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2 transponders with adsb

rwarre

Well Known Member
Went flying today IFR for practice. The ATC controller said I was showing up as an IFR and a VFR target. He thought I had 2 transponders. Turned off my adsb and the VFR target went away. I have the Echo UAT and it gets the position from a Garmin 430w. My iefis is the MGL explorer. Has this ever happened to anyone?
 
Is your UAT going into anonymous mode on its own (and not really picking up TXP code properly)?
 
How is the echo setup to receive squak? Are you sniffing it from xponder reply, or sending it over serial? What trandponder are you using?

I have mine getting squak from the gtx330 and alt from the dynon, both via serial data through the uavionix serial multiplexer.
 
Yes, last weekend I was inbound to 08A from the south, squawking 1200/anonymous. After dialed up MGM approach and entered an assigned code, the controller responded with the usual, then asked if I had another aircraft in formation, as he was seeing the assigned code as one target and a 1200 target also.

We talked about it a bit and then he had to move on to other traffic. I got the impression that the 1200 target had disappeared from his scope.

Garmin GTX-327 and GDL-82.
 
EQUIPMENT

I have the Echo UAT and it sniffs a Garmin 430W. I also have a Garmin 327 transponder which get the grey code from the MGL Efis.
 
Earlier this year after a friend installed a Garmin GDL 82, we flew near each other while he switched Anonymous Mode on and off to check its operation. His transponder is a GTX 327. I captured this ForeFlight screenshot showing him immediately after he switched Anonymous Mode off.

Note the two targets on top of one another, one showing his N-number and one showing "VFR". After several seconds the "VFR" target disappeared and only the N-number target showed. We tried this a few times (him switching between Anonymous Mode on and off) and two targets would show up from a few to several seconds until one dropped off. We attributed this to latency/overlapping data in the ATC system, until the older, stale data dropped from the system.

Sorry Carl, missed your response. Your account exactly matches what MGM approach was describing.
 
Same here!!

I have a GTX327 and GDL82 . The same ATC claim of two targets in the same position after changing code from 1200 to ATC request. This has happened twice this month.... John
 
Happened to me too with a GNX375. Went from 1200 to an assigned code I picked up after departure from ARTCC. I was climbing so the "old" me was lower but very near my position but then like magic I disappeared and the new me flew off into the sunset.

Pretty cool eh? A real time machine. Maybe a hole in the fabric of space time continuum.
 
R U in formation?

This just happened to me on an IFR flight to Texas last week. ATC kept asking if I had someone in formation with me. (I'm getting a good report from the FAA ADSB website and "IN" is good as well) but when I squawk other than 1200 on my TXP, the ADSB stays on 1200 giving conflicting traffic to ATC.

Garmin GTX 327
GRT Sport SX
uAvionics Echo UAT-Safefly 2020

Anybody have new info on this subject? DanH, what did you find out?
 
Latency

Since there are so many examples of this happening, on so many different platforms, I'm wondering if this could possibly be a network latency issue between the ground station submitting the new identification to the ATC database cross referencing the ICAO code with the newly assigned number. Basically it seems like its taking several minutes to sync the data and overwrite the previous code, 1200, or VFR, or whatever it was. If this happens again to someone and ATC isn't busy, I wonder if you asked for another code and changed it, they would probably see the previous code as being in formation with you.
 
I get the 2 transponders all the time across different controllers. Odd. Echo UAT 430W, 330.
From Uavionix...
What is the distance between the UAT antenna for the Echo and the transponder antenna? (My response was 21")
We may be getting some attenuation with that close of proximity, we recommend 3' of spacing for the UAT antenna. However, I pulled a report from yesterday and It is all perfect, usually, we would see some specific errors on the ADS-B side if we are dealing with signal attenuation. I've requested extended data from that flight also to see if there are any erratic squawk codes reported.
..... End of communication
 
It is important to note that the echo will only sniff the new code on a transmission and those only occur after an interrogation. In less populated areas, there can be some time between interrogations. This is the key reason that the serial mux is the preferred installation approach, as new codes are pushed right away.

Larry
 
I had this phenomenon happen with a EchoUAT. Local controllers asking about two transponders all the time. I also would pick up myself on my ADS-B and get traffic alerts for a few minutes until everything settled out. I'm no expert, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express before and I'll share what worked for me.

For us uAvionix EchoUAT sniffer types, you go into the advanced settings* on the iPhone/iPad App, you can adjust the Transponder Threshold to something a bit lower, even if it was working normal at it's current threshold setting, and it will pick up whatever new code from the transponder quicker. I'm sure there is a downside to setting the threshold too low, but I just lowered it by 100. But this eliminated my second target problem as (I believe) the EchoUAT latency is the problem and now it's just sniffing the Transponder code faster.

*The Advanced Settings are accessed in the iPhone/iPad app by tapping with two fingers at the very top of the app on the word/logo "Echo". Then when you scroll to the bottom, you'll find just a couple extra options. One of which is Transponder Threshold. This isn't published anywhere, I had to call uAvionix Tech Support to learn how to access that.

Hope this helps someone! I've done it with a few guys locally when I set up their EchoUAT units and haven't had any complaints yet.
 
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