To start, I installed a Uavionix tailbeacon two years ago. It tested perfectly right out of the box. Since there's no observable indication of failure, I monitored it by pulling a ADS-B performance report quarterly. All came back good (I thought) until.......this week. After finishing up a panel upgrade (tailbeacon and transponder were not touched) I decided to pull my quarterly report early just to make certain all was ok. It wasn't. I had excessive NIC errors. Started looking into it and discovered, among other things, a bad ground can cause this. In the meantime, I contacted Mr. Mike Akers at the FAA ADS-B office and asked him if he could pull an extended report (shows the reception overlaid on a google earth map). I've worked with Mike before and he is extremely helpful. He generated several reports and it was obvious that my failure was happening after takeoff and would correct itself after 5-10 minutes. Additionally, we discovered that I had had multiple failures over the last two years! By coincidence, the days I pulled the reports were not indicative of what the actual historical performance had been. I checked the grounds this morning and all was perfect. Next, I brought out the installation app and used the monitoring function to see just how long it took for the unit to get a good 3D solution. The result was almost six minutes! So, I started the airplane and immediately turned on the tailbeacon (nav lights) and switched the transponder to ALT. I waited for six minutes (no problem since I had to warm it up anyhow before taxiing). I then taxied out normally, did my run-up and took off. Upon landing, I waited an hour and then requested a report. The results were near perfect. Uavionix confirmed that in addition to the poor grounds, rushing the takeoff, without giving the unit time to come to a 3D solution, will generate failed reports. We'll see if my new procedure results in continued success.
So, from this exercise I've learned that just pulling a report every once in a while probably isn't a guarantee that all is well.I'm going to be requesting them monthly moving forward. Next, give the system 5-6 minutes with everything turned on before departing. Hopefully, this will prevent the nasty letter that was certainly heading my way.
So, from this exercise I've learned that just pulling a report every once in a while probably isn't a guarantee that all is well.I'm going to be requesting them monthly moving forward. Next, give the system 5-6 minutes with everything turned on before departing. Hopefully, this will prevent the nasty letter that was certainly heading my way.