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GRT Safe Fly/Echo??

AndyRV7

Well Known Member
I think I've read all the threads so I hope I am not asking an already-discussed question(s).

I have an early (2009'ish) GRT Sport EFIS in my plane. It may be a Sport before Sports had letter designations after the name. But from the GRT site, I believe it should still be able to display Wx and traffic. I was wondering if it will offer any audible alerts with the standard harness. For full disclosure I have a GTX327 in the plane.

Aside from that, I also have a same-vintage G3X with no AHRS or ADAHRS. I just use it as a moving map. I wanted to confirm that it would not have a WAAS GPS in it?? Even as such, would it be possible to get any other value out of it in the form of Wx and traffic display??

I'm sure you are all better versed in ADSB than I am. Thanks!! Andy
 
If is the old Horizon WS (wish is similar in appearance to the sport) then the answer to you question about audible alerts is “no.” It will display Wx and traffic but you should download the latest system software and install it. If you’ve got the right pitot tube you can also get AOA once you activate and calibrate that function. GRT products have always been good but they’ve gotten really great as they progressed to the HX and HXr. Wish I could afford to upgrade my old dual WS system to the 6.5” HX.
 
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GRT Fly-Safe

Andy,
I have the GRT Fly-Safe installed in my airplane. I have a GRT Sport SX and a Garmin GTX327 transponder. The system seems to work well, although I have to admit I have not been able to fly much since installing the ADSB unit. The unit does require a high speed port so you will need to make sure you have the required port available if you are going to connect it to your EFIS.
 
I have the same generation Sport as you (s/n 13).
I echo what Skid says.
I added the FlySafe/Echo over the summer. Works great. I have all my ports taken, so I use my iPad for traffic. That works great as well.
I have the GPS hooked up as GPS-2 on the Sport.
 
You guys are great. Thanks!!

I knew a lot about my equipment a year and a half ago when I was trying to install my Gemini A/P, but I've forgotten most of it. So I can't say what ports I've used or what might still be available. But I'm sure I don't have a very taxing set-up.

Andy
 
GRT products have always been good but they?ve gotten really great as they progressed to the HX and HXr. Wish I could afford to upgrade my old dual WS system to the 6.5? HX.

I wanted to do that as well but the 6.5" Sport and the 6.5" HX are not the same footprint. :(
 
I wanted to do that as well but the 6.5" Sport and the 6.5" HX are not the same footprint. :(

I’m told the WS and the 6.5” HX are the same width but the HX is 1/2” taller. For my aircraft the extra height is available but requires I enlarge the hole 1 inch at the top. That’s doable when I’m ready to accomplish the upgrade.

When I do I’ll also install the FlySafe gps so I can fly LPV approaches. My current 430s are non-WAAS and I’m told the Garmin 335 transponder with internal WAAS gps won’t work for exporting WAAS gps data to the HX.
 
GRT Sport Sx

I have a GRT Sport SX and a Hx. How difficult is it to get ADSB in and out. My transponder is a Garmin GTS 330. I need someone to install in central Texas. I'm electrically challenged.

Thanks,
 
I have a GRT Sport SX and a Hx. How difficult is it to get ADSB in and out. My transponder is a Garmin GTS 330. I need someone to install in central Texas. I'm electrically challenged.

Thanks,

Depending on the vintage and option level of the Sport, it will have either 4 or 5 serial ports. The HX will have 8. Presumably you have serial in/out connected between each display as an interdisplay link.

If you buy the GRT SafeFly/Echo combo it will provide ADS-B out on its own, and if you connect it to (hopefully there are some) unused serial ports on the HX (one in/out pair for the SafeFly and one in for ADS-B) you will have ADS-B (TIS-B) in traffic on both screens and weather (FIS-B) on the HX.

The Echo can "sniff" altitude and transponder data or, because the 330 supplies both on a serial out line, it can be hard-wired.

From a wiring standpoint it's fairly simple as ADS-B installs go.
 
I think I've read all the threads so I hope I am not asking an already-discussed question(s).

I have an early (2009'ish) GRT Sport EFIS in my plane. It may be a Sport before Sports had letter designations after the name. But from the GRT site, I believe it should still be able to display Wx and traffic. I was wondering if it will offer any audible alerts with the standard harness. For full disclosure I have a GTX327 in the plane.

Aside from that, I also have a same-vintage G3X with no AHRS or ADAHRS. I just use it as a moving map. I wanted to confirm that it would not have a WAAS GPS in it?? Even as such, would it be possible to get any other value out of it in the form of Wx and traffic display??

I'm sure you are all better versed in ADSB than I am. Thanks!! Andy

Andy, my Sport SX was of a similar vintage (I just upgraded to an HXr that fits on the same spot). Mine had the high speed processor mod that gave it a 5th serial port (that's standard now, I believe) and synthetic vision. Serial port 3 in/out was dedicated to the internal GPS. I had my SafeFly GPS/Echo UAT combo connected to the Sport, which provided ADS-B in traffic and weather just fine. You do have to make sure you've upgraded the system software to a recent version in order for it to function. I too am using a GTX327 and the "sniffer" function of the Echo reads encoder and transponder data just fine. My Sport is connected to my audio panel (Garmin GMA 240) via a serial port and has always given audio alerts. They sound cheesy- "oil pressure, fuel pressure" for example, in a computer monotone- but they work fine.

