kgwilson

I bought a Chinese made MG4 electric car. The build quality is better than all previous Japanese cars I've owned, the manuals are in perfect British English and it is one of the best handling cars Petrol or Electric you can buy today. It has won 5 Car of the Year awards and numerous other awards as well. One Australian reviewer had test driven all the early Chinese MGs and the verdict was at best they were below average and worst positively woeful. I would hope that the Zonshen are in the quality at affordable price camp. Generally you get what you pay for but in the case of Rotax they are way over priced for what you get. Of course manufacturing volume plays a big part in pricing.

As can ATC. The SE2 provides a different downlink code to that provided by Mode S extended squitter ADSB transmitters. ATC are able to filter all the SE2 data out if they want to. They don't do this at Coffs as I have proven a number of times when calling them & given my ADSB call sign (R + rego number). They may do this at Sydney or Melbourne as they don't need the clutter on the screen from recreational aviators who may be 20 to 30 NM away at low level.

According to Uavionix the SE2 transmits barometric pressure from its in built barometric altimeter. The GPS provides location latitude & longitude. SBAS GPS reception o High precision SBAS GPS meeting performance requirements of TSO-C199, transmitting a Source Integrity Level (SIL) and System Design Assurance (SDA) values of 1, ensuring ATC and airborne avionics can receive and trust the GPS position being transmitted. • Barometric Altimeter for pressure altitude

It certainly will. Much cheaper from AliExpress but a week for delivery but you will often get QC3 plus PD in the same adaptor & USB A & USB C outlets.

Based on some other comments (not Uavionix) it should be OK. Before you plug in Check the current battery charging status by entering 192.168.4.1/stats in the browser of your connected device & write that down. After you get back and disconnect do the same and compare the values. If the first reading is higher than the second then you are using more power than your charger can deliver. If the second reading is higher then the SE2 is consuming less than the charger is replacing. The only other thing to keep in mind is that you should discharge the battery to 40% - 50% every now and then to prolong its life.

USB PD stands for Universal serial bus power delivery. It has nothing to do with Apple or iphones. It is a universal standard that delivers 5 amps at varying voltage inputs with a maximum out put of up to 240 watts. Many low input devices will not communicate with PD chargers including the SE2. QC3 is indeed a Qualcomm proprietry product with less output at about 36 watts. QC 4 & QC 5 are much faster & can charge at astonishing speeds like charging a mobile or tablet from 0 to 50% in 5 minutes.

2.4 amps x 5 volt output is 12 watts so Uavionix are being conservative & older aircraft systems are unlikely to be able to achieve that. I'd test the output amps from the power supply at cruise RPM with everything else on to see what current can be obtained. The cable size will also limit the output as well as the fuse but unless it is very fine cable (doubtful) most wiring would be able to achieve a minimum of 5 amps so long as the electrical system can deliver that. 5 amps x 5 volts is 25 watts. Cigarette lighter with USB outlets that can deliver QC3 at 25 watts are very cheap on websites like AliExpress, often less that $5.00 & include a digital output display.

That is not enough to keep the SE2 charged. It will slowly discharge as it consumes more power than is being put in. Why bother anyway. A fully charged SE2 will operate independently for a full 12 hours. When did you fly for that long? When the battery light changes from green to yellow it has 66% power left, when it changes to red there is 33% left You can easily check the actual battery level from your phone or tablet when it is connected via WIfi. In the browser enter 192.168.4.1/stats & you will get a huge list of statistics one of which is the current battery level.

Uavionix recommend mounting the SE2 vertically as the antenna is at the top. You could try both by putting a bit of velcro on the bottom & the back & changing position in flight when traffic comes in to view & see if the aircraft disappears or not

