Hi folks

Updated the 540 yesterday with no problems, i.e. Running Comforming Software and No RED checksums.

1) Problem #1: Active and Standby COM frequencies are not saved during power cycles.

     Worked fine prior to upgrade to 10.3

2) Problems #2:  I have a Skyradar ADS-B in receiver that was configured as a Remote WiFi on the previous version and the LIO as the Hot Spot.

Now it appears that the two are mutually exclusive.  I can connect to the IFD OR to the Skyradar.  

If I connect to the Skyradar then the IFD100 app will not connect to the IFD.

What is going on?

Gene

Have you seen the cross-sync issue I mentioned in the other 10.3 thread? That’s where I cannot enter a direct to via convenience keyboard on the second unit. It’s a really strange glitch. Everything else works, including entering radio frequencies via cross-sync.

I have not tried the cross-sync since I only have the 540.

I think I can shed some additional light on the Remote Wifi issue.

Apparently there is a new Unlock called "PORTS" that on my unit is not highlighted, i.e.  Not Enabled.

This unlock was not present on the previous software versions.  PORTS is supposed to allow ADS-B in Receivers such as Stratus 3 to send FIS B and TIS B data over WiFi.

So my question is, for those of us that were getting ADS-B In data, in my case via the WiFi from Skyradar, are we going to get a new configuration file to enable the "PORTS"?

Gene

pburger wrote: I just checked and yes, the 118.2/132.65 frequencies seem to be the power-on defaults. How the heck could something so obvious get missed!!

Simple ...

Avidyne is co-located at the Melbourne Fl airport. Check the KMLB TWR/CTAF & DEP/APP frequencies!

This is called "human factors".  ;-)

Well, should be easy to fix.

* Orest

KMLB Melbourne Orlando International Airport
Melbourne, Florida, USA

Airport Communications

CTAF:	118.2
UNICOM:	122.95
ATIS:	132.55
WX ASOS:	132.55 (321-951-7575)
MELBOURNE GROUND:	121.9 [0600-2400]
MELBOURNE TOWER:	118.2 257.8 124.05 [0600-2400]
ORLANDO APPROACH:	132.65
ORLANDO DEPARTURE:	132.65
CLEARANCE DELIVERY:	121.9 132.65 ;WHEN MLB TWR CLSD
BITHO STAR:	128.375
JOKRS STAR:	134.05
MELBOURNE DP:	132.65
PRICY STAR:	134.05
VFR ADZY:	118.2
WX AWOS-3 at X59 (10 nm SE):	122.725
WX AWOS-3 at COI (14 nm N):	119.025 (321-986-8864)
WX AWOS-3PT at X26 (19 nm SE):	118.125 (772-388-5689)

2) Problems #2:  I have a Skyradar ADS-B in receiver that was configured as a Remote WiFi on the previous version and the LIO as the Hot Spot.

Now it appears that the two are mutually exclusive.  I can connect to the IFD OR to the Skyradar.  

If I connect to the Skyradar then the IFD100 app will not connect to the IFD.

Did you go to the AUX, SETUP page and allow both IP addresses in the DEVICE tab?

I noticed a Green box pops up in the lower RH and says " Connect Req xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" (IP address).  You have to go to User Setup to allow connections.

Kurt

Hope that helps

 

Some more testing results.

Regarding the "PORTS" Unlock, a new configuration file is not needed to enable it.

You have to go to Page 15 of the configuration page in Maintenance mode and Enable Capstone for Configured Devices under Wireless Portables.

After doing that then the "PORTS" unlock will be highlighted.

The issues still exists of not being able to have the IFD in "host" mode ( Local WiFi) and the portable device in Remote WiFi, in other words, it looks like you can be in either Local WiFi OR Remote WiFi, but not both.

Furthermore, it looks like it only accepts CAPSTONE protocol from portable devices.

Gene

I don't get the sense of your statement, can you enlarge on that? Clearly, your IFD could not be in Local Wifi and Remote Wifi modes, both, at the same time. What do you mean there?

I have a Stratus in the plane that acts as the hot spot, and my IFD logs in to it, as well as a tablet I use as EFB. Gets weather and traffic to the tablet, and I can upload/download flight plans from the IFD. The reason for that topology is to keep the Stratus/FF combo happy.

Unfortunately the portable ADS-B is encrypted from my Stratus 2S, so it will never get to the IFD. A Stratus 3 can send Capstone, but if FF is present, it will insist on the Stratus being in proprietary mode as well, for its own purposes. Apparently FF is aware of this issue.

