Belfort Instrument Company DigiWx AWOS CLOGS the UNICOM
Jim H.
DigiWx AWOS anonymously for good reason because the Belfort
DigiWx "fur" has been flying since at least 2005. One can
find mention of Belfort's inferior weather station named
DigiWx as witnessed by:
Ten reasons to NOT buy Belfort DigiWx AWOS (keep reading)
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/piloting/5041/Ten-reasons-
to...
I also am of the belief that Belfort Instrument Company has
been actively censoring anyone and any words which dishes
dirt on this inferior DigiWx AWOS weather station.
Now we have word from Belfort Instrument Company of
a "Recommended Service Bulletin" dated April 21, 2011
and numbered 2011-1.
SUBJECT: Unicom Transmission
MODELS AFFECTED: Belfort DigiWx AV100 with
either Technisonic or ICom radios
TIME OF COMPLIANCE: At owner s discretion
There have been some discussions by users at congested
airports of not being able to receive the AWOS broadcast
over the Unicom or the weather report stepping on other
Unicom communications. The following suggest may decrease
the problem.
1. On the DigiWx radio, set the squelch well above
the squelch break point this, in turn requires more
power to break the squelch which means traffic has to be
closer to the airport to receive the weather report.
2. The DigiWx standard broadcast mode is using 3 MIC
clicks. At busy airports, there isn t a way for the
DigiWx to determine if someone is clicking the MIC 3
times for the weather or three (3) separate pilots are
clicking the MIC to talk. If this is the case, it might
help to change the number of MIC clicks for weather to
5 MIC clicks. Both of the above recommendations will
help reduce the number of broadcasts from the DigiWx
and they are easy to do and don t cost money.
Belfort Field Service Team
800 937-2353
serv...@belfortinstrument.com
Well, I fly from one of the airports in MT with one
of these DigiWx AWOS pieces of SHIT. And its beyond me
to understand why changing the mic clicks at a congested
airport is going to fix the problem of a DigiWx which
clogs the UNICOM frequency. Just like Belfort said,
DigiWx cannot distinguish who is clicking the mic 3
times. The DigiWx is stupid. When it hears any 3 mic
clicks, it activates and clogs an already congested
UNICOM frequency. We pointed this out to Belfort 3
years ago and THIS WAS AND CONTINUES TO BE THEIR FIX?
If I cut thru the emotion of everything ever written
about the Belfort Instrument Comanpy DigiWx AWOS, I
am now a believer. Belfort doesn't know the first
phucking thing about designing an AWOS to broadcast
over a UNICOM frequency. I have talked with numerous
pilots from other airports who have the SuperAWOS
and the Vaisala AWOS. And they just DON'T have these
clogged frequency problems.
CHOOSE ANYTHING EXCEPT the Belfort Instrument DigiWx AWOS!
And don't forget to google "Belfort Instruments Digiwx AWOS"