they’re taking care of that, even though I wish I had the plane available sooner. Also, glad they did this because I wouldn’t have known about it until conditional inspection time.
-
My airplane has been in the shop for a week now. New transponder is installed and set up. During some tests, they discovered some leaks in my static system. Which… cool. Glad they’re taking care of that, even though I wish I had the plane available sooner. Also, glad they did this because I wouldn’t have known about it until conditional inspection time.
-
My airplane has been in the shop for a week now. New transponder is installed and set up. During some tests, they discovered some leaks in my static system. Which… cool. Glad they’re taking care of that, even though I wish I had the plane available sooner. Also, glad they did this because I wouldn’t have known about it until conditional inspection time.
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I tried installing this today, and it was a very humbling experience. I was able to remove the old transponder, but pulling the old mounting bracket (of course these aren’t compatible) was beyond my current toolset. It’s riveted to the panel mount bracket, and I could not access those rivets such that I could drill them out. And I certainly don’t even own proper riveting equipment to replace them when I’m done.
So I’m just going to pay someone who knows what they’re doing (and has the equipment to do this). And maybe they’ll let me observe so I can learn how to improve what maintenance I can do on this.
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I tried installing this today, and it was a very humbling experience. I was able to remove the old transponder, but pulling the old mounting bracket (of course these aren’t compatible) was beyond my current toolset. It’s riveted to the panel mount bracket, and I could not access those rivets such that I could drill them out. And I certainly don’t even own proper riveting equipment to replace them when I’m done.
So I’m just going to pay someone who knows what they’re doing (and has the equipment to do this). And maybe they’ll let me observe so I can learn how to improve what maintenance I can do on this.
-
I tried installing this today, and it was a very humbling experience. I was able to remove the old transponder, but pulling the old mounting bracket (of course these aren’t compatible) was beyond my current toolset. It’s riveted to the panel mount bracket, and I could not access those rivets such that I could drill them out. And I certainly don’t even own proper riveting equipment to replace them when I’m done.
So I’m just going to pay someone who knows what they’re doing (and has the equipment to do this). And maybe they’ll let me observe so I can learn how to improve what maintenance I can do on this.
-
I tried installing this today, and it was a very humbling experience. I was able to remove the old transponder, but pulling the old mounting bracket (of course these aren’t compatible) was beyond my current toolset. It’s riveted to the panel mount bracket, and I could not access those rivets such that I could drill them out. And I certainly don’t even own proper riveting equipment to replace them when I’m done.
So I’m just going to pay someone who knows what they’re doing (and has the equipment to do this). And maybe they’ll let me observe so I can learn how to improve what maintenance I can do on this.
-
I tried installing this today, and it was a very humbling experience. I was able to remove the old transponder, but pulling the old mounting bracket (of course these aren’t compatible) was beyond my current toolset. It’s riveted to the panel mount bracket, and I could not access those rivets such that I could drill them out. And I certainly don’t even own proper riveting equipment to replace them when I’m done.
So I’m just going to pay someone who knows what they’re doing (and has the equipment to do this). And maybe they’ll let me observe so I can learn how to improve what maintenance I can do on this.
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New transponder arrived! For as small as the frontal area on these things are, it’s really easy to forget how deep they are. My com/nav radio from trig is about the same dimensions.
Also, it came with a wire harness where the wires are completely unlabeled. I emailed aircraft spruce to ask for the install manual, and they replied with the 264 page install manual. I have a bunch of reading to do this weekend.
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New transponder arrived! For as small as the frontal area on these things are, it’s really easy to forget how deep they are. My com/nav radio from trig is about the same dimensions.
Also, it came with a wire harness where the wires are completely unlabeled. I emailed aircraft spruce to ask for the install manual, and they replied with the 264 page install manual. I have a bunch of reading to do this weekend.
-
New transponder arrived! For as small as the frontal area on these things are, it’s really easy to forget how deep they are. My com/nav radio from trig is about the same dimensions.
Also, it came with a wire harness where the wires are completely unlabeled. I emailed aircraft spruce to ask for the install manual, and they replied with the 264 page install manual. I have a bunch of reading to do this weekend.
-
New transponder arrived! For as small as the frontal area on these things are, it’s really easy to forget how deep they are. My com/nav radio from trig is about the same dimensions.
Also, it came with a wire harness where the wires are completely unlabeled. I emailed aircraft spruce to ask for the install manual, and they replied with the 264 page install manual. I have a bunch of reading to do this weekend.
