I didn’t have that problem and did mine inside the hangar with no problem. Well, except the install tool just hung when it said it was trying to install the update. I called tech support and he had my use a web browser to directly access the antenna and circumvent the install tool. Once we did that it installed in about 20 seconds. Here is how I did it with tech supports guidance.

I found a laptop to borrow and downloaded the installation tool as well as the UAV file (the 1.4.0 update). I followed the above instructions and all went well until it tried to upload. It sat and spun for 15 minutes. I cancelled it and tried again with the same result. So I called their support and luckily got through. They had me bypass the installation tool and access the unit’s WiFi directly using 192.168.4.1 directly into the browser address bar. Kind of like how you access your home router to change settings. This brought up a basic screen with a link to update the ADS-B. Once you click on “update”, a basic screen comes up prompting you to browse for the UAV file. Find it and click on update. It took about 20 seconds and it was done. Turn off the unit and then back on. The new update version will show on your app for confirmation.

Grassstrippilot wrote:I didn’t have that problem and did mine inside the hangar with no problem. Well, except the install tool just hung when it said it was trying to install the update. I called tech support and he had my use a web browser to directly access the antenna and circumvent the install tool. Once we did that it installed in about 20 seconds. Here is how I did it with tech supports guidance.

I found a laptop to borrow and downloaded the installation tool as well as the UAV file (the 1.4.0 update). I followed the above instructions and all went well until it tried to upload. It sat and spun for 15 minutes. I cancelled it and tried again with the same result. So I called their support and luckily got through. They had me bypass the installation tool and access the unit’s WiFi directly using 192.168.4.1 directly into the browser address bar. Kind of like how you access your home router to change settings. This brought up a basic screen with a link to update the ADS-B. Once you click on “update”, a basic screen comes up prompting you to browse for the UAV file. Find it and click on update. It took about 20 seconds and it was done. Turn off the unit and then back on. The new update version will show on your app for confirmation.

Yes, that’s the way the tech guy was trying to have me do it when I found “the button”. The reason you’re hung up was because you didn’t hit that button.

Which is my point.......their instructions pretty much suck, and it’s a simple process. But when I talked to another techie there, he’d never heard of updating the unit via the way their instructions say to. He said he’d been updating dozens of them using the procedure you outlined.

Right hand doesn’t know what the left hand provided for instructions. Either way should work, IF you have ALL the instructions.

MTV

Yeah. They need to streamline it I to the app. I borrowed a laptop from a friend that is a VP at Dell. When I told him what I was doing he just rolled his eyes. He said the coding to do it via windows was much more than via an app and that much of the areas of the world he deals with don’t even have laptops anymore. Everything is done via smartphones, tablets and the associated apps.

FYI, that’s how it looked when it sat and spun. I didn’t see any button I hadn’t clicked or that was selectable. Do you see the one you’re referring to?

Grassstrippilot wrote:FYI, that’s how it looked when it sat and spun. I didn’t see any button I hadn’t clicked or that was selectable. Do you see the one you’re referring to?

The button is on the very bottom right of the screen where you enter the password. You can’t see it unless you scroll all the way to the bottom. That screen appears as if you’re seeing it all, but it’s a very long screen in actuality. And once you’ve clicked the update button, it won’t let you scroll down....you have to start over.

Like I said, pure genius

MTV

mtv wrote:….Not only that, but if you're doing this update inside a hangar, the Skybeacon is trying to acquire a GPS satellite position, and won't let you update till it does. If you're in a hangar, of course, you're not going to get a GPS solution.
On the installation page for the update, in bottom right corner, there's a button that says something about GPS. You need to click that, and THEN, and only then, will the update install.
Took me two tries and a long wait on hold via phone to get THAT little bit of information. Apparently, the tech folks must assume everyone is parking the airplane outside when uploading firmware.
There's no question that they could have made a lot of this stuff MUCH simpler.....

It's not in the user's / installation guide, but I'm pretty sure that "no gps signal" button is referenced on the configuration app.
I guess they should have referenced it again in the update tool.
I am pretty backward when it comes to computers,
but I actually found using the cellphone app to set up my Tailbeacon to be easy.
Wireless procedure seems like quite a novel approach, and (so far) user friendly.

I guess this is a classic case of knowing is half the battle! [emoji849]


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hotrod180 wrote:

mtv wrote:….Not only that, but if you're doing this update inside a hangar, the Skybeacon is trying to acquire a GPS satellite position, and won't let you update till it does. If you're in a hangar, of course, you're not going to get a GPS solution.
On the installation page for the update, in bottom right corner, there's a button that says something about GPS. You need to click that, and THEN, and only then, will the update install.
Took me two tries and a long wait on hold via phone to get THAT little bit of information. Apparently, the tech folks must assume everyone is parking the airplane outside when uploading firmware.
There's no question that they could have made a lot of this stuff MUCH simpler.....

It's not in the user's / installation guide, but I'm pretty sure that "no gps signal" button is referenced on the configuration app.
I guess they should have referenced it again in the update tool.
I am pretty backward when it comes to computers,
but I actually found using the cellphone app to set up my Tailbeacon to be easy.
Wireless procedure seems like quite a novel approach, and (so far) user friendly.

Oh, configuring the thing initially IS a piece of cake. Just plain simple.

But try uploading a firmware update. That’s easy too, IF you actually have the instructions. Frankly, having your tech guys recommending a “shortcut” but not giving you that shortcut in instructions......grrr.