One nice feature about the SafeFly was the serial port combiner function. The extra couple of serial ports it provided allowed me to juggle things and keep all the connections I wanted, including autopilot, etc.

Can't comment on the G3X.
 
Thanks Lars. I'm really not too worried about the G3X. It's on the far side of my panel and I never really even look at it because of that. I do have the latest software on a thumb drive ready to go. I want to call GRT to have a talk before I do this but I think this should be the best solution for me. Hopefully an easy one too!!
 
Install??

Do any of you happen to have pics of your installs? I'm planning this in my mind. I think I am most worried about the antennas. I'll need a WAAS antenna and the transceiver antenna. I'm wondering what they look like and where you mounted them. Thanks!! Andy
 
Do any of you happen to have pics of your installs? I'm planning this in my mind. I think I am most worried about the antennas. I'll need a WAAS antenna and the transceiver antenna. I'm wondering what they look like and where you mounted them. Thanks!! Andy

I don?t currently have pics, but the install was simple. I mounted the unit (gps and adsb) on the sub panel where it was easy to wire in to the EFIS. The WAAS antenna is included and is a small puck that I simply mounted on the glare shield through a small hole with a grommet. The adsb antenna, also included I believe, is exactly the same as a transponder antenna, which I mounted just forward of the left main gear leg mount. That left a short and easy coax run up to the unit. Install took a couple hours at most.

Chris
 
I don?t currently have pics, but the install was simple. I mounted the unit (gps and adsb) on the sub panel where it was easy to wire in to the EFIS. The WAAS antenna is included and is a small puck that I simply mounted on the glare shield through a small hole with a grommet. The adsb antenna, also included I believe, is exactly the same as a transponder antenna, which I mounted just forward of the left main gear leg mount. That left a short and easy coax run up to the unit. Install took a couple hours at most.

Chris

Maybe a stupid question, but is that inside the plane? Also, I presume the white shark-fin antenna on the belly of my plane is the transponder antenna? Thanks!
 
Maybe a stupid question, but is that inside the plane? Also, I presume the white shark-fin antenna on the belly of my plane is the transponder antenna? Thanks!

Yep, the GPS antenna is inside, basically sitting on the area above the panel, facing the sky and under the canopy. I have two of them there, and they have worked flawlessly.

Your shark-fin antenna is most likely your transponder antenna. Mine is not that fancy, it is this one: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/ted_transponder.php?clickkey=4083

That is pretty much the same thing that I believe came with the echoUAT. It does need to be mounted about 3' away from the transponder antenna, which may affect where you install yours.

Chris
 
OK, good to know. Thanks! My CC was picked off yesterday but I think the bank delivered a new one today. I'm going to order this gear and then I should have a better idea What I want to do. I appreciate the help.:)
 
Just installed it

I have an older Sport HS and just finished installing the EchoUAT/SafeFly combo in my RV9A Tipup canopy.

I installed the unit on the right side "rib" that extends forward from the subpanel to the main panel. Down about an inch so the tipper canopy brace doesn't touch it. I just used UHB tape initially, then two machine screws once the position was set.
The GPS antenna runs up through a small hole in the glare shield near where the plexi attaches, and the antenna sits just behind the hole. My GRT GPS antenna is about 8" to the left of it.
The Echo antenna cable runs under my glove box, into the "tunnel" on the right side and I got it to bend down the tunnel to the area between the spar. It then goes towards the rear through a hole I already had in the spar web and then through conduit I installed that goes to the back area of the plane. (This helped a LOT, although it could have run through the center tunnel as well)
I drilled a hole in the bottom skin, right side just aft of the rear baggage wall. (to the right of the elevator bellcrank)
You'll need to remember how to attach connectors to the end of coax cable. Get at least 12' of cable to be safe. I ordered 9 and didn't have an inch to spare.

There is only 1 wire connected to the EFIS - the Blue wire. Yellow and green are not connected unless/until I upgrade the EFIS to a later model.
I connected to port 4 Serial RX, and set the settings on the efis appropriately (baud rate and type of equipment). Since I have an SL-40 radio that was using port 4 TX at 9600 baud to set radio frequencies, I had to move it to port 2 (I think?) TX and set that one at 9600 baud because the baud rate is for both TX and RX on any single port. You'll need a DB pin extractor to move the pins if you have the same issue.

I don't have an autopilot - this might change things as it needs a port too.

After my first test flight, I found that it wasn't reporting pressure altitude, and had to follow instructions from uAvionix to change the transponder sensitivity down to about 1250. Then it worked. I also installed the beta software provided by uAvionix which is supposed to improve the "dropping targets" issue.

