Transponder Not Working
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I have further information regarding the transponder issues with the BAE146.
The BAE146 transponder is not working with the PilotEdge client. It does not squawk mode C. Turning on the transponder in the sim does not activate the Mode C button in the PE client, and clicking on the Mode C button in the client to try to force it on does nothing (it remains "off"). PilotEdge controllers have confirmed they do not see Mode C active regardless of how the transponder is set in the sim.
In my initial message I said the BAE146 did not work with Vatsim. I was mistaken, it does indeed work with with vPilot on Vatsim. (The controller I originally talked about the issue gave me bad information; I talked to another controller last night who helped me confirm it was working.) There is incorrect behavior with the BAE146 transponder in vPilot however: The Mode C button in vPilot is always "on" regardless of how the transponder is set in the sim. If you click on the Mode C button in vPilot it will stay on and is impossible to turn off. So although you can fly on Vatsim successfully, this behavior points to problems with the BAE146's transponder code and is evidence that this is not an issue with the PE client specifically.
I would love it if someone could test the BAE146 on PilotEdge and/or Vatsim (again I'm using vPilot, not sure how other clients would behave) and report your findings back here. You don't need to interact with the controllers, just log into the network (outside an area with ATC coverage is probably best so as not to disturb anyone) and see if the Mode C buttons in either the PilotEdge or vPilot clients behave as I described above.
I was really disappointed that the v1.2 update came out for the BAE146 and the transponder issues were not addressed or even acknowledged.
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@simcaesar they're acknowledged in the MSFS forum topic by @Martyn. They're investigating why it's always set to Mode C for vPilot, I have not heard anyone mention Pilot Edge.
Your best bet when you find actual bugs is to put in a support ticket. The forums are great for getting support from other users, but working with Support is the fastest way to get issues to the dev team.
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@jmarkows said in Transponder Not Working:
@simcaesar they're acknowledged in the MSFS forum topic by @Martyn. They're investigating why it's always set to Mode C for vPilot, I have not heard anyone mention Pilot Edge.
Your best bet when you find actual bugs is to put in a support ticket. The forums are great for getting support from other users, but working with Support is the fastest way to get issues to the dev team.
I did submit a support ticket, but got "I cannot reproduce the problem on Vatsim" as a response and no acknowledgement that the aircraft had even been tested on PilotEdge.
I posted in the forum in addition to submitting a support ticket to get feedback from others in the community in regards to whether they're also having the problem (and if so hopefully JF will take notice) and also in the hope that someone might have a workaround.
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@martyn I believe the cause of the issue is that the
TRANSPONDER STATESimVar is constantly being set to 5, which corresponds to "Ground" mode. It should be set to 3 when on, or 4 when in alt mode. I don't think the PE client understands what state 5 is, so it just assumes the transponder is off. -
@martyn I have some new information regarding the transponder and PIlotEdge and Vatsim.
As it turns out the BAE146 transponder DOES work on PilotEdge as long as you're in the air. It does not work on the ground. As @N293WK said, it is continuously setting the TRANSPONDER STATE SimVar to 5 regardless of the transponder mode selected in the sim. You can get away with this at most airports, but it means that you technically can't fly at airports that require you to squawk mode C on the ground (any class B airport and some class C).
In vPilot on Vatsim the transponder is constantly squawking mode C on the ground regardless of how the transponder is set in the sim. Once the wheels come off the ground at takeoff the transponder then squawks whatever is set in the sim.
So as long as you're in the air, the BAE146 transponder works correctly. On the ground it does not.
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@simcaesar I haven't yet tried it with VATSIM, however I have used Pilot2ATC with it and I do indeed see transponder set to GROUND in that while on the ground.
I see the same with the Aerosoft CRJ though, does that work with Pilot Edge?
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Thanks for the additional information. So there are two issues:
- The ground detection logic in our code prevents you from selecting mode C until you are airborne. That logic was based on some reference material but I can't remember where I found it. In any case, I've now removed that so mode C is available on the ground.
- vPilot is interpreting TRANSPONDER STATE == 5 as being mode C, which is incorrect based on the MSFS SDK which states that is the ground mode. They need to fix that in their code.
