Working with Clarity and FlyQ - Part 2

Since my original threat got hijacked by the MLB100 discussions, I wanted to repost my original question to see if anyone had the same issue and a possible solution.  Here is my issue ...

I assume the Clarity just uses normal wifi, right?  Probably 802.11g?

Paul,
"Have you tried turning off the avionics equipment one device at a time?"

Good suggestion.  I have not tried that yet, partly because the connect time on the Clarity is 15 to 30 seconds from the time of activation until the IPad sees it.  I wondered if I would know when enough time had elapsed to be sure the device I just turned off was not the culprit.  Hmmm ...


Edited by M20Kid - 15 Oct 2015 at 10:42am

AzAv8r -
"We have a 540, 340, and an iLevil2 which work fine.

Are you Running FlyQ 2.1. Checked settings in FQ and ipad? Confirmed FQ IPad connection in settings of IPad?

Leonard wrote: Are you Running FlyQ 2.1. Checked settings in FQ and ipad? Confirmed FQ IPad connection in settings of IPad?

I am running FlyQ 2.1, but I hadn't updated my IPad to the latest software.  I just updated that so perhaps I may have some benefit.  My plan is to fly again tomorrow and I'll check out some of the suggestions (if the IPad update doesn't appear to do the trick).

M20Kid wrote:   The one not in use is usually in Stand-by, so it shouldn't be sending out any signals ... right?

The off unit's antenna is still out there, receiving the data bursts from the on unit, and bringing some of that energy back into the aircraft.

If you have two totally separate and independent systems, what does the 1/2 select switch do?

David Bunin

It is entirely possible that flyq is the culprit. I do beta testing for FlyQ, and I have experienced frequent occasions of not being able to get traffic and weather data into FlyQ using a stratus 2S GPS. For two years I used the clarity, frequently experiencing connectivity issues with it. I replaced it recently with a new clarity, but it still had connectivity issues so I changed to the stratus GPS. On a recent flight, I documented several occasions when the ADSB portion of the datastream was not being resolved by FlyQ but was being resolved by for Foreflight.

In my experience, FlyQ has issues with decoding ADSB data stream. I experienced this before and since equipping my plane with all avidyne equipment. Also experienced this with clarity and stratus GPS units. I have also seen some ADSB decoding issues with ForeFlight, but to a much lesser extent than with FlyQ.

Try establishing clarity and FlyQ connection before turning on aircraft master. If possible, do this at an airport that has an ADSB antenna nearby. If ADSB drops off after aircraft radio equipment is turned on, then you have a clue.

If your iPad does not have a GPS internally, and you are getting airplane tracking info in FlyQ, then the data connection is valid and is working. If your iPad does have a GPS, testing the data connection is a bit more difficult, but is still possible this way. If you're getting ahrs data, then data connection to clarity is working. This connection is an all-or-nothing matter - either all of the data is coming into the iPad, or it's not. If it's coming in and not being displayed, then the culprit is FlyQ.

You might try wingx or fltplan apps that support clarity just to prove out the data stream is being received and decoded.

M20Kid wrote: The 1/2 switch selects the transponder signal from the 340 (#1) or the KT76 (#2) and sends only that signal.  The one not being used at the time goes to Stand-by mode or remains Off.  An interesting thing I discovered when I switched to the KT76 was that the 340 automatically went to Stand-by.

Interesting.  I am always trying to understand new ways that avionics can be connected.

Given that each of your transponders has its own antenna, I do not see how your 1/2 switch could "send" anything directly.

Instead, I suspect the switch is actually an external mode input for a forced-standby mode.  In other words, you select XPDR1 and the 1/2 switch forces the #2 unit into the standby mode, and vice-versa.

If that's the case, then the switch is actually doing nothing to the selected transponder (which is okay).

I may be wrong (and that's also okay).  I just like to think this stuff through.

David Bunin

On a flight yesterday and again today in a non-avidyne-equipped airplane, I confirmed that FlyQ stops processing the ADS-B datastring at random times and does not start processing again without restarting either FlyQ or Stratus. Today I had a second iPad running ForeFlight and connected to same Stratus 2S - that iPad continuously and properly processed the ADS-B data. After several separate stops of processing the ADSB data in FlyQ, each followed by clean reboot and starting FlyQ alone, I did have over an hour of FlyQ properly processing the data. I can tell you that it doesn't make any difference whether ForeFlight is 'running' or not (it doesn't really run since iPad doesn't support multiple programs running at the same time).