I'm also currently seeing airspace lines not display on the map when display metars is set. Just sent an email to GRT about that. EDIT: They said this is normal. METAR mode shows additional information on the map, like wind barbs. Airports still display with a color to indicate METAR information on the other map modes.

EDIT: I also learned that the target distance filter option doesn't work right now on the Sport HS and WS models. Target altitude filtering does work. They're supposed to be fixing that soon.

Overall, I'm amazed at the additional situational awareness having traffic on the display gives you. (even the N number of other ADS-B out aircraft) Should have done it earlier.
 
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Thanks Clay. I too have the Sport HS with an SL40. I can't send frequencies though, but I had figured I would add that wire sometime. Thanks for the Ideas. I'm sure this is a dumb question too but how did you guys power this thing? Did you just share a power lead in some way from one of the other panel items? I'm sure this will seem easier once mine comes. I ordered it today but no stock until maybe next week. Luckily I have a year, although I am looking for to the new data coming in!!
 
Yes, just wired power to my avionics bus (which, in my case is an EXPBUS and there was an additional avionics terminal available.) I don't see why you couldn't just wire to the same power source as your EFIS too.
 
GRT ECHO SAFE FLY

I had it professionally installed, 7 phone calls to GRT and it still doesn't work! Out seems to be OK, but nothing in. The Sport SX is in the map mode, Garmin 330 xponder, but nothing. I would appreciate any ideas.
 
I had it professionally installed, 7 phone calls to GRT and it still doesn't work! Out seems to be OK, but nothing in. The Sport SX is in the map mode, Garmin 330 xponder, but nothing. I would appreciate any ideas.

Sent you a PM.
 
I had it professionally installed, 7 phone calls to GRT and it still doesn't work! Out seems to be OK, but nothing in. The Sport SX is in the map mode, Garmin 330 xponder, but nothing. I would appreciate any ideas.

I assume you are running with a single Sport SX installed and all of the available ports are being used? If so, the internal GPS in the Sport is wired to an open port (I believe it is port #3, but check). If port #3 was used for the echoUAT input, the internal GPS in the Sport must be disconnected. It is easy to do, just open the EFIS case, locate the GPS chip, and pull the ribbon cable to it. Of course after doing this you will only have the external ADS-B 2020 compliant GPS available for navigation.
 
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I assume you are running with a single Sport SX installed and all of the available ports are being used? If so, the internal GPS in the Sport is wired to an open port (I believe it is port #3, but check). If port #3 was used for the echoUAT input, the internal GPS in the Sport must be disconnected. It is easy to do, just open the EFIS case, locate the GPS chip, and pull the ribbon cable to it. Of course after doing this you will only have the external ADS-B 2020 compliant GPS available for navigation.

Do you really have to do that at the hardware!? I would think you could just assign the new ADS-B gear to that serial port through the software??

I guess because the internal GPS is integral to the unit, it might be hard wired, but even then, I guess that would mean that SP3 is not an option on the plug.

I'm a novice at this though.

My unsolicited 2 cents is your "professional installer" should not have left you with non-functioning gear, unless he had a good reason why your hardware setup is unable to take advantage of "IN."
 
Do you really have to do that at the hardware!? I would think you could just assign the new ADS-B gear to that serial port through the software??

I guess because the internal GPS is integral to the unit, it might be hard wired, but even then, I guess that would mean that SP3 is not an option on the plug.

I'm a novice at this though.

My unsolicited 2 cents is your "professional installer" should not have left you with non-functioning gear, unless he had a good reason why your hardware setup is unable to take advantage of "IN."

Andy,

I my case the only open port available was the one occupied by the internal GPS, otherwise I could have done as you suggested. I only mentioned this because if poster #20 has a single EFIS, he may have found SP3 as the only port open. This was the work-around advice given to me by GRT.

Today I conducted my PAPR flight and the system passed with zero errors.
 
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GRT FLy Safe

I had it professionally installed, 7 phone calls to GRT and it still doesn't work! Out seems to be OK, but nothing in. The Sport SX is in the map mode, Garmin 330 xponder, but nothing. I would appreciate any ideas.

A few questions;
Have you checked to verify in on an iPad or phone?
What do you have connected to the Sport other than the Fly Safe?
The Fly safe does require high speed ports, did the installer use those?
Did your professional installer give you a wiring schematic showing how the Fly Safe is connected to the Sport?
Have you verified all the settings in the Sport to the GRT install manual? I had a couple messed up and after many calls to support finally figure out I missed a couple. Also the baud rate is a bit finicky, be sure it is correct.
 
Andy,

I my case the only open port available was the one occupied by the internal GPS, otherwise I could have done as you suggested. I only mentioned this because if poster #20 has a single EFIS, he may have found SP3 as the only port open. This was the work-around advice given to me by GRT.

Today I conducted my PAPR flight and the system passed with zero errors.

That makes perfect sense Tom. I haven't had to play with the efis configuration in my plane for over a year since the A/P went in. I probably have a very similar issue.
 
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