I have a head scratcher, guys.
I installed a Tiny Trak in my RV-9A with appropriately shortened (to 2m length) aviation antenna on the belly of the craft. Before installation I put the setup in my car, and at the same time set up a UIView receiving station at my house. Everything worked fine, and until my car got out of range of my 40ft dualband antenna at the house, it showed and tracked the Tiny Trak's position in my car.
Anyway, I installed the thing in my plane. From installation time to just prior to our first flight the 2m radio on my receiving station went to ****, so my receiver was down. I thought "no big deal" because equidistant from the airport as my house but in the opposite direction is K5VAS's receiving station.
So, several weeks ago we had our first flight (YAHOOOO!). However, no tracking. Nothing on the map at all.
Thinking there was a problem with the transmitter, I tuned the 706MKIIG in my car to 144.39 when one of my partners was flying and I was at the airport, and sure enough, there was the signal, loud and clear, full scale.
Well, pulling up Google APRS I noticed that the receiving station I THOUGHT was on the air, K5VAS, had not been receiving for quite some time.
Aha! Problem solved. Neither my station nor K5VAS receiving. So, I ordered another 2m radio and replaced the broken one at my own station. Had it up and running last night on UIView. Showed to be receiving and transmitting properly.
Flew 1/2 hour this morning. Drove like **** to my office to pull up Google APRS knowing full well that (1) the Tiny Trak in my plane was putting out a signal and (2) my receiving station was working.
Nada. Nothing on the map. Sooo, what the **** do I do? I know that the radio and antenna at my station are working properly. Home station is an an Icom ID-880D, and is interfaced to a KPC-3 with the appropriate BuxComm cable. Just before hooking up the KPC-3, I had a QSO on a local repeater. Hooked BuxComm cable to KPC-3, fired up UIView, connected to the internet, and watched it transmit over the radio. Also heard some weak packet signals when tuned on 144.39.
Relatively certain Tiny Trak in the plane is working right due to the aforementioned receipt of packet signals from the craft in my car.
Let's assume that there is a problem in the coax cable from Tiny Trak to the antenna--once I was more than 100 feet from the plane I shouldn't be able to receive it at all, right? So that's not the problem--he was airborne and I was receiving the signal several miles before I got bored and turned it off.
What if, for some reason, the GPS antenna is either not working or the cable is broken or somehow got disconnected? Would the 2m transmitter still put out a signal? If so, would it be kinda "blank," meaning no data such that it would not show up on Google APRS?
Just so you know, I contacted the Tiny Trak people before installation and they told me that there were only 3 wires from the GPS antenna to the 2m transmitter. I told them I had to run it from my glare shield and down behind the panel. They advised to simply cut off the connector and told me which wires to resolder onto another connector so I didn't have to cut a 1/2 inch hole in my glare shield.
If the 2m transmitter still works but I miswired the damned connector, would this problem result--that is, 2m signals but no display on Google APRS?
Help me trouble shoot here guys.
I installed a Tiny Trak in my RV-9A with appropriately shortened (to 2m length) aviation antenna on the belly of the craft. Before installation I put the setup in my car, and at the same time set up a UIView receiving station at my house. Everything worked fine, and until my car got out of range of my 40ft dualband antenna at the house, it showed and tracked the Tiny Trak's position in my car.
Anyway, I installed the thing in my plane. From installation time to just prior to our first flight the 2m radio on my receiving station went to ****, so my receiver was down. I thought "no big deal" because equidistant from the airport as my house but in the opposite direction is K5VAS's receiving station.
So, several weeks ago we had our first flight (YAHOOOO!). However, no tracking. Nothing on the map at all.
Thinking there was a problem with the transmitter, I tuned the 706MKIIG in my car to 144.39 when one of my partners was flying and I was at the airport, and sure enough, there was the signal, loud and clear, full scale.
Well, pulling up Google APRS I noticed that the receiving station I THOUGHT was on the air, K5VAS, had not been receiving for quite some time.
Aha! Problem solved. Neither my station nor K5VAS receiving. So, I ordered another 2m radio and replaced the broken one at my own station. Had it up and running last night on UIView. Showed to be receiving and transmitting properly.
Flew 1/2 hour this morning. Drove like **** to my office to pull up Google APRS knowing full well that (1) the Tiny Trak in my plane was putting out a signal and (2) my receiving station was working.
Nada. Nothing on the map. Sooo, what the **** do I do? I know that the radio and antenna at my station are working properly. Home station is an an Icom ID-880D, and is interfaced to a KPC-3 with the appropriate BuxComm cable. Just before hooking up the KPC-3, I had a QSO on a local repeater. Hooked BuxComm cable to KPC-3, fired up UIView, connected to the internet, and watched it transmit over the radio. Also heard some weak packet signals when tuned on 144.39.
Relatively certain Tiny Trak in the plane is working right due to the aforementioned receipt of packet signals from the craft in my car.
Let's assume that there is a problem in the coax cable from Tiny Trak to the antenna--once I was more than 100 feet from the plane I shouldn't be able to receive it at all, right? So that's not the problem--he was airborne and I was receiving the signal several miles before I got bored and turned it off.
What if, for some reason, the GPS antenna is either not working or the cable is broken or somehow got disconnected? Would the 2m transmitter still put out a signal? If so, would it be kinda "blank," meaning no data such that it would not show up on Google APRS?
Just so you know, I contacted the Tiny Trak people before installation and they told me that there were only 3 wires from the GPS antenna to the 2m transmitter. I told them I had to run it from my glare shield and down behind the panel. They advised to simply cut off the connector and told me which wires to resolder onto another connector so I didn't have to cut a 1/2 inch hole in my glare shield.
If the 2m transmitter still works but I miswired the damned connector, would this problem result--that is, 2m signals but no display on Google APRS?
Help me trouble shoot here guys.