Issues and suggestions from a 5 week 74hr adventure
Posted: 14 Jul 2022, 02:59I just flew ~74hr over 5 weeks discovering much of Australia. I used FiF as my primary navigation device.
It is a great product and beats anything else available here on Android devices, especially since i can add my own maps and documents.
Unfortunately, I came across a few issues and have some suggestions to make it even better:-
1) The Airspaces (from Information) by default only show 2 airspaces/pattersn for Australia, although the map view shows most of the class c/d airspaces and restricted zones.
It used to show many more, but don't remember exactly when they all disappeared.
I found a source for these and extras can import them and use them (Attached document)
but,
a) new download removes or hides all imported airspaces, even thought the import count increases significantly (more than 2) when importing
b) doing an index rebuild removes or hides all imported airspaces
c) once imported, I then have many duplicates airspaces over the same area, as if the hidden/missing ones are restored and there is no duplicate checking
2) ETA (local time) seems to be based on timezone of first waypoint or start of trip, and not the timezone of the target waypoint.
a) Changing the timezone of the phone (either while running, or between stop and restart of FiF) doesn't effect ETA, or the times it has for active route
b) going into settings, which causes restart of app does effect and update times shown in FiF
3) On my Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, the vertical view doesn't always refresh when zooming out
This doesn't seem to be an issue on my Google Pixel 4XL phone
a) doesn't matter whether I 2 finger pinch or use the +/- buttons issue still occurs
b) zooming out from 10 to 15nm or 15-25nm vertical becomes grey
zooming out to 40nm restores it, then zooming in to 25 or 15, it remains correct
issue only on zoom out
4) On the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, the auto route switching does not work at all.
This is regardless of the settings I have tried.
It seems to work on my Pixel phone though.
5) I am using a Skyecho 2, which includes barometric altitude as a GDL90 device, as well as my own lat/long/elevation
a) Adding Barametric Altitude to the Value windows remains empty on the Tablet (it doesn't have a builtin barometric sensor)
Would be great if it did
b) the GDL90 options screen doesn't include "barometric altitude" as an option, even though it can be a bluetooth option
c) I'm not sure whether FiF is using thr Skyecho for GPS or the inbuilt.
I occasionally get "Lost GPS Signal" warnings (which goes away after ~5sec), which i used to get prior to the SkyEcho2. I was hoping this would completely disappear now I have the SKyEcho.
I have GPS selected in the GDL90 options
I also noted the GPS position/altitude shown in FiF didn't match the values shown on the SkyEcho 2 home page, thus the assumption it was not being used.
d) But if GPS is selected in the GDL90 and its not connected, it doesn't fall back to internal GPS either. I have to turn off the GDL90 GPS to use the internal GPS.
5) Selecting a NAV2 from the INFO dialog box for an airport starts a NAV2, but the Stop NAV2 button in Navigate dialog was not being enabled.
a) If I used nearest, or search and long press/nav2 then stop nav2 was enabled and I could stop it.
b) after turning off NAV2, it would be occasionally redrawn (once every 30sec to a minute), then immediately removed again.
exiting and restarting FiF resolved this issue
c) Recent playing has found this maybe related to the type of Nav Item.
Selecting a APT with ICAO code and name, NAV2 stop is enabled.
Selecting an APT without ICAO or name, NAV2 stop is NOT enabled.
(EG Bakblok Station - Yass) in Y Australia
6) Request: It would be really fantastic, if the Z ordering of the elements drawn on the screen was updated or configurable.
With Airspaces, NDB, Runways, APT, Other aircraft, routes, navs, tracks etc all being drawn on the screen, it can get cluttered and difficult to read.
It also makes it tricky when trying to select an item to view in an info dialog.
My biggest issues are:
trying to read the runway names (on the end of the runways), when they are overwritten with routes, navs or apt names.
trying to select the APT to see its INFO dialog, to check elevation/radio rwy etc
I have previously asked for a user suggestion, where the INFO dialog has << and >> in the title, allowing you to scroll between all items that where under your finger press.
7) Request: "VS to next WPT" Value for Values window
This is a feature my Garmin GPS has that i really like, and tells me what rate of descent i need to comfortably descend to land
Having this also allow for for circuit height at target APT a bonus.