Being in Canada I don't rely much on US ADS-B, and use Sirius for weather and have active traffic installed, but it might be nice to have that facility.

* Orest

Got my initial issues connecting a wireless ADSB-IN (Stratux) device fixed. Thanks to those who replied to my post.

I can confirm the IFD440 does not retain the last frequencies used. It reverts to the Melbourne FL frequencies. This is a minor annoyance compared to the features added.

I was able to connect it to the IFD440 and when I opened Foreflight, it immediately complained, it wanted to know if I wanted to switch it back to the original mode. I declined that and the dialog closed, it then worked with the GDL90 feed.

Did you lose any function in the FF app with that setup? The secondary stuff, like the attitude display, being able to control settings in the Stratus, and so on?

* Orest

You also have to allow the connection in the DEVICES tab.  Click on the  +DEVICES and set connection to ALWAYS.

My problem is getting my IPADS (one running IDF100 and the other Forflight) through the Levill BOM Capstone compatible) software. I got this to work pretty reliable with 10.2 but the setup is totally different this time around. Anybody out hhere that has this working with any Capstone compatable product (ie, Levill BOM, Strutux Stratus 3 etc, could you post a screenshot of your setup?

yes- I got it to work with a Stratus

Config page - Wireless Portables = Capstone = ENABLED

after reboot:

Go to AUX page, SEUTP, WiFI = ON,

NETWORKS = STRATUS network CONNECTED

DEVICES = allow IP address to ALWAYS.

Yes, I lost those things.

Prior to 10.3, you had to set up the WiFi configuration options in Maintenance mode.  You could set up a "local" network where the IFD established the network and clients connected to it, or a "remote" network to which the IFD could connect.  Back in flight mode, however, you had to choose one of those options.  it was never the case that the IFD was in both "local" and "remote" mode.

So on the Display Setup page in your 10.2.x.x IFD, did you have local network (e.g. LIO_WIFI) selected or did you have a remote network selected?  I'm guessing you had a remote network selected and that network was hosted by your SkyRadar.  If that's the case, then with your 10.3 IFD, on the Setup Page under the Networks category, you should see the network SSID being broadcast by the SkyRadar.  Scroll to that network, then press the "Connect" LSK.  Once the connection has been established, you can connect FlyQ to the SkyRadar SSID.  At that point, you should be able to transfer flight plans, etc. between the IFD and FlyQ and FlyQ should get ADS-B data from the SkyRadar.  As an additional benefit with 10.3, the IFD can also display the ADS-B in data from the SkyRadar.

If I don't have the assumptions right or if that's not working for you, let me know either by reply post or PM.

Sorry late to the party.  10.3 release date didn't match up very well with my Labor Day weekend plans...

"1) Problem #1: Active and Standby COM frequencies are not saved during power cycles.

     Worked fine prior to upgrade to 10.3"

What about this problem?  How long till a fix for this?

 2)   Is allowing Dynon Skyview ADS-B data on the IFD in the future?  I cannot be much different as it links fine to Foreflight?

1) I don't have a time frame for a fix at this point, but clearly we know of the problem.  Not all IFDs are affected.

2) I'm surprised this doesn't work.  We'll have to get in touch with the Dynon folks and figure out what the issue is.

Also:

- I have SAR enabled and it appears that I can no longer edit orbit details (radius, l/r turn) via the updated 10.3 IFD 100 app... however, I have no problem editing them on the IFD itself.   I could edit the orbits in 10.2 IFD 100. 

- I have noticed that my MFD will sometimes draw only a half-circle when I have input an orbit around a waypoint... eventually, the MFD draws the complete circle so no biggie... but just FYI, I never saw that in 10.2 land... 

What's asking for a Stratus password?

I'm not sure if this is true for all Stratus boxes, but whenever I've connected the IFD to a Stratus network in our lab, the Stratus network has no password.

I know of several customers who are using the Icarus encoder and have not heard of any new issues.  I'd ask if you're sure the Icarus is really connected to port 1, but I'm sure you've checked that.  My suggestion on that is to call tech support and have them look into your specific installation.

Marc V at KBED

Oh bummer.  Just updated mine and have this same problem.  Annoying!

Mine has popped that error up a couple times, but my recollection is that my transponder was off at the time.   I'll keep an eye out if it comes up again what the issue might be.

AviSteve wrote: 1) I don't have a time frame for a fix at this point, but clearly we know of the problem.  Not all IFDs are affected.

How would one know if their IFD would be affected?  This is generally a nuisance but also a big time saver if you have something like the FBO frequency in #2 on landing and then need it on departure taxi or something like that (rare, but happens).  

