New Student, needs advice connecting to Stratus 3i

[John Orlovich]

Hello All,

I formed a small flying club with some friends and we bought a nice 172A that is equipped with the Stratus ESG Transponder and the Stratus 3i.  I am a soloing student pilot.  When getting dual instruction, my CFI is connecting with his Apple IPAD and using Foreflight.  Working great for him.

I have an Android phone and wanted to try connecting for ADSB-IN using AVARE. I also loaded the AVARE External I/O app.

Reading the forums, I see that there is discussion about setting the Stratus 3i into Open Mode.

Questions:

1. Do I need to use the AVARE External I/O to get ADSB-In capability?

2. Does AVARE now put the Stratus into Open Mode automatically, or is this something I need to do manually each time I start up the plane?  If so, how do I do that, and do I need to set it back up to closed for my co-owners that are using Foreflight?

3. If the Stratus 3i is put into open mode, will that disable my CFI's Foreflight Connection?  i.e. can both foreflight and AVARE be used together?

4. Is WiFi the best way to connect my Android, or does the Stratus 3i support bluetooth?

I am sure I am not asking all the pertinent questions that I should (i.e. I know that I don't know what I don't know).  Please let me know if you have any other advice that will help me get the most out of AVARE.

Thank you,

John Orlovich

[Jeffrey Ross]

I believe the Stratus 3i will work with Avare but you must put the Stratus into "compatible mode"  (GDL90) One of the Avare users, Andrew Sarangan wrote an Android application that can change the mode to open mode.  You can download the application from the playstore:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.sarangan.adsb

One thing to note, as soon as a Foreflight device connects to the Stratus unit it will switch back to FF mode.  Lastly, make sure you exit the ADS-B monitor program before you start Avare otherwise Avare may not be able to connect to to the Stratus until the monitor program is exited.

Jeff

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[John Orlovich]

Jeffrey,

Thank you for the quick response.  That cleared up most of my questions, but not all.  

Please expand on if the AVARE External I/O is needed in order to get ADSB-IN Traffic/WX.  I have seen conflicting info on this point.

Best,

John Orlovich 

[Jeffrey Ross]

When connecting to any device that uses GDL90 over WiFi for ADS-B in data you no longer need to use the External I/O application as the functionality has been incorporated into the main application. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/apps4av-forum/2518b587-d614-42cd-9f20-d7f538c65de9n%40googlegroups.com.

[John Orlovich]

Jeffrey,

Great news!  Thank you for the great support.  I will give it a try tomorrow when I go up.

Have a great 4th of July!!!

John Orlovich

[Andrew Sarangan]

As Jeff already said, Stratus automatically switches to the proprietary mode when it sees a connection from foreflight, and it doesn't switch back. You need the Stratus app to switch it back, but that only runs on iOS. In my opinion, this is their way of giving all Android users the finger. I wrote the app by running a wifi snoop to detect the commands being sent. In my club, everyone else uses foreflight, and I have to run that app before every flight to switch it back. But I don't know how it will perform if there is a foreflight user and Avare user in the same cockpit trying to connect to the same Stratus.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/apps4av-forum/034d4ad4-0414-8435-7730-50da4148121b%40bubble.org.

[John Orlovich]

All,

Steve Voelker also responded to me privately.  Thank you all for the great comments.

So the added info seems to be:

1. Andrew confirmed what Jeff said in that the Stratus 3i will automatically go back to proprietary FF mode when connected to Foreflight.

2. It was confirmed in actual use by Steve that when both an Android and an iOS running foreflight are present, Foreflight will take priority and the open connection to AVARE will stop working.

Good stuff guys.  I think it will really help me out.  I have watched most of the Youtube tutorial videos that I could find.  Seems to be very intuitive and easy to use.  I will report back on my experience.

Thank you all,

Have a great 4th Holiday

John Orlovich

[Barrett Thompson]

Foreflight users don't get my 3i's wifi password. Problem solved

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/apps4av-forum/CAMtwq89rSa6r81tVE7tgoLCVuOAYyDChX73eh1Bjz5QcX0G1PQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Steve Voelker]

Hello All,

 I did not realize that I did not do reply to your email in John's request and am sending along what sent to John so that it may help others. I use the wifi connection to link up with the Stratus.

John,

I recently had the Stratus installed in my Cherokee along with the 3i. Make sure the GPS port is set to 4000. Download the ADS B monitor app from Google play. This app will easily set the 3i to open mode. No need to use the external I/O modual. Avare works fine with the Stratus 3i. Right after I had the Stratus installed, I had a flight review and the instructor used Foreflight. It linked up great with the Stratus but neither my phone or tablet with Avare would work. I was afraid I made a mistake going with Stratus as I am not an Apple fan and only use Android. After a little research, I was able to get the Stratus working well with Avare. Hope this helps!

Steve Voelker 

[John Orlovich]

Good news group.  During my last three solo flights (I am a student), the traffic advisories were not showing up.  Today, I went on my long X-Country.  Somewhere in the middle of the flight, the advisories started showing up (Yeah!).  Can someone help me interpret what the symbols, text and tails mean?   The preference I set was for circles.  I understand blue means they are well above.  Anyway, looking forward to getting the most out of Avare that I can.  You guys are great and I appreciated the good responses from the original question.

[John Orlovich]

OK, I went back and re-reviewed this video from Duffy.  He states that the lines off the dots are tails, but during his video, it looks like the line is showing where the traffic is headed. (  Avare Tutorials #08 : ADS-B in receiver/Avare I/O module - YouTube ).  Please let me know what the lines off the dots are indicating.

Thank you,

John Orlovich

[Jeffrey Ross]

The lines off the dots are not tails, those show the direction that the traffic is moving.  If I recall correctly (from memory) Colors are green and blue, more than 1000 ft below or above you, red/pink less than 1000 feet below above you.  There are also three lengths to the pointer and it has to do with the speed of the aircraft.

Probably a year or two ago I posted on the forum information regarding what the colors and pointers mean.  I'm sitting here at OSH in Vintage camping with limited battery.  If you are unable to find the information in the archives of the forum let me know and when I get home I'll see if I can locate it.

The Traffic display right now I know needs some work as I have found that traffic blinks between just the altitude difference (in hundreds of feet) and showing the direction barb with the flight ID (if enabled).

Jeff

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/apps4av-forum/8e1390fd-ecf4-4551-bc18-bdf2a2918708n%40googlegroups.com.

[John Orlovich]

Thank you Jeff,

I will search on traffic pointers and see what previous threads come up.  

Have a great time at AirVenture.  I hope to be there next year!!!!

John Orlovich

[Jeffrey Ross]

Got back from OSH last night, I was originally planning on leaving this morning but based upon the forecast WX at OSH and the prog charts I decided to get out early Wednesday afternoon.

Regarding the traffic dots and their direction barbs, see this link for what the colors and the length of the lines mean...

https://groups.google.com/g/apps4av-forum/c/OtVyjqQKz7c/m/l7JDOj_UAAAJ

Jeff