Mode S "N" number not pinging. Says I'm Russian?

[Rdone]

Hopefully someone has some guidance for me on this one. Did my transponder and static test today. Everything went perfect until the end when he pinged my transponder. Under the ADS-B information my tail number came up fine but on the Mode-S he tells me it is showing an "RA?? with Country-Russian Federation" instead of my tail number. We spent an hour resetting, changing tail numbers, etc. Even with another known good N number for a different plane we still received the RA readout.

After inputting my N number it does auto fill the Hex code on the next line which matches the faa info for the plane.

The other strange thing that happened was i started receiving a transponder warning about "low power" however the tester said we were passing the test and believed the issue was our ex-military transponder antenna causing the problem.

Any ideas?

 

[Rdone]

Forgot to add two Skyview SV700's and SV-XPNDR-261 transponder.

 

[RVDan]

Hex code for your registration set wrong?

 

[Rdone]

I don't think that's it. We've triple checked it. When you input just the N number it auto fills with the correct hex code that matches the FAA site. The ads-b pings it correctly. It's just the mode s that says we are a Russian Federation aircraft.

The Dynon tech guys were great today but they've never heard of a such a problem and were at a loss as well.

 

[skysailor]

You might want to try putting your N number in the "Tail" field. You have it in the "Flight ID" but not in tail. On some of the test sets, Flight ID is a callsign which can change whereas the tail number does not. Pretty simple to give it a try.

 

[Rdone]

I'm not sure I'm following you. On the picture above that is the test receiver which is "pinging" my aircraft to identify me like a controller would (if I understand it correctly). Basically he is interrogating my aircraft so i should be transmitting my tail number to him so he knows I'm friendly and not a foreign invader.

 

[RVDan]

Flight ID is a separate piece of data than the registration (tail number). For example the airlines use their call and flight number rather the tail number with ATC, but the aircraft tail number is still sent out. For example N11US might have a flight ID of 531 which is the flight number. I think you may be correct that Dynon treats flight ID as locked to the registration entered in the HEX field. Did you check your hex with the FAA registration database, which shows hex as A02F90. On the IFR6000, you are not showing a proper tail number in the tail number field.

 

[Rdone]

Flight ID is a separate piece of data than the registration (tail number). For example the airlines use their call and flight number rather the tail number with ATC, but the aircraft tail number is still sent out. For example N11US might have a flight ID of 531 which is the flight number. I think you may be correct that Dynon treats flight ID as locked to the registration entered in the HEX field. Did you check your hex with the FAA registration database, which shows hex as A02F90. On the IFR6000, you are not showing a proper tail number in the tail number field.

This makes perfect sense. I can't find any other place in the Dynon set up to program the tail number other then under transponder set up.

On his test machine (IFR6000) my flight ID is showing my correct tail number of N1107R. On the FAA site that corresponds to HEX A02F90. This is the same info I have entered under the. 'transponder set up'-'tail number'. Why my tail number is not showing up on his IFR6000 is the mystery.

 

[RV8JD]

This makes perfect sense. I can't find any other place in the Dynon set up to program the tail number other then under transponder set up.

On his test machine (IFR6000) my flight ID is showing my correct tail number of N1107R. On the FAA site that corresponds to HEX A02F90. This is the same info I have entered under the. 'transponder set up'-'tail number'. Why my tail number is not showing up on his IFR6000 is the mystery.

So in the Dynon Transponder setup, your N-number shows up in the "Tail Number" field, and the Hex code in the "Transponder Hex Code" field, like the pic below?

You may also want to check the Tail Number (aka N-number) you have put in on the Aircraft Information Page (SETUP MENU > SYSTEM SETUP > AIRCRAFT INFORMATION).

 

[Rdone]

Yes it is however I'm noticing your's is not grey out like mine. Not sure why that is??

The N number is in the 'aircraft information field'

 

[Rdone]

No I'm talking about the whole line is grey like mine is...usually indicating it isn't clickable. The Hex code line.

 

[RV8JD]

The fact that your Transponder Hex code line is grey is interesting and may be a clue. I have no idea what it may mean though.

 

[RVDan]

I did some research in the IFR 6000 manual. In your photo of the IFR6000, the AA value (shown as 17F9E0) is the decoded hex value. This is the hex value your transponder is transmitting. If that is not what is set in the transponder, then something is wrong with the transponder setup or transponder itself.

 

[GalinHdz]

I did some research in the IFR 6000 manual. In your photo of the IFR6000, the AA value (shown as 17F9E0) is the decoded hex value. This is the hex value your transponder is transmitting. If that is not what is set in the transponder, then something is wrong with the transponder setup or transponder itself.

The actual HEX code for N1107R is A02F90 with an OCTAL code of 50027620 so something is definitely wrong with the setup. Try erasing the FLIGHT ID you currently have in your setup and enter HEX Code A02F90 to see if that works.

 

[Rdone]

I did some research in the IFR 6000 manual. In your photo of the IFR6000, the AA value (shown as 17F9E0) is the decoded hex value. This is the hex value your transponder is transmitting. If that is not what is set in the transponder, then something is wrong with the transponder setup or transponder itself.

This is very interesting. I hadn't noticed that the AA had that number, 17F9EO. What is interesting about that hex code is it was previously showing in the transponder hex code line before we started setting everything for this aircraft.

This plane is a project we purchased from an estate with all new Dynon equipment installed. I don't know how that hex code was populated in the efis but apparently it is still transmitting it even through we have now changed it. So now it seems it is just a matter of finding a way to get the transponder to forget that number.

Thank you! Very helpful.

 

[Raymo]

Older versions of the Skyview software required manual input (or was it sometimes incorrectly calculated?) of the HEX code. You have to remove and re-enter the N number to correct it, I believe.

Also, make sure the XPNDR is in TEST mode during the check.

 

[Rdone]

Yes we have tried deleting everything, restarting the efis and then entering it. When we input the tail number it auto fills with the new hex code.

 

[GalinHdz]

Yes we have tried deleting everything, restarting the efis and then entering it. When we input the tail number it auto fills with the new hex code.

New HEX code as in A02F90?

 

[RVDan]

Maybe try updating the Skyview SW and, the transponder SW. these are done separately. Something might be out of synch.

 

[Rdone]

New HEX code as in A02F90?

Yes, correct. This is the correct hex for our N number according to the FAA.