Since I never flatbed or tow my plane to another place after I land, it pretty much already did this when it used to come up with the last freq I was using when I turned it off.

We're still trying to find the common link between IFDs that have the problem, so I don't have that answer.

The frequency has to default to something, and rather than 108.0, I expect the engineers set it to the MLB frequencies to save time during testing, on an initial first boot.

On subsequent boots it retains/loads the last set freq for user convenience. My speculation -- it is this step that is somehow compromised in the update.

I'm curious, is the recent frequency list cleared out as well? If not, that might be a quick way to restore.

* Orest 

I know you're semi-joking, but presumably that means you're semi-serious.  

I have an IFD and an SL30.  When I shut down, the IFD usually has Tower/CTAF loaded and the local Approach in its two slots, and the SL30 usually has the local ATIS/ASOS/AWOS and Ground in its two slots.  I might need to hit the flip-flop button to swap the active freq to get what I want, but generally what I landed with is what I want to start my next flight with.  I would not want the IFD to overwrite my slots with something that might be a surprise to me...I just want want it to start up the way I left it, predictably.

If Avidyne ever implemented a "guess what freq I want" feature, then as long as it could be disabled I suppose I don't care if it exists.  But I would likely find it more annoying than useful.

Have you tried connecting your IFD to a network other than the one from the Stratus?  Maybe try connecting to your hangar WiFi or a hotspot on your phone where you're absolutely sure of the password.  If you can get that to work, then that narrows it down to the Stratus.

On the ground everything works fine. It’s after in the air for a while when things start disconnecting and reconnecting

ADS-B data stream is from an uAvionix EchoUAT via serial port; this setup has been working previously with 10.2.

I did create a support ticket for this; just thought I'd add to this thread in case others are seeing similar issues after upgrading to 10.3.

After 10 minutes or so I get the error messages like you are encountering. Powering down the IFD440 and bringing it back up gets things working again for another 10 to 15 minutes. 

When checking the ADSB products page in the IFD440 where the stations received is displayed, there is nothing there. At my airport we have a station on site. 

When I look into the Stratux webpage it continues to display traffic, weather and shows the tower signal is being received. This is true in a fleet of 9 aircraft with the same exact IFD 440 installations. I even tried powering these receivers with just a battery and go the same results.

Please let us know what you find out after talking to Dynon. 

Another issue: on 10.2 I had a blank password for the Wi-Fi on the IFD540.  10.3 won’t allow that.  It seems to need at least an 8 digit password.  Any way around that?

No sorry.  Cybersecurity and all that.  "password" is 8 characters :)

Re ADSB over wifi from Dynon.   No, it does not work with Dynon

I must say 10.3 is pretty disappointing to me.   The two items I really wanted were ADS-B data over wifi from Dynon and enroute VNAV.   Neither works with my IFD540.  Dynon seems to be a bug, the VNAV seems to be a marketing decision to restrict to the IFD550 - I have an external indicator there is no need for the IFD550 SVS display. 

Nice improvements are waypoint annunciation and the updated Setup menus.   Major disappointment is the loss of COM frequencies on shutdown.   Overall it seems to be a net backwards step rather than a forward step for myself and most of my customers. 

I've installed dozens of IFD440's, 540s and 550's and always steer my customers that direction (excepting the entry level GPS175 where Avidyne doesn't offer any competing product).  They are superior to Garmin and the support / interaction is far better.    I will continue to push Avidyne, but at this point though it is hard to recommend upgrading to 10.3.   The downside risk of the frequency issue is a pretty big negative.   Is it approved to downgrade new installs of IFD's shipped with 10.3 to 10.2.6.1 (with appropriate log entry), or can new units be guaranteed to not have the frequency loss issue?

The real reason for my post is not to complain but to see if there is something we as customers / installers can do to help.  Evidently there isn't a beta test program - or if so it seems lacking.  I would have caught the frequency issue and the Dynon interaction bug.  Would Avidyne be interested / open to beta testing prior to release (VFR only, appropriate precautions / waivers etc.)?   I think it would improve the SW quality and stress the system in ways the mainstream release testing doesn't seem to. 

Yeah, because someone is gong to compromise my IFD as I fly over.  Hi Steve.  Does 10.3 fix the issue we discussed about flight plans uploaded from Foreflight not being able to enter a procedure because it didn't recognize the last fix as a destination?  I only had a 20 minute flight back home from the upgrade and I was busy checking out everything else and forgot about it.

