Issues with the EchoUAT
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:48 pm
In another forum I'm on, theres a current conversation on the EchoUAT and some issues it has. One of the users (a certified driver) has dove pretty deep into the Echos workings, so with his permission, I'm reposting some of his comments (edited for conciseness) for commentary here on how these things are mitigated with the GRT gear, HXr etc. Not trying to poke fingers, just be an informed consumer. My apologies if I missed some english in the editing.
Thanks for any info.
--------------------
The Echo doesn't do much more than blast out anything it hears.
And it doesn't do it necessarily in a standards compliant way.
1. The software processing of targets is horrible.
To be standards compliant, you should send all traffic targets
in one packet. But, they do absolutely zero filtering on
their traffic, which results in an overwhelming number of
targets. The Echo breaks GDL90 standards by splitting excess targets
into a second partial packet. Oh, and while some EFIS's
can filter targets, some can't (leading to clutter)
2. NavWorX, for example, pre-processed
their target list. You also had the ability to limit the
number of targets that you would send. Maybe 12-18 or so would
be a good practical number (prioritized by distance from you and altitude wrt to you) on an EFIS.
3. Transmitter power is I believe 20W. Ultimately
the wattage should work most of the time, but, you're really
at the bottom bottom end of the power scale with the Echo
compared to other units out there.
4. Signal reception. When doing our work for the filter/processor
box, we logged a lot of GDL90 and watched a lot of planes in the
sky. We compared the echo to the Straux home made system and
found that the Stratux actually had better reception than the
Echo.
5. Blinking targets. One thing that many people have seen
is that the Echo tends to lose targets on the screen.
On second the guy will be there near you, the next it
blinks out and disappears. Coasting helps fix blinking. Uavionix
will say that they don't coast but the EFIS can.
6. The "transponder monitor"
method of Echo CAN work, but, it has limitations.
If you are not under a radar covered area or your transponder
isn't interrogated, it the Echo has nothing to listen to for
baro alt. After a while it'll stop sending baro alt.
That happened to me a lot, and when I'd do an FAA report
on the UAT, it would show lack of baro.
7. Cheap molex connector used. I glued my wires
to the molex now to prevent (them from pushing out), but it's still just not made to a quality (avionics company) standard.
8. Dynon worked for months with Uavionix to get theirs
to perform to their standards before they'd start selling it.
The guts are largely Uavionix based, but improved over the Uavionicx version.
Thanks for any info.
--------------------
The Echo doesn't do much more than blast out anything it hears.
And it doesn't do it necessarily in a standards compliant way.
1. The software processing of targets is horrible.
To be standards compliant, you should send all traffic targets
in one packet. But, they do absolutely zero filtering on
their traffic, which results in an overwhelming number of
targets. The Echo breaks GDL90 standards by splitting excess targets
into a second partial packet. Oh, and while some EFIS's
can filter targets, some can't (leading to clutter)
2. NavWorX, for example, pre-processed
their target list. You also had the ability to limit the
number of targets that you would send. Maybe 12-18 or so would
be a good practical number (prioritized by distance from you and altitude wrt to you) on an EFIS.
3. Transmitter power is I believe 20W. Ultimately
the wattage should work most of the time, but, you're really
at the bottom bottom end of the power scale with the Echo
compared to other units out there.
4. Signal reception. When doing our work for the filter/processor
box, we logged a lot of GDL90 and watched a lot of planes in the
sky. We compared the echo to the Straux home made system and
found that the Stratux actually had better reception than the
Echo.
5. Blinking targets. One thing that many people have seen
is that the Echo tends to lose targets on the screen.
On second the guy will be there near you, the next it
blinks out and disappears. Coasting helps fix blinking. Uavionix
will say that they don't coast but the EFIS can.
6. The "transponder monitor"
method of Echo CAN work, but, it has limitations.
If you are not under a radar covered area or your transponder
isn't interrogated, it the Echo has nothing to listen to for
baro alt. After a while it'll stop sending baro alt.
That happened to me a lot, and when I'd do an FAA report
on the UAT, it would show lack of baro.
7. Cheap molex connector used. I glued my wires
to the molex now to prevent (them from pushing out), but it's still just not made to a quality (avionics company) standard.
8. Dynon worked for months with Uavionix to get theirs
to perform to their standards before they'd start selling it.
The guts are largely Uavionix based, but improved over the Uavionicx version.