-
New transponder arrived! For as small as the frontal area on these things are, it’s really easy to forget how deep they are. My com/nav radio from trig is about the same dimensions.
Also, it came with a wire harness where the wires are completely unlabeled. I emailed aircraft spruce to ask for the install manual, and they replied with the 264 page install manual. I have a bunch of reading to do this weekend.
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Apparently the uavionix echoUAT I have is failing. No idea the vintage of this unit, but the echoUAT was first released in 2017, and is now discontinued. I'd believe this is the result of an early now out-of-warranty unit having a defect. Not only has it refused a configuration update to a new tail number (long story there, I knew of this particular issue before buying, but assumed the issue could be fixed by having support reprogram it using JTAG - which didn't work), but it also periodically stops transmitting. The other day, I had an rtl-sdr with appropriate antenna literally feet away from the transponder. Running the transponder + dump1090 on a laptop for ~10 minutes, I never picked up any ads-b packets from my plane. I picked up plenty of packets from other aircraft, so I know the receiver was working. Uavionix support has directly told me that the unit is failing, and I'll believe them on this.
I absolutely did not want to have to start replacing (parts of) the panel this early into ownership. I was planning on replacing the panel at some point (Not with Garmin parts - Garmin is too rich for my blood), but not for at least another year or two. But now I'm wondering if I should do a piecewise upgrade starting now instead of an all-at-once replacement down the line. It seems that (almost?) nobody is making these UAT add-ons anymore, in favor of transponders with built-in ads-b out. I don't mind buying a used echoUAT, but a) I can't find one, and b) given how expensive aviation is, I'd rather not buy something that's discontinued given that long-term support will be questionable. My existing mode-s only transponder works perfectly fine other than the lack of ads-b out. I'd prefer not to replace an otherwise perfectly functioning unit. But if that's going to be the best option support-wise, then maybe I should just get a transponder that'll do ads-b out + a separate ads-b receiver? I've so far only found two companies that make mode s + ads-b out + ads-b in transponders: Garmin and uavionix. And neither of those offerings are appealing to me, to say the least.
-
Apparently the uavionix echoUAT I have is failing. No idea the vintage of this unit, but the echoUAT was first released in 2017, and is now discontinued. I'd believe this is the result of an early now out-of-warranty unit having a defect. Not only has it refused a configuration update to a new tail number (long story there, I knew of this particular issue before buying, but assumed the issue could be fixed by having support reprogram it using JTAG - which didn't work), but it also periodically stops transmitting. The other day, I had an rtl-sdr with appropriate antenna literally feet away from the transponder. Running the transponder + dump1090 on a laptop for ~10 minutes, I never picked up any ads-b packets from my plane. I picked up plenty of packets from other aircraft, so I know the receiver was working. Uavionix support has directly told me that the unit is failing, and I'll believe them on this.
I absolutely did not want to have to start replacing (parts of) the panel this early into ownership. I was planning on replacing the panel at some point (Not with Garmin parts - Garmin is too rich for my blood), but not for at least another year or two. But now I'm wondering if I should do a piecewise upgrade starting now instead of an all-at-once replacement down the line. It seems that (almost?) nobody is making these UAT add-ons anymore, in favor of transponders with built-in ads-b out. I don't mind buying a used echoUAT, but a) I can't find one, and b) given how expensive aviation is, I'd rather not buy something that's discontinued given that long-term support will be questionable. My existing mode-s only transponder works perfectly fine other than the lack of ads-b out. I'd prefer not to replace an otherwise perfectly functioning unit. But if that's going to be the best option support-wise, then maybe I should just get a transponder that'll do ads-b out + a separate ads-b receiver? I've so far only found two companies that make mode s + ads-b out + ads-b in transponders: Garmin and uavionix. And neither of those offerings are appealing to me, to say the least.
-
Apparently the uavionix echoUAT I have is failing. No idea the vintage of this unit, but the echoUAT was first released in 2017, and is now discontinued. I'd believe this is the result of an early now out-of-warranty unit having a defect. Not only has it refused a configuration update to a new tail number (long story there, I knew of this particular issue before buying, but assumed the issue could be fixed by having support reprogram it using JTAG - which didn't work), but it also periodically stops transmitting. The other day, I had an rtl-sdr with appropriate antenna literally feet away from the transponder. Running the transponder + dump1090 on a laptop for ~10 minutes, I never picked up any ads-b packets from my plane. I picked up plenty of packets from other aircraft, so I know the receiver was working. Uavionix support has directly told me that the unit is failing, and I'll believe them on this.