Happy to supply settings/routes or other details to assist in debugging and fixing the issues
It is a great product and beats anything else available here on Android devices, especially since i can add my own maps and documents.
Unfortunately, I came across a few issues and have some suggestions to make it even better:-
1) The Airspaces (from Information) by default only show 2 airspaces/pattersn for Australia, although the map view shows most of the class c/d airspaces and restricted zones.
It used to show many more, but don't remember exactly when they all disappeared.
I found a source for these and extras can import them and use them (Attached document)
but,
a) new download removes or hides all imported airspaces, even thought the import count increases significantly (more than 2) when importing
b) doing an index rebuild removes or hides all imported airspaces
c) once imported, I then have many duplicates airspaces over the same area, as if the hidden/missing ones are restored and there is no duplicate checking
2) ETA (local time) seems to be based on timezone of first waypoint or start of trip, and not the timezone of the target waypoint.
a) Changing the timezone of the phone (either while running, or between stop and restart of FiF) doesn't effect ETA, or the times it has for active route
b) going into settings, which causes restart of app does effect and update times shown in FiF
3) On my Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, the vertical view doesn't always refresh when zooming out
This doesn't seem to be an issue on my Google Pixel 4XL phone
a) doesn't matter whether I 2 finger pinch or use the +/- buttons issue still occurs
b) zooming out from 10 to 15nm or 15-25nm vertical becomes grey
zooming out to 40nm restores it, then zooming in to 25 or 15, it remains correct
issue only on zoom out
4) On the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, the auto route switching does not work at all.
This is regardless of the settings I have tried.
It seems to work on my Pixel phone though.
5) I am using a Skyecho 2, which includes barometric altitude as a GDL90 device, as well as my own lat/long/elevation
a) Adding Barametric Altitude to the Value windows remains empty on the Tablet (it doesn't have a builtin barometric sensor)
Would be great if it did
b) the GDL90 options screen doesn't include "barometric altitude" as an option, even though it can be a bluetooth option
c) I'm not sure whether FiF is using thr Skyecho for GPS or the inbuilt.
I occasionally get "Lost GPS Signal" warnings (which goes away after ~5sec), which i used to get prior to the SkyEcho2. I was hoping this would completely disappear now I have the SKyEcho.
I have GPS selected in the GDL90 options
I also noted the GPS position/altitude shown in FiF didn't match the values shown on the SkyEcho 2 home page, thus the assumption it was not being used.
d) But if GPS is selected in the GDL90 and its not connected, it doesn't fall back to internal GPS either. I have to turn off the GDL90 GPS to use the internal GPS.
5) Selecting a NAV2 from the INFO dialog box for an airport starts a NAV2, but the Stop NAV2 button in Navigate dialog was not being enabled.
a) If I used nearest, or search and long press/nav2 then stop nav2 was enabled and I could stop it.
b) after turning off NAV2, it would be occasionally redrawn (once every 30sec to a minute), then immediately removed again.
exiting and restarting FiF resolved this issue
c) Recent playing has found this maybe related to the type of Nav Item.
Selecting a APT with ICAO code and name, NAV2 stop is enabled.
Selecting an APT without ICAO or name, NAV2 stop is NOT enabled.
(EG Bakblok Station - Yass) in Y Australia
6) Request: It would be really fantastic, if the Z ordering of the elements drawn on the screen was updated or configurable.
With Airspaces, NDB, Runways, APT, Other aircraft, routes, navs, tracks etc all being drawn on the screen, it can get cluttered and difficult to read.
It also makes it tricky when trying to select an item to view in an info dialog.
My biggest issues are:
trying to read the runway names (on the end of the runways), when they are overwritten with routes, navs or apt names.
trying to select the APT to see its INFO dialog, to check elevation/radio rwy etc
I have previously asked for a user suggestion, where the INFO dialog has << and >> in the title, allowing you to scroll between all items that where under your finger press.
7) Request: "VS to next WPT" Value for Values window
This is a feature my Garmin GPS has that i really like, and tells me what rate of descent i need to comfortably descend to land
Having this also allow for for circuit height at target APT a bonus.
Happy to supply settings/routes or other details to assist in debugging and fixing the issues