Correct, your standard phone charger will likely not cut it. Again read the manual regarding charging and use the supplied USB cable. Use a QC3 standard charger of at least 18 watts. It will not adequately charge at less than 2.5 amps. See the section from the manual below. 8.2.1 Connection Notes It is important to choose an appropriate power supply and cable to ensure proper charging of SkyEcho. 1. It is recommended for fastest charging that the chosen USB power supply should be compliant with the Quick Charge 3 (QC3) standard. Use one which provides at least 18W. SkyEcho will not adequately charge at less than 2.5 amps. 2. SkyEcho has a high-capacity battery that will permit up to 12 hours of use. It is recommended that, where practical, charging is conducted at least monthly on the power supply until full. 3. Regardless of adapter output, it is not recommended that the SkyEcho be used permanently in-aircraft using a 12V USB adapter as the SkyEcho will consume more power than can be provided by the adapter. 4. While SkyEcho is fitted with a USB-C charging socket, it is not USB PD compliant. USB PD chargers will not properly handshake with and charge the SkyEcho. Instead, use only chargers equipped with USB-A output ports, and utilize the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable. 5. Computer USB ports (Mac or PC) cannot deliver sufficient power to charge a SkyEcho. My aircraft is all Aluminium and positioning my SE2 on the left side of the bubble canopy provides full view of the sky & around 270 degrees of horizontal view. The best place in a C172 in my opinion is on the top of the panel in the middle.

The SE2 will not function without the approved Hex code supplied by CASA. The blue dots you are getting are most likely other OZrunways traffic which are transmitted via the mobile network not ADSB Out equipped aircraft. When you get the code go through the Setup from the SE2 manual EXACTLY. Do not miss any steps. If there are things you do not understand give Uavionix (Australia) a ring and they will sort it out for you.

The battery technology is as sophisticated as EVs so the charging management system will ensure it all works no matter what people try to do. It is cheap scooter, bike & skateboard lithium batteries that do not have good management systems so some of these have exploded or caught fire while charging often with the wrong charger type. Just for the record there have been 6 EV fires in Australia since 2014. 1 was arson, 3 were in buildings that caught fire, 1 was from a collision & 1 was from debris being picked up from the road & damaging the battery of a Tesla. None have happened while charging. There are about 180,000 EVs on the road in Australia now. If I had a spare 250k I'd buy an X2 just for the fun of it.

There are 2 things that may not be communicating. One is that the ADSB unit is no longer detecting traffic (& possibly not broadcasting either) and the other is that the WiFi between the ADSB unit and your EFIS system has failed. If it is the latter you are likely to get a message saying so. In En Route Flight Planning it will say "Traffic receiver not connected" & there is a red aircraft symbol at the bottom left of the screen & pressing that gives various options to connect, reconnect or configure data connections. If the ADSB unit is not receiving or transmitting data but still connected via WiFi your EFIS screen will just be devoid of any traffic data.

ADSB aircraft to aircraft is as close as you can get to real time. Latency depends upon the transmitter, receiver & display device processing times. The maximum calculated latency is 0.6 seconds according to information I have read. Latency when relying on ground systems has multiple paths and delays so it is impossible to calculate but can be much longer. A good example of this is a friend of mine was flying his Mooney M20 in the Outback Air race last year. He had a Mode S transponder & ADSB Out but not In & was relying on traffic information from Avplan. He noticed an aircraft on a converging path & made a call to Brisbane Centre. Their response was don't worry he's already gone past you.

ADSB data is transmitted from your ADSB Out device at 1090 MHz and is picked up by other aircraft with ADSB In as well as ground stations which range from government run organisations or contractors like Air Services to Joe Blogs with a Raspberry Pi 1090 MHz receiver & uploaded to the WWW & picked up by 3rd party organisations like FlightAware, Flight radar 24 & ADSB Exchange. The data captured by these businesses is broadcast on the Web in almost real time overlaid on a map providing the precise location of the aircraft at 1 second intervals. The SE2 also has a secondary receiver at 978MHz (ADSB In) which includes traffic information and weather information (if available). Not in Australia though. Transponders have nothing to do with it unless they are Mode S transponders with extended squitter and are ADSB enabled so have to include the ADSB hardware, a GPS & external antenna. These have much greater range due to their higher transmitter power but it comes at a 5-6k cost.

Mode S Transponder is not ADSB even if it does have Extended Squitter capability. This requires an additional ADSB piece of hardware, certified GPS and an external antenna professionally installed. Pretty expensive at around 5-6k. SE2 will work fine with your transponder. You only disable ADSB out if the Mode S transponder is ADSB out enabled & without the rest of the bits it isn't.