MTV

So I’m bumping this thread because I got a voicemail from an inspector at the FAA on Friday. It was near the end of his business day and we didn’t get to talk before the weekend began. So, I’m expecting to talk to him tomorrow. So, over the last few days I’ve been digging through my data on the Skybeacon. Seems it’s had an issue for a while. So, it looks like I’ll be heading down the road that Mike went down. The best I can tell the update we did last Fall is the last one they have put out. Mike, did I read on another thread that they ended up replacing your unit?

I got the call and letter from the FAA on my uAvionix SkyBeacon earlier this year.

The firmware upgrade solved all the issues and I passed the 3 tests flights and they closed my case.

Grassstrippilot wrote:So I’m bumping this thread because I got a voicemail from an inspector at the FAA on Friday. It was near the end of his business day and we didn’t get to talk before the weekend began. So, I’m expecting to talk to him tomorrow. So, over the last few days I’ve been digging through my data on the Skybeacon. Seems it’s had an issue for a while. So, it looks like I’ll be heading down the road that Mike went down. The best I can tell the update we did last Fall is the last one they have put out. Mike, did I read on another thread that they ended up replacing your unit?

I did the firmware update, but it didn’t fix my problem. I finally insisted that they send a replacement unit. They did, I set it up, and nary a problem since. Actually, I occasionally see brief errors on a PAPR, but those are not problematic.

The FAA person I dealt with was a Jeffery Denny. He was totally professional and helpful.

But, if you have a fairly early SkyBeacon, I’d probably tell uAvionix to replace it. Frankly, other than updates, there really isn’t much you can do. They told me to ensure a good ground, and that was about all the tech help other than the firmware update, which in my case didn’t help.

Good luck.

MTV

Thanks. I’m heading up today and am going to verify that everything is good. I’ve got a laptop and am ready to reload the last update too. What’s considered early? I got mine in Feb 2019.


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Grassstrippilot wrote:Thanks. I’m heading up today and am going to verify that everything is good. I’ve got a laptop and am ready to reload the last update too. What’s considered early? I got mine in Feb 2019.


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Yep, that's an early one, methinks. If you don't get several clean PAPR reports, I'd call uAvionix and tell them to replace the unit.

MTV

The FAA guy should be calling me tomorrow. I went up and checked everything out today. Even reloaded the last update. Everything looked good on the ground. Went out and flew the test flight profile and got a NIC failure of 1.95%. Everything else was good, but I’ve had other flights where multiple things were flagged.

So I guess I’ll see what he has to say then I’ll call tech support. Did they give you any hassle about swapping it out, or do they know this has been an issue and have had to swap many of them out. I’ve been going back and looking at the data (PITA doing one flight at a time) for the last year and a half and it’s been having issues for most of the time I’ve had it I think.


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Grassstrippilot wrote:The FAA guy should be calling me tomorrow. I went up and checked everything out today. Even reloaded the last update. Everything looked good on the ground. Went out and flew the test flight profile and got a NIC failure of 1.95%. Everything else was good, but I’ve had other flights where multiple things were flagged.

So I guess I’ll see what he has to say then I’ll call tech support. Did they give you any hassle about swapping it out, or do they know this has been an issue and have had to swap many of them out. I’ve been going back and looking at the data (PITA doing one flight at a time) for the last year and a half and it’s been having issues for most of the time I’ve had it I think.


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No, they were actually pretty good about replacing it, once I’d exhausted the options. I just told them it was time to replace the thing.

And NIC failures are not good.

MTV

Good to know Mike. Yeah I spent some of the day reading the problem solving material they have put out. I’ll see what the gentleman from the FAA says tomorrow and then go from there.


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Aryana wrote:

Yes, that was the argument I got from uAvionix during my issues. So, I’d sit on the ground for what seemed like eons to allow the internal GPS to stabilize. Then takeoff and still have NIC failures. I even monitored the thing with my phone for as long as I could, and the GPS took forever to lock up. Then it would go intermittent in flight, causing NIC errors.

Frankly, you shouldn’t have to sit on the ramp for an extended period of time to permit a WAAS GPS to stabilize. This isn’t INS.

When I installed the new SkyBeacon, the GPS stabilized in very short time. I’m convinced that the GPS they used in the early units had some sort of problem. Whatever it was, they fixed it in the later units.

Effectively, that admonition from uAvionix just recognized that they had a problem, at least in early units. Good news is, it seems they’ve fixed it. I now do “normal” length time on ground prior to takeoff and have never had another NIC error.

MTV

Early revisions of hardware aren't always the best. Glad you got it sorted.

My SkyBeacon was bought April 2019. Do you think that would be considered one of the early models?

Aryana wrote:Early revisions of hardware aren't always the best. Glad you got it sorted.

My SkyBeacon was bought April 2019. Do you think that would be considered one of the early models?

I honestly don't know when they "fixed" the issue, or even if the "issue" was universal in "early" units. I've talked to half a dozen early adopters who had the same issue, but I didn't pay attention to date of purchase, and it'd be harder yet to determine date of production.

All those were replaced by uAvionix at no cost, after the customers went through the hoops.

I was told by a government guy who should know that many of the "early" units had issues.

Who knows? They may have got a bad batch of GPS, or bad antenna connections, or ???

The good news is, it's a little frustrating, but: a) They seem to have fixed the issue with all the new units now, and b) They stood by their product and replaced faulty units without much foot dragging. I still think they're a good company. As you noted, early iterations of things sometimes have hiccups.

Blame it on China....

MTV