OK, so where are all the Flybe aircraft ??? (Radarbox nr Exeter, Devon)

[Horsham Spotter]

Hi John
Thank you for the reply.
Looks great but can you view the information whilst viewing the Radar Box.
Asking because I'm tempted in purchasing PP.
Steve.

[AirNav Development]

It seems there is a great debate going on regarding the future of PP: it is maintained by an individual and not a company and although these applications have their advantages (usually being cheaper) there is no guarantee they will continue to be supported and could simply disappear from one the to the other. That appears to be what is happening now.

At least with AirNav you have the guarantee of continuous development and a growing network. Innovation and work will not stop at AirNav Systems.

[AirNav Development]

Adding to the previous post and copied from another message board it is easy to understand how non-professionally maintained addons can be unreliable:

"Bev has posted this on the PP Yahoo Group:
Hi,

Sorry that the sharing system was off for so long. I am currently in a time
zone 10:30 hours ahead of UTC and also, just the last two days, on an offshore
island with no Internet connection (except by driving to a distant hilltop).

Normally, recovery does not require any intervention from me. There is a
watchdog that detects a hiccup in the server and restarts it automatically. On
this occasion, the server was running normally (as you would have found if you
checked the homepage) but the database sub-service had failed so all share
attempts (and registration transactions) provoked an error message. Of course,
that is invisible when it happens in response to a sharing attempt. This
phenomenon has never happened before so it is unrelated to other recent
problems.

In just over a week, I will be back in UTC time zone so if such a thing happens
after that, it will be dealt with more promptly.

Sorry for the inconvenience but remember what it says in the EULA.

Regards
Bev
COAA"

[bratters]

It seems there is a great debate going on regarding the future of PP: it is maintained by an individual and not a company and although these applications have their advantages (usually being cheaper) there is no guarantee they will continue to be supported and could simply disappear from one the to the other. That appears to be what is happening now.

At least with AirNav you have the guarantee of continuous development and a growing network. Innovation and work will stop at AirNav Systems.

You're right in what you say Airnav however PP seems to be currently the only system to offer a solution to plotting the non ADS-B flights.

Now if you're hinting at something in the pipeline..........

[tarbat]

You get a fix within 60 seconds, and then it plots with a moving map in real time

Almost.  My understanding is that you get an MLAT fix every 120 seconds, although the first two fixes occur every 60 seconds.  In between the 120 seconds, Planeplotter attempts to "guess" the position of the aircraft based on current speed and course (if you have Prediction turned on).

Any PP experts correct me if I'm wrong.  And, or course, PP multilateration is only of any use if you have 3-4 Ground Stations near you.  So check the map - Ground Stations are cyan - http://www.coaa.co.uk/pp-user-charts.htm  .  And if the PP server is working ;)

[raflec]

I am totally new to this, but I have subscribed to the 21 day Trial. From the map it looks like MLAT will possibly work, I live in East Yorkshire.
Is their anyway I can check what aircraft I can see with MLAT, without buying first.
Also how much is the subscription to MLAT after the trial.
I ask, because MLAT would be the only reason for buying. I do not think the software is half as good as radarbox.
Thanks
Graham

[Fenris]

It's a little difficult to expect perfection when a given problem has never occurred before like the most recent one, I imagine it will be looked at fairly carefully when Bev is back in Europe.

The two recent outages are the only cases of server problems I know of with PP, and longer term users say much the same.

[cool_1]

A possible hint at something new (with MLAT) in the pipeline from Airnav there ???  ;-)   

Steve ,
Personally I always run both Airnav Radar AND Planeplotter at the same time.
Just make sure you click on the green 'start processing' button, when you open Planeplotter.
 Then you can just switch between windows for different maps and charts.  You could also easily run in dual monitor setup.  Its like having your cake...and the cream...and eating it !   :-)

Graham,
I am still using the free trial at the moment so not 100% sure of the cost. I believe its a one of charge of 12 Euros....
Take a look on the PP website,  it says if you are a licence holder (which means, if youve paid the small one off fee for PP), and you are then happy to continue after the MLAT trial then you may choose to pay a small fee of Euro 12.00. 
So its a no brainer...
To me its not a choice of one over the other, as Planeplotter compliments Radarbox and works alongside it ! 
As to what aircraft can you see before you buy it...well thats what the free trial will hopefully tell you.  I get all sorts from light aircraft, to regional airlines (such as Flybe), many commercial jets which just aren't fitted with ADS-B  (eg Embraer ) to military aircraft.

Incidently the latest version is 5.4.6.2 ,and right now I can see that there are currently over 350 users switched on, using MLAT :

http://coaa.co.uk/ppuserversions.php

Ive not personally noticed any problems with server.

I look forward to future Airnav products, and I will be the first to buy them...however this is the only working MLAT solution I currently know.  Over half my local flights in the South West, are non-ADS-B. 

[AirNav Development]

Who knows what we are reserving for MLAT. :-)

[tarbat]

I believe its a one of charge of 12 Euros....

12euro + 20% VAT = 14.40 per year for multilateration.

To me its not a choice of one over the other, as Planeplotter compliments Radarbox and works alongside it

Agreed.  Although until multilateration came along, I found I wasn't bothering to use Planeplotter, even though I'd paid for it.  And remember, all the network and multilateration features of Planeplotter are only experimental.  Read the COAA disclaimer which they're quick to quote to you if you moan about the server being down again - "The Internet sharing and multilateration features are to be regarded as experimental and may be withdrawn at any time."

If Airnav can develop a better multilateration solution, then I don't think I'd bother with Planeplotter.

[cool_1]

thanks for clarifying the subscription. Seems fantastic value for money.

Here is a Flybe flight I was tracking just a short while ago on the PP Map, Flight BEE805 from Exeter to Edinburgh , Dash 8, reg G-JECP (pic attached).

Without Planeplotter, and MLAT, it would have just been a beep, a line of text...and nothing showing on the map.   

Well. Time to relax with a beer !  Have a good weekend all !

regards,
Jon

[AirNav Development]

What is the accuracy of MLAT (NM) and how often is it updated?

[jannuh]

It seems there is a great debate going on regarding the future of PP: it is maintained by an individual and not a company and although these applications have their advantages (usually being cheaper) there is no guarantee they will continue to be supported and could simply disappear from one the to the other. That appears to be what is happening now.

At least with AirNav you have the guarantee of continuous development and a growing network. Innovation and work will stop at AirNav Systems.

Ahum AirNav, ahum, need I say more?

I would shame myself as writing stuff as a company this way!!
Need I say more?

[jannuh]

What is the accuracy of MLAT (NM) and how often is it updated?

You write this:
At least with AirNav you have the guarantee of continuous development and a growing network. Innovation and work will stop at AirNav Systems.

and asking the above question in public?

ahum, need I say more?

[AirNav Support]

jannuh,

Not really, we constanly get asked questions from some users saying why can't you reduce the cost of the network like.., why can't you implement this etc..

If a addon is being dicussed in this way on our forum we are have the right to state the facts to customers.