Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By 2Donkeys
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1570973
Today, I had a shot at using the UAT service being temporarily broadcast from SkyDemon HQ. For those unaware, UAT is a service by which weather data is transmitted by a ground station to aircraft on 978MHz, where it is received (typically) by ADS-B equipment and displayed on cockpit avionics.

My aircraft has a Garmin GTX345R ADSB In and out transponder, connected to a GTN750 Garmin navigator. I also have Garmin Pilot on my iPad, which connects to the avionics via Bluetooth and can also display weather, traffic and other information in real time.

The equipment is setup to receive UAT transmissions, and successfully did so a couple of months ago when I flew it to the US and back, so I was naturally curious as to whether the UK setup would work out of the box.

My results were mixed.

I was readily able to pick up the ground station once within 30 miles or so.



The status shows that Weather information was "Connected", but no data appeared to flow. No individual TAFs were available and no weather radar.



I'm not sure whether or not there is a formal forum for the trial, but there are lots of bright people on this forum. Perhaps somebody could tell me where I may have gone wrong? Perhaps there was no data flowing today?

All hints and tips welcome.
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1570994
You may need to ask Garmin what you should expect from UAT in the UK. As far as I know the transmitter has been on continuously since the start of the trial.
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1571046
Tim Dawson wrote:You may need to ask Garmin what you should expect from UAT in the UK. As far as I know the transmitter has been on continuously since the start of the trial.


Are UAT transmissions non-standardised to the extent that you would expect reputable UAT kit not to be able to pick up and decode your transmissions ?

Iceman 8)
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By ianfallon
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1571047
Years of working with software and specs makes me immediately think either one or both ends not saying or hearing the right thing, or even more likely, the spec being too open to interpretation!
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1571053
Since UAT has always been an American technology it would be understandable if certain software had been built only anticipating it arriving for that territory.
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By 2Donkeys
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1571054
Tim Dawson wrote:You may need to ask Garmin what you should expect from UAT in the UK. As far as I know the transmitter has been on continuously since the start of the trial.


I'm not really sure what to ask Garmin, nor what I would say to me if I were them.

I have installed in my aircraft, an FAA-approved set of equipment which perfectly successfully picked up UAT transmissions of weather, PIREPS, METARS, TAFS, Winds Aloft, NEXRAD etc in the US without any issue at all just 12 weeks ago.

If that same equipment is not picking up (or perhaps interpreting) UAT transmissions in the UK, my starting point is to assume that the UK trial has broken the standard in some way during implementation.

Is that not more likely?

Has anybody with conventional (i.e. not software and/or hardware from the trial companies) kit actually reported picking up UAT weather as part of this trial yet?
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1571055
On the first few days of the trial the transmission was verified with a ForeFlight/Stratus combination and a Garmin Pilot/Garmin GDL39 combination. None of those products have anything to do with SkyDemon or uAvionix.

So no, I don’t think it’s likely that the transmission standard has been broken. But equally, I’m afraid I’m not qualified to help diagnose this for you, beyond ensuring that the broadcast is working ok.
#1571071
Despite these teething problems, I must say, the fact that people are working to offer UAT weather in the UK is terribly exciting. To my mind it's probably the best thing to happen for UK GA since I started flying >10 years ago. Getting access to in-flight weather completely transformed my flying in the US, and it's wonderful to see it take a small toe-hold on this side of the Atlantic. Nice work!!
Dave W, 2Donkeys, PaulB and 7 others liked this
#1571237
Seeing this is a trial, would it not be a good idea to have a well advertised feedback form somewhere online for pilots to report their results?

That way dates, times, equipment in use, results obtained, could all be gathered and result in hard data that would show if there are any issues that need fixing, and record successful usage to support the case for further rollout?
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By 2Donkeys
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1571330
scottish_ppl wrote:Seeing this is a trial, would it not be a good idea to have a well advertised feedback form somewhere online for pilots to report their results?


I agree. Given the CAA's endorsement/support of this trial, I had expected there to be a rather more formal way of providing user feedback. Perhaps it isn't wanted/needed and the trial is being conducted by specific trial aircraft?
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By James Chan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1571359
There was a poster named Cub a while ago who I think had something to do with UAT. I'm not sure whether he is still around these days.

Maybe you can PM him and see if he responds.