SkyRadar D2 pirep

When the SkyRadar D2 ADS-B was recently offered for $600 as a SnF special, I took advantage of the sale and bought one. I?d been wanting to add ADS-B to my 9A, and since the unit worked with my iFly720, I took the plunge. (Note: I currently use ForeFlight which does not and will not support SkyRadar so when my subscription is up I?ll be moving to Wing-X which does support it).

I have owned the unit for about three weeks now and I have used it for between 4 and 5 hours, including two in state XC flights. While not an exhaustive test, the SR D2 has consistently provided me with NEXRAD radar, METARS, TAFs, and Winds Aloft, as advertised.

Setup was a snap. Basically you turn the SkyRadar unit on, wait a minute, go into the iFly unit (start menu, setup, internet) and find the SR unit and connect to it. After that, when the iFly ?sees? the SR it automatically connects. The only trick you need to know is the SkyRadar unit needs to start up first and be on for about a minute before starting the iFly720. I?m not sure why that is but when they start together sometimes they connect and sometimes they don?t. When they don?t communicate, just unplug the iFly and reboot it. So far I?ve only had to do that once and making the connection in-flight was easy.

I mounted the iFly to the glare shield of my 9A with a RAM mount and the SkyRadar unit I mounted behind the passengers head on the flat part of the seat back adjustment tab. The mount is temporary for now but the location has proven to be satisfactory. I?m not sure exactly where I start getting reception. So far I have never received data on the ground but by 800? I?ve always had it (at least so far).

The unit works as advertised as near as I can tell. I am yet to see any traffic but since I don?t have ADS-B out, I expected that. My only gripe so far is that NEXRAD radar is not shown on the sectional map. You have to go to the weather map, which shows airports, water, and little else to besides the radar returns. It?s a couple of button pushes and not a big deal but having the weather on the sectional chart would be nice. Supposedly iFly is working on it. Wind aloft are great to have for XC flying so you know where your best (or worst winds) are likely to be found. So far I?ve found no use for TAFs, since I can review them before departing. If I had to divert, they may be useful but I suspect METARs would be more meaningful. METARs, while they are more helpful, I find myself listening to AWOS or ASOS on the radio rather than trying to read the decoded weather.

For $600 and less than a pound, having access to weather in the plane seems like a great deal. Standard disclaimer - I don?t work for either SkyRadar or iFly, and I?m not compensated in any manner for this review. The two units just play great together and give you another data point on weather when flying.

I didn't think you needed ads-b out to get traffic. All the ads-b out does is enable your position for display by others, correct?

To save bandwidth the ground station only broadcasts traffic up if it knows there is someone listening, e.g., you or someone nearby is sending adsb out.

Nitty said:

I didn't think you needed ads-b out to get traffic. All the ads-b out does is enable your position for display by others, correct?

Click to expand...

Sorta kinda yes and no. If you have a single band ADSB receiver only that is 978 UAT's like several out there, you'll not see any traffic unless either you or someone else has a "OUT" transmitter to "wake up" the ground stations. As Bob mentioned, In essence the ground stations won't transmit until someone enables it (which takes a 1090 or 978 TRANSMITTER/OUT box to do it). Now if you have a dual band receiver you can see other "ES" trraffic regardless of the ground station status or reception in the air or on the ground.

So to put it simply, if you have no "out", the only way you get an "in" is if someone else turns on the ground station and you "eavesdrop". It's not nearly as simple as some of the magazine advertisements would lead folks to believe.

Just my 2 cents as usual!
Cheers,
Stein

$$$$

Wow I which I had know they were on sale for $600, I wonder if that will happen at OSH?
Tim

Traffic

For those of you with the 720/D2 combination are you seeing traffic most of the time. On the iFly? I also have them and the traffic function of the 720 and the Skyradar don't seem to play well together.

I talked to the iFly folks and they tell me they work together, but I and 2 others at my airport don't find that to be so. Also, a beta tester says they "may" have a problem with the SkyRadar.

So as not to drift this thread, the SkyRadar unit is great with the iPad and my GRT EFIS.

"the ground stations won't transmit until someone enables it (which takes a 1090 box to do it)"

Actually, a 978 UAT (Universal Access Transceiver) will also activate the ground station to transmit traffic. The NavWorx box is an example.

Don said:

The only trick you need to know is the SkyRadar unit needs to start up first and be on for about a minute before starting the iFly720. I?m not sure why that is but when they start together sometimes they connect and sometimes they don?t.

Click to expand...

It takes 10-15 seconds for the SkyRadar to power up and enable the wireless network. I run into the same thing using WingX on the iPad. Turn on the Skyradar, wait 20 seconds, then the iPad will join the wireless network automatically, and then you can start WingX.

-Dj

Ken Harrill said:

"the ground stations won't transmit until someone enables it (which takes a 1090 box to do it)"

Actually, a 978 UAT (Universal Access Transceiver) will also activate the ground station to transmit traffic. The NavWorx box is an example.

Click to expand...

Of course you are correct and in my haste whilst watching re-runs of the twilight zone last night, I forgot to put the "or" in my original post. I've corrected it for future reference! Same for Garmin's GDL88 (which transmits on the UAT frequency) but receives on both....the GDL39 has no "out" but also receives on both. Some of the portable and panel mount receivers are dual band and some are single.

Cheers,
Stein

Don and others who don't see traffic on an iPad,

I have 2020 compliant Dynon 1090ES TXP, fed by Garmin 430W for GPS position, and had bought a SkyRadar D (original) years ago. I immediately got lots of traffic displayed on WingX.

BTW, SkyRadar outputs data in the Garmin GDL-90 format. The message spec is available on-line at:

http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/wsa/media/GDL90_Public_ICD_RevA.PDF

Now, I have a SkyRadar D2 unit, and the traffic has gone away on WingX. This is because Alexey, some time later, removed Msg hex 14 from the Skyradar output. Wingx relies on this message to display traffic. So does Flt Plan Go. Alexey says that everyone should be using Msg hex 1E and 1F instead.

I have contacted Hilton Software (WingX) and Fltplan.com but so far no correction.

Personally, I switched to FlyQ EFB on the iPad and the traffic is back.

As others have said, in order to reliably see traffic, you have to be "out" equipped. Other than, that you are depending on another out aircraft to solicit traffic data. Even then you will only see "his" traffic (15 NM radius and +- 3,500 ft of him). Regardless of that, you will see traffic coming from a 1090ES ADS-B out aircraft if you have a dual channel receiver. For the most part that traffic will just be airliners or people like me.