It's Official -- I'm ADS-B Compliant!

My friendlies know the struggle to find an ADS-B solution that won't break the bank. When Dick G suggested the uAvionix SkyFX/Echo UAT option it filled the bill perfectly. Dick has a command of electricity that surpasses mine (a low threshold, for sure) and came up with a very neat installation for the GlaStar. We did have to drill one hole in the belly for the "out" antenna, but that's unobtrusive and was accompanied by a soft, thick foil ground plane that was molded to fit the interior fiberglass belly skin and bonded in place.

The trick is to tweak the setup for a particular installation. FAA wants to take a look at every installation from the standpoint of the ground stations that monitor and process all that ADS-B data, so performance tests have to be conducted, either on the ground or in flight. In my case, the first two test flights showed a "baro alt" fault, fortunately the only red-highlighted box on the FAA's ADS-B performance report.

uAvionix has a double secret page on the setup program that has to be accessed when the system is powered up and the operator's tablet computer or phone is logged in via the system wi-fi. In my case, I had to adjust the "Transponder Monitor Threshold" a bit ... kinda like tuning a radio dial in your '57 Chevy. Once tuned, my performance report was clean - no red boxes.

So now I can fly to exotic places with Class B or C airspace with impunity. Just because I can.

Meanwhile ... half the runway is submerged after 5+" of rain in the last couple of days. Into every life, etc etc etc