I absolutely did not want to have to start replacing (parts of) the panel this early into ownership. I was planning on replacing the panel at some point (Not with Garmin parts - Garmin is too rich for my blood), but not for at least another year or two. But now I'm wondering if I should do a piecewise upgrade starting now instead of an all-at-once replacement down the line. It seems that (almost?) nobody is making these UAT add-ons anymore, in favor of transponders with built-in ads-b out. I don't mind buying a used echoUAT, but a) I can't find one, and b) given how expensive aviation is, I'd rather not buy something that's discontinued given that long-term support will be questionable. My existing mode-s only transponder works perfectly fine other than the lack of ads-b out. I'd prefer not to replace an otherwise perfectly functioning unit. But if that's going to be the best option support-wise, then maybe I should just get a transponder that'll do ads-b out + a separate ads-b receiver? I've so far only found two companies that make mode s + ads-b out + ads-b in transponders: Garmin and uavionix. And neither of those offerings are appealing to me, to say the least.
-
Apparently the uavionix echoUAT I have is failing. No idea the vintage of this unit, but the echoUAT was first released in 2017, and is now discontinued. I'd believe this is the result of an early now out-of-warranty unit having a defect. Not only has it refused a configuration update to a new tail number (long story there, I knew of this particular issue before buying, but assumed the issue could be fixed by having support reprogram it using JTAG - which didn't work), but it also periodically stops transmitting. The other day, I had an rtl-sdr with appropriate antenna literally feet away from the transponder. Running the transponder + dump1090 on a laptop for ~10 minutes, I never picked up any ads-b packets from my plane. I picked up plenty of packets from other aircraft, so I know the receiver was working. Uavionix support has directly told me that the unit is failing, and I'll believe them on this.
I absolutely did not want to have to start replacing (parts of) the panel this early into ownership. I was planning on replacing the panel at some point (Not with Garmin parts - Garmin is too rich for my blood), but not for at least another year or two. But now I'm wondering if I should do a piecewise upgrade starting now instead of an all-at-once replacement down the line. It seems that (almost?) nobody is making these UAT add-ons anymore, in favor of transponders with built-in ads-b out. I don't mind buying a used echoUAT, but a) I can't find one, and b) given how expensive aviation is, I'd rather not buy something that's discontinued given that long-term support will be questionable. My existing mode-s only transponder works perfectly fine other than the lack of ads-b out. I'd prefer not to replace an otherwise perfectly functioning unit. But if that's going to be the best option support-wise, then maybe I should just get a transponder that'll do ads-b out + a separate ads-b receiver? I've so far only found two companies that make mode s + ads-b out + ads-b in transponders: Garmin and uavionix. And neither of those offerings are appealing to me, to say the least.
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Apparently the uavionix echoUAT I have is failing. No idea the vintage of this unit, but the echoUAT was first released in 2017, and is now discontinued. I'd believe this is the result of an early now out-of-warranty unit having a defect. Not only has it refused a configuration update to a new tail number (long story there, I knew of this particular issue before buying, but assumed the issue could be fixed by having support reprogram it using JTAG - which didn't work), but it also periodically stops transmitting. The other day, I had an rtl-sdr with appropriate antenna literally feet away from the transponder. Running the transponder + dump1090 on a laptop for ~10 minutes, I never picked up any ads-b packets from my plane. I picked up plenty of packets from other aircraft, so I know the receiver was working. Uavionix support has directly told me that the unit is failing, and I'll believe them on this.
I absolutely did not want to have to start replacing (parts of) the panel this early into ownership. I was planning on replacing the panel at some point (Not with Garmin parts - Garmin is too rich for my blood), but not for at least another year or two. But now I'm wondering if I should do a piecewise upgrade starting now instead of an all-at-once replacement down the line. It seems that (almost?) nobody is making these UAT add-ons anymore, in favor of transponders with built-in ads-b out. I don't mind buying a used echoUAT, but a) I can't find one, and b) given how expensive aviation is, I'd rather not buy something that's discontinued given that long-term support will be questionable. My existing mode-s only transponder works perfectly fine other than the lack of ads-b out. I'd prefer not to replace an otherwise perfectly functioning unit. But if that's going to be the best option support-wise, then maybe I should just get a transponder that'll do ads-b out + a separate ads-b receiver? I've so far only found two companies that make mode s + ads-b out + ads-b in transponders: Garmin and uavionix. And neither of those offerings are appealing to me, to say the least.