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Adsb failure

Mike6A

Well Known Member
Have been flying my echo for 2 years and received a letter from FAA that I failed my Balt report. Any ideas, waiting to hear from UAvionics.
Thanks
 
You mention two years, so I'll ask: When was your last transponder check? IIRC the Echo "listens" magically for the transponder signal, and gets the barometric altitude from that signal. So a weak or failing transponder could be the issue, too. (Unless you hard-wired the encoder data to the Echo.) Part of the magic is the transponder signal traveling thru aircraft wiring, so any changes might require an adjustment to the Echo's sensitivity setting for the transponder signal. It might be as simple as cleaning grease and grime off the transponder antenna.
 
Have been flying my echo for 2 years and received a letter from FAA that I failed my Balt report. Any ideas, waiting to hear from UAvionics.
Thanks

Pull your PAPR and see what is showing as the failure. Could be a configuration problem, GPS signal, or like noted above Altitude or squawk
 
It s hard wired to the transponder. The wire runs directly to the echo(no harness).
The belly is clean.
 
I will "echo" the suggestion to fly and get a PAPR. With that, you will be able to determine if the Baro Alt failure is 100%, or only part of the time.
If it is part time, are you flying in the fringe areas of ADSB ground station (GBT) coverage?
Also, when you fly, take along an iPad connected to a Stratus receiver. That will allow you to monitor all of the ADSB out parameters real time. You can access the info from the map page, select settings, scroll to bottom of menu, select Stratus, then scroll down that menu to "ownship" and tap on that. That displays all of the information about your ADS-B out, and is color coded green for good, and red for bad.
 
I have the same problem….Barometric altitude failed on a couple of different PAPRs. In my case, it happened on the first PAPR I ran after replacing my AFS 4500 with an AFS5400….for some reason the EchoUAT isn’t getting BALT encoding. All other ADS-B function IN and OUT are working great. The “manual” didn’t call for any serial pin changes in the 4500 -> 5400, but I suspect that something in the wiring is mis-pinned out of the EFIS. I hope your luck is better than mine. I appears to be an obscure problem on the various aviation forums where I’ve posted.


ETA: I second the PAPR advice, if you haven’t done that. In my case, the BALT failure is not 100%…it’s variable between 12% and 49%. Not that that information has provided a solution. Tells me more about what it isn’t than what it is.
 
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BAlt failure

I had to replace my Uavionix Echo and am now getting the same failure on my ADS-B report. What was the configuration item that needed correcting?
Thanks.
Wayne
 
Baro Alt - PAPR % Failure

I have echoUAT + SkyFYX-EXT that is hard wired with MUX cable to Garmin 327 transponder. When I run PAPR it always shows some % failure in Baro Alt - usually less than 2% failure and report is totally blue color - so I pass. I don’t know what allowable limit is before failure is indicated. It would be nice to know this. Three years ago, I stopped at FAA booth at KOSH and asked ADS-B specialist about this. He was able to pull up all my flights and analyze in great detail. He said Altitude Encoder or Transponder showed intermittent reporting of high altitude spikes. If I remember correctly spikes were +20K MSL. FAA’s advice was to try to fix problem. Guy wouldn’t tell allowable error…
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I was told by uAvionics tech anything 6 or higher will cause a failure RED in the NIC NAC . Not sure if this is across the board. I found him correct when I was chasing an intermittent GPS antenna issue. I was surprised how quick after asking ,the FAA for a review they responded. YMMV
 
EchoUAT

I remember a thread (that I cannot find) about an advanced menu for EchoUAT app that allowed changing the transponder threshold. There were recommended settings as well. My transponder is working fine. My transponder is not hardwired to the Echo. My failure rate was 100%. I really appreciate your comments and ideas.
Wayne
 
Chasing the same problem

I've been chasing the same problem. All of a sudden the tail beacon stopped working and was put on the no-fly list. changed some settings and everything looked good then it stopped working again.

The unit is being sent to uAvionix for GPS antenna repair.
 
EchoUAT

That's exactly what I need! Your searching skills are obviously better than mine. Thank you!
Wayne
 
I was told by uAvionics tech anything 6 or higher will cause a failure RED in the NIC NAC . Not sure if this is across the board. I found him correct when I was chasing an intermittent GPS antenna issue. I was surprised how quick after asking ,the FAA for a review they responded. YMMV

I am envious that you got to speak to a uAvioncs tech. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve left three voicemails, two emails and at least one message on their support site and have yet to make a connection. I know they say not to tinker with transponder thresholds without talking with them first, but it looks like I’m on my own in solving my B ALT problem and I have to try something.
 
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