;-)

Sure - experimental category.   Would have found quite a number of the issues we are "Beta testing" now.

Nope, that a FF thing.  I have a new contact inside FF, so I'll get with him about it.

Or maybe it just didn't occur on Gary's IFD.  It occurs on some and not on others.  We're still trying to understand that, but we're working on it.

Hi Steve-

I don’t know if this is useful information, but on our 540, we started with the Melbourne frequencies on the first five or so power-ups after the upgrade. I loaded our local CTAF in the saved frequency list, but that did not seem to change anything. On the last two power cycles, the comm frequencies seemed to behave as expected, with the last used frequencies loaded on power-up. I have a trip tomorrow, and will see what happens then.

Regards,

Bob

Oh crap!!  There's nothing worse than a problem that fixes itself!! 😬😉

Another odd behaviour is that the bezel & display lighting behaviour changed after exiting maintenance mode, when a completely unrelated change was made to a config setting (TIS-B annunciation, since you ask).  On 2 occasions of exiting maintenance mode, with lighting set to Dimming Bus, brightness goes fully dim when the panel knob is turned fully CCW; it worked fine beforehand.

On the first occurrence, I reentered maint mode to set lighting to Photocell so at least I could read the screen; after several power cycles, I reset the lighting to DimmingBus and normal behaviour was restored.  After a second config adjustment, it happened again so I am back on Photocell and hoping the problem clears itself once more.

Both IFD 1 & 2 misbehave at the same time in our SR20G2 so that is even more of a puzzle; the lighting of other equipment follows the expected dimmer control ie full bright when full CCW, so at the moment the dimmer control itself is not the suspect.

Has anyone else experienced similar?

Do you know (or does anyone) if those affected with COM freq reset, also have their recent frequency list cleared?

If not, it would be very quick to repopulate the active and standby freqs.

* Orest

Well, nothing tricky. Just click to the FREQ | RECENT tab, and populate your active/stby COM freq from the list.

* Orest

Well, when I powered up yesterday after the plane had been in a hangar for a week, the Melbourne frequencies were prominently displayed again, so the problem definitely did not fix itself. I consider this enough of an annoyance that we are holding off on the upgrade of a 540 in another plane.

Regards,

Bob

psimpson wrote: Both of mine still think they are in Florida. I'm also seeing 429 data not received on both units. Also datalink receiver failure.  Is datalink the ADSB info from my Stratus?

If you have ADS-B in to be set to use Wi-FI then yes I would expect the datalink error message to be because of the Stratus.  I played with a StratuX on my friends IFD440 and we were unable to get it to work reliably and would continuously get various datalink messages, some yellow and some blue.  We simply gave up for now and will hope that a fix comes out in the near future.

-PA

this is concerning -- 

so 10.3 cannot connect to an open wifi network?

yes it can connect to an open Wi-FI network, I connected it to a StratuX box that wasn't using Wi-Fi Security and it worked fine, just leave the password field blank.

I did not however test to see if the IFD can create a Wi-Fi network without a password.

-PA

Good idea… 

Sounds like a good idea but I don't think it is really feasible.  Yes keeping the last used frequency is nice and is often the correct first frequency needed but trying to figure out what frequency should be in the active and standby upon power up I don't think is realistic which is why I think the airport tab that pops up when you start tuning is probably the best solution.

At a towered field, do I start with ATIS? Ground? Clearance? Tower?  It all depends upon the time, maybe the tower closes at 10pm which would mean only tower and maybe ATIS would be used.  Maybe they don't have an ATIS/AWOS for after hours, so what frequency do you default to now?  Some towered airports only use clearance delivery if you are departing IFR, otherwise you simply start with ground.

Same thing at non-towered fields, you have the CTAF, maybe an AWOS, maybe an RCO for clearance?, and lights might be on a different frequency than the CTAF.

It sounds like it would be a great feature but implementation I don't think is realistic.

-PA

Further, I always use COM2 for my ground frequencies, and COM1 (IFD) for TWR and above. It would have no way of knowing that.

Best thing, is for it to default to the last set frequencies. <gd&r>

But, don't forget, your FREQ | RECENT tab has pretty much any freq you are likely to need, and easy to nominate these.

* Orest

The extended runway centerline should be displayed.  The downwind and base segments should not.  Is that what you're seeing?

I own a wireless internet ISP company and am well versed in WiFi. I ran our spectrum analyzer and nothing is being broadcast from the 540 unit.  

Any insight would be appreciated.

