SAFA Skysailor Magazine

20 SKY SAILOR July | August 2023 printing. A search of the interweb will reveal a few designs, but I went for this one and local pilot Geoff printed a few for me. Here are my Euro- and Oz-spec units: One trick. The thick part of the printed buttons is about 1-1.5mm too deep – sand them down so that they sit flush with the interior of the printed frame, or you run the risk of breaking the board’s switches (I found this out the hard way and a new Euro-spec board has arrived). The board comes with a small GPS antenna attached to the top of the battery compart- ment with double-sided tape. Relocate this so it is attached to the printed black frame, pointing up, as you integrate the board and assemble the case around it. The board comes with a wifi chip onboard and configuring GxAirCom is achieved by connecting to the hotspot and accessing the interface at 192.168.1.4 in your browser on your mobile phone or device. The instructions are all reasonably clear, if a bit dated. The interface has developed somewhat, and the documentation has not kept pace. Next, you need to pair your phone, tablet or flight instrument with the Bluetooth connec- tion on the board. Once you have done that, configure your flight software to use the BLE connection. The details for that are all in the GxAirCom documentation. Does it work? At this point I have to press the Pause button. There are only a couple of gliders here in Tasmania fitted with FLARM and I need to coordinate with the local club to head to their runway and sit on the side when those aircraft are flying. However, both XC Guide and XC track on my Air3-7.3 are recognising and monitoring both the Euro- and Oz-spec units. The User Guides for both of these applications are well main- tained and the process for pairing and setting up the software is uncomplicated. As soon as I have managed to achieve a test, you’ll have the results. For now, I’m going to go purchase some Velcro and play with cock- pit configurations. Adventures in the land of FLARM Figure 6: FLARM boards – fully enclosed. Red – Euro-spec, Blue – Oz-spec. Note the different antennae