Squawkbox and Transponder and FSUIPC

[compuzed]

I seem to be missing something here in all these posts. I have a T8 and a P8 from Goflight; and I want to assign the MODE C and STBY toggles to the T8 switch ( offset 7b91 ? ) and then when necessary to SQk IDENT ( offset 7b93 ?) assign that to my P8.

I think I have done this correctly, but the ATC on Vatsim says that they are not seeing the indications at all. And, it seems there is no way to verify that the info is ever leaving my sim. I am running SQB3 on a second computer, Main FS on Computer 1, and using FSUIPC ver 3.75 ( FS2004) and wideFS latest version.

Questions. for the T8 toggle, does the switch toggle the bit every up and down? or does it require a complete cycle of toggles ( up and down) to complete the bit flip? I noticed that FSUIPC only picks up one single throw of the switch, the downward movement is not picked up...... :(

Please post detailed instructions on how to do this, for both the T8 and P8.

thanks

signed, Anxiously awaiting instructions.

Rick

[Pete Dowson]

I seem to be missing something here in all these posts. I have a T8 and a P8 from Goflight; and I want to assign the MODE C and STBY toggles to the T8 switch ( offset 7b91 ? ) and then when necessary to SQk IDENT ( offset 7b93 ?) assign that to my P8.

This is really a question for the Squawkbox folks. Those offsets are not known or understood by FSUIPC itself, but allocated to Squawkbox for their use as they wish.

I think I have done this correctly, but the ATC on Vatsim says that they are not seeing the indications at all. And, it seems there is no way to verify that the info is ever leaving my sim.

There is. Use the FSUIPC Logging facilities, or easier still Monitor the offsets on the FS screen in real time, to see them change. The monitor is on the right-hand side in the FSUIPC Logging page.

Questions. for the T8 toggle, does the switch toggle the bit every up and down? or does it require a complete cycle of toggles ( up and down) to complete the bit flip?

Only if you've programmed it that way. If you take a look at the button assignments screen (or the picture of it in the manual) you will see that there's a place where you can specify what you want to happen when a button is "pressed" and another for when it is "released". As it carefully explains in the manual, for a toggle, switching from "off" to "on" is the same as a "press", and from "on" to "off" is a release. If you think about it a little you will see this is pretty obvious and makes sense.

I noticed that FSUIPC only picks up one single throw of the switch, the downward movement is not picked up...... :(

No, that just is not true. It will act on either change, depending on how you programmed it. The Buttons page, where you program it, only operates on the "Press" or "off to on", otherwise it would flip a bit with momentary buttons -- that is why there's a place to program both press and release at the same time.

Please post detailed instructions on how to do this, for both the T8 and P8.

The manual goes into button programming in a lot of detail. I cannot program things I don't know about, like Squawkbox. If you want to show me what you've done and what you are trying to do I can possibly tell you where you've gone wrong, but as I said at the start, your correct port of call is Squawkbox support as they know their software.

Regards

Pete

[compuzed]

Ok. It seems as though I was on the right track....UP for mode c, DOWN for standby, and then my P8 to IDENT....

I think I have it working, I did some tests with CYYZ tower, ( sometimes they are just too darn busy... :) )

I will use the logging screen as you suggested.

thanks a bunch

R

[compuzed]

OK !! I got it. at least as far as the logging is telling me. Instead of using the togglebits function, I figured why not directly write the bit in?

so here it is

1 T8 switch ( down position ) is set to:

[when button is pressed] = Offset Byte Set x7b91 x01 therefore "UP" = Mode C

[when button is released] = Offset Byte Set x7b91 x00 therefore "DOWN" = Standby

1 P8 button is set to :

[when button is pressed] = Offset Byte Set x7b93 x01 therefore when button is pushed generates an IDENT

box is also checked to "Conrol to repeat when held"

[when button is released] = Offset Byte Set x7b93 x00 therefore when the button is released, the IDENT is cleared.

That should have it.

R

[Pete Dowson]

OK !! I got it. at least as far as the logging is telling me. Instead of using the togglebits function, I figured why not directly write the bit in?

Yes. "Toggle" actions are less predictable, as the result depends on what went on before, so if you restart a flight or something the switch is then reversed. This is a problem with many of the FS controls which often don't have "on"/"off" counterparts, just "toggle".

As a better example in FS, consider the Gear switch. In FS you use "G" which operates GEAR TOGGLE. It goes UP if DOWN and vice versa. If you only have a momentary button, that's what you use because you have no choice. But if you have a latching switch (i.e. a toggle switch as on the T8), you'd use the Gear Down and Gear Up controls instead. Such a choice isn't always there -- though in many cases you use use FSUIPC offsets instead.

This principle applies to switches controlled by bits or values in FSUIPC Offsets just as it does to FS controls.

Anyway, glad you got it all sussed!

Regards

Pete