ADS-B Report with Flight ID fail (RED)

Garmin 430W with 5.03
Garmin 330ES with 7.04

Ordered a new ADS-B report from the online site and the report came back with Flight ID in red in the missing elements of

57.54%,Maxdt 12:57, MCF 758

and in the other Checks,

Flight ID: % Fail 100% , MAxdt 50:22, MCF 1631
All Spaces: % Fail 100% , MAxdt 50:22, MCF 1631

The flight was 1:05:01 long
The report was generated off the N number
I double checked and the Garmin 330 ES shows the correct tail number

The system was all good when tested 9 months ago.

Any clues ?

Is the hexadecimal tail number what it should be? You get it from FAA registration.

On the Garmin 330Es I entered the tail number as NXXXXX, is there a place to see where it converts it to the Registration hex code?

I looked at the previous report and no failures, I have not changed anything as for the 430 or the transponder goes.

jgoehl said:

On the Garmin 330Es I entered the tail number as NXXXXX, is there a place to see where it converts it to the Registration hex code?

I looked at the previous report and no failures, I have not changed anything as for the 430 or the transponder goes.

Click to expand...

Hello Jeff,

If this is the only failure, then the fix is probably just to go into configuration mode on the GTX 330ES and enter a Flight ID.

The ADS-B Out data includes, among other things, ICAO Address (which is automatically calculated from a U.S. N number entry) and Flight ID which is a totally separate data field.

Most people use their N Number as the flight ID, but it can be set to other things without spaces.

You actually have 3 choices for Flight ID on your GTX 330ES.
1. SAME AS TAIL
2. POWER UP ENTRY
3. CONFIG ENTRY

Most people just select "SAME AS TAIL" and are done. Almost no one uses POWER UP ENTRY because small aircraft Flight IDs don't normally change like airline Flight IDs (which normally contain flight number - hence flight ID). The 3rd choice, CONFIG ENTRY, is what you use if you want to enter a Flight ID string other than your tail number that is automatically used on every flight.

It looks like your Flight ID was all spaces (blank) 100% of the time on this flight.

BTW, all of our traffic maps display Flight ID for ADS-B Out aircraft, not N number, but since most people use N number for the Flight ID, it is a common misconception that traffic targets are identified by the N number entered in your transponder configuration.

Steve

Thanks, Steve.
I checked it today and it was set to "Same As Tail"
I did re enter the tail number, but will have to fly again to check.

Is there a chance that there could be a problem with the transponder ?

Since I have not made any changes since the last all good report months ago.

Stated another way, Can all the other checks be good and this fault be a hardware/firmware issue if the configuration is correct?, or can it only occur with a setting change.?

Thanks,
Jeff

jgoehl said:

Thanks, Steve.
I checked it today and it was set to "Same As Tail"
I did re enter the tail number, but will have to fly again to check.

Is there a chance that there could be a problem with the transponder ?

Since I have not made any changes since the last all good report months ago.

Stated another way, Can all the other checks be good and this fault be a hardware/firmware issue if the configuration is correct?, or can it only occur with a setting change.?

Thanks,
Jeff

Click to expand...

Hello Jeff,

Given the design of the transponder and software, it seems unlikely that a fault in the transponder could cause just the Flight ID to go missing in your ADS-B Out.

Instead of using "Same as Tail" you could also try the "Config Entry" method of manually entering a Flight ID just to be sure it has your Flight ID.

Your software is a bit old since we are using V8.02 and that is what we were installing in customer units at Oshkosh, but we are not aware of an improvement that would explain your missing Flight ID. Probably just a configuration issue, as most ADS-B Out issues are.

If re-configuring the transponder doesn't help, please email us the full FAA report so we can get a better picture of the entire status of the system.

Thanks,
Steve