The only reason I can think of is that there was a network outage with Flightaware or there were no ground receiving stations withing range which is highly unlikely. Also if the unit was shielded preventing transmission, again highly unlikely. If the SE2 battery was low is also another possibility but then the battery light would be yellow (under 66%) or red when under 33% charge. I presume you were seeing other ADSB Out equipped aircraft at the time and that you know the difference between ADSB in data and OZ runways in data.

It is all in the software of the system you are using to interface to the SE2. The SE2 broadcasts (and receives) GPS location, barometric altitude AMSL, Aircraft Rego and some other codes. The receiving software calculates speed and direction of travel as it receives this data constantly.

Most GA ADSB equipped aircraft have ADSB Out only as that is the only mandatory requirement and the cost to install ADSB IN is very high. Plenty of GA jockeys around our aerodrome have installed a SE2 with ADSB Out disabled. Again this is required to prevent ghosting but it is the simplest and least expensive way of getting ADSB information in the cockpit via a linked EFIS like Oz Runways, Avplan, Enroute FP etc running on a phone or tablet & connected via WiFi.

All you need is a tablet or even a phone running Ozrunways or Avplan and there are free Nav systems as well plus a Skyecho 2 at a rebated cost of $500.00 and you have ADSB In and Out. Range varies from 20NM to 40 NM so you can see every other aircraft with ADSB out at least in your general direction of travel. There is no requirement to spend thousands just to get a TSOed system integrated with your transponder.

In Class G there are no mandatory calls other than to avoid a collision. I always make a 10 mile inbound or a 10 mile overflying call but if you are not on the right frequency you are talking to nobody and nobody will respond.

In the circuit ADSB In is virtually useless given the close proximity of aircraft. The bigger the screen the better though. If both had ADSB In they would have seen one another from about 20 NM even if they were just SE2s. It is possible that the C182 had ADSB Out only as this is the most common and mandatory setup in GA aircraft. Adding ADSB Out is voluntary and it is also expensive. It is possible given this was a training flight that a circuit entry and missed approach was being practiced. In this scenario, and if the Jab did not have ADSB In, and the C182 was on Camden frequency the holes in the swiss cheese line right up.

Very sad. Condolences to families and friends of the deceased. The flight path and altitude data of the C182 (if available) should reveal the situation and of course weather data as well.

I used to fly in all sorts of weather and sometimes to deadlines. I don't do this any more & should never have done it. I was just lucky. Now I fly when conditions are good. After all I fly for fun. Building my own aircraft was an achievement I thought I'd never get to. You have to make things happen. I have lots a personal minimums like my reserve is an hours fuel. I always do a personal IMSAFE before deciding to fly. Sometimes the day looks fantastic but for some reason I don't don't feel enthusiastic enough so I do something else. Flying means you have to be on top of your game at all times. I got Shingles in August & haven't flown since. It is nearly gone but not quite so I don't pass IMSAFE though most of the rest of my life is back to pretty much normal. I've seen people come unstuck because they thought they were better than they actually were. I detest show offs. When I have a passenger I fly conservatively. I have never had a passenger who did not want to fly with me again but I have flown with others who wanted to impress me & I have never flown with them again. I have always liked the statement attributed to Captain Alfred Gilmer Lamplugh, C.B.E., F.R.Ae.S, M.I.Ae.S., M.C.A.I., F.R.G.S. a WW1 pilot & Principle Surveyor for The British Aviation Insurance Co., Ltd back in the 1920s “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.”

Original radio pro words from the old FRTO licence seem to have evolved somewhat. "Roger" has been replaced with "Copy", "Say Again" with "Repeat" etc with some pilots. Even contacting ATC seems to have relaxed its formality other than ensuring you read back correctly. So long as the message is clear and unambiguous it doesn't matter so long as you know the other party has received & understood the message & vice versa. I am a bit of a traditionalist & always use Say Again (your last message) or (all after......). With all of the foreign students we have around here a lot of the calls are almost impossible to understand. Sometimes the instructor would respond but now the instructor is also foreign with English as their second language and some accents are pretty heavy. My other pet hate is smart arses who use machine gun calls. I never get all of the message when this happens.