I think you are over analyzing the situation. :-)

The image you posted shows that the Wi-Fi is turned on but not ready for use, try pressing the "CONNECT" LSK, I believe that will initialize the WiFi Network.  After that I believe the IFD will use the last network selected.

-PA

But… unfortunately not over analyzing. I can use connect and connect to a Wi-Fi network, but the unit is not broadcasting any SSID or Wi-Fi signal for the IFD Hotspot, even after pressing connect for the IFD hotspot. 

When I press connect for the IFD hotspot, the animated Wi-Fi icon flashes 7 times then goes solid white as it was before pressing connect. 

It’s as if my Wi-Fi hotspot capability is not enabled. Wifi and BT show enabled in software status page as expected.

Kind of strange to have “connect” when it’s really “enabling” the hotspot which disconnects anything the IFD is connected to as a client. 

Any insight Avidyne Team? 

I guess I’ll email and call support on Monday.

Flew 4 approaches today (in VMC with safety pilot) with 10.3.

I have had about 5 hours flying on 10.3 and the frequency issue is super annoying, almost enough to downgrade back to 10.2.6.1.

Today on the third approach I lost GPS integrity, checked GPS status in Aux tab and it was re-acquiring satellites but had no GPS position.   This was just outside of the FAF.   The 540 alerted no GPS - dead reckoning and removed the advisory glide slope.   Interesting, it still showed the approach as active and in green in the upper right!   Given this wasn't real IMC, and I had backup navigation I continued, the 540 reacquired GPS and resumed the approach.

I have NEVER seen this behavior prior with 10.2.6.1.    The upgrade was performed in the plane with ground power - so no possible way this is a "re-seat the unit" issue.   It certainly seems to be me to be SW related. 

Unlike the frequency issue that is a serious annoyance, I consider this a safety of flight issue and am now in the process of downgrading to 10.2.6.1.

My advice based solely on my experience is it would be good to wait a while until Avidyne sorts through the issues with 10.3.

A few people are reporting that this is super annoying .. my newly upgraded unit also has the freq. change bug -- can you expand on why this is so annoying.  (enough to want to downgrade)

doesn't it just require that you re-setup the frequencies after turning on your avionics.  --  so once per flight, while on the ground?

Yes, just once per flight on the ground.   I guess it is just pretty basic expected functionality.  I can't think of any modern or legacy radios that don't retain the last frequency.   When you fly out of your home base I expect it to still be there from the last flight.   I wouldn't be happy if my car radio reset everytime I turned the ignition off either. 

Frankly there just isn't much in 10.3 that I find valuable and the bugs & annoyances outweigh what minor benefits there are.  Its too bad really, I had high expectations for enroute VNAV, ADSB info over WiFi from Dynon plus other improvements.  The two big winner features for me just aren't there.  Wifi from Dynon does not work and enroute VNAV doesn't work with an IFD540 despite having an external indicator.   Sure VFR approaches are interesting, but not really a big deal to me - my backup GPS 175 has had them and I don't really find them that useful.   The cleanup of the AUX settings is nice and the altitude callouts is a nice add, but overall for ME it was a step backwards....   YMMV

I was able to reproduce this and found the cause.  It depends on 429 configuration, but the 429 GAMA Graphics protocols all exhibit the issue.

I would not.  If you were to change it to something else, you would lose more than you gain.

Thanks

We're not actively looking at that.  Yours was the only case I heard of where that happened.  Seems to me that it was something with the LIO apps processor, but can't tell now that you're back a release.  Before you reverted to 10.2.6, did you ever contact tech support regarding the problem?

I'll wait until the other bugs are worked out and try again at that time.

my IFD440 crashed during update, which was done by me according to the Avidyne instructions. The screen went dark during update. After 1hr 15 min I stoped it.

It did not boot up anymore after that. I send it to an avionic shop and they will forward it to Avidyne for „repair“ with a minimum cost of 1800 $.

That’s a lot for a device which was working well before and just needed a software update!

The “repair”should be free of charge.

I feel for you, $1800 is a lot to simply reload the OS onto the unit's flash card, however Avidyne's defense they strongly recommend bringing it to a dealer to do the update.  If the dealer performs the update and it fails for them is no charge to you (I don't know their agreement with the dealers) to repair the unit, but as Avidyne states, you perform the install and it fails for any reason the repair cost is on you.

I'm sure there are installs that fail for dealers too, but Avidyne has a higher level of confidence that a dealer is going to perform the upgrade properly, utilizing a stable power source etc, there is no guarantee that your local A&P or yourself for that matter will be doing that.  

Look at the fee the Avionics shop charges as your insurance policy.