(uAvionix) EchoUAT/Foreflight connection loss

[Dean Pichon]

Hi All,

I have been experiencing intermittent loss of connection between the EchoUAT and Foreflight. This is not a "disappearing target" issue, though I do sometimes experience this, too. Rather, I get a "EchoUAT has disconnected" message across the Foreflight screen. When this happens, I lose traffic, weather, and position data as the EchoUAT also provides WAAS GPS input from the uAvionix SkyFX.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? I have been communicating with both Foreflight and uAvionix, though no cause or solution has been identified. Interestingly, even when Foreflight indicates the connection has been lost, the Settings screen of the iPad continues to show a connection between the EchoUAT and the iPad. The only way I have been able to re-establish proper operation is to recycle the power on the iPad.

Any insight into this issue would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Dean

[jayyau]

You are not Alone, I too having the same problems. I'm also curious to know if other is experiencing the same thing with other App, like I-Fly and FltPlanGo

[jayyau]

I have tried 3 different EchoUAT's, done more than 15 test flights troubleshooting the traffic lost, since I'm using the I-phone for displaying the traffic, it's a bit more complicated (setting wise on the phone). I wonder if any of you having the same configuration like mine.

This is my configuration : EchoUAT, GTX 327 and I-phone.

EchoUAT can actually talking to two I-Phones at the same time, my flight test was using two I-Phone 6S. Some flights, those two phone received traffic for the entire flight, some times lost traffic on one phone, most of the times lost traffic on both phones, and some times, only lost traffic after touching down.

The main cause of losing traffic was lost of Wifi connection, although the phone shows Wifi connected, but actually it's not, the way to verify it is to disconnect the wifi then reconnect the wifi. If it's not talking to EchoUAT, it will keep wounding around and never make the connection.

[bogmonster]

I've experienced similar, but it always seems to be at the same location, 3 miles south of our airport.

[Dean Pichon]

Mine has been stable for the past 6-8 flights. The only change I have made since I notified Foreflight and uAvionix of the issue is that I now use the iPad in Airplane mode when I am running Foreflight. This was done at the recommendation of Foreflight. I cannot say that this is the cure, but the stability issue has been resolved (at least so far). If and when things change, I will post an update.

Regards,

[jayyau]

Originally Posted by bogmonster

I've experienced similar, but it always seems to be at the same location, 3 miles south of our airport.

Which airport?

My airport is KTOA, I lost the traffic about 3 miles south of airport, it happened at least 50% of the time. About two miles west of FAA radar site, which transmit 500KW at 1.5GHz.

I always set the I-Phone 6S to Airplane mode and close all other apps before the flight.

I will turn off two devices in the airplane (Garmin 296 and a Video camera) before the next flight, see if it improves. Other than the radio and GTX327 transponder, those are the only two electronic devices in the airplane. My plane is very quiet, noise wise.

[bogmonster]

Originally Posted by jayyau

Which airport?

My airport is KTOA, I lost the traffic about 3 miles south of airport, it happened at least 50% of the time. About two miles west of FAA radar site, which transmit 500KW at 1.5GHz.

I always set the I-Phone 6S to Airplane mode and close all other apps before the flight.

I will turn off two devices in the airplane (Garmin 296 and a Video camera) before the next flight, see if it improves. Other than the radio and GTX327 transponder, those are the only two electronic devices in the airplane. My plane should be very quiet, noise wise.

I'm in MN, 25D

[dougmattson]

I am using avare on a Samsung tablet and have been experiencing disconnect problems also. They just started the last couple of weeks on flights lasting over an hour.

[jayyau]

I lost the traffic again after I eliminated all possibilities in the airplane, including trying different phones, turning off all other devices in the airplane and replacing EchoUAT twice. I’ve finally concluded that My traffic loss was causing by the interference from FAA Radar site at San Pedro Hills.

I challenge every one who uses EchoUAT, GTX-327 and I-Phone 6, flying near San Pedro Hills in Southern California at around 3000 feet in a fabric covered airplane, you may be getting the same problem.

It doesn’t matter which app you use, it's the high Radar energy which jamming the Wifi.

I have never flown out of this area since I installed EchoUAT in February this year, and it failed in every flight I made. I guess the best way to prove my theory is to fly out of this area. I will report back to you when I do that.

The ADS-B out is working perfectly, it has passed most of the performance report while doing aerobatics (3 minutes competition sequence), no failure what so ever in level flight.

[MikeinPhoenix]

I'm having a similar problem. My Echo UAT unit is mounted within 3 feet of my iPad and yet it disconnects from the iPad several times each hour for no known reason. Would love to understand the problem as it has disconnected a couple times when I really needed it for traffic monitoring.