SB3 Xpndr Ident in FSUIPC 3.989 Interim

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

Hello Peter.......

a quick question if i may regarding the Xpndr Ident option now included in the interim release v3.989.

i've installed the new dll and have assigned a button input to the Xpndr Ident option in the dropdown menu.

pressing said button does not action the ident light on the squawkbox on-screen panel.

so, am i right in assuming that FSUIPC changes the value in the offset 'in the background' which SB3 (or SB4

in FSX) reads and then acts upon without flashing the Ident light on it's own panel ?

just wanted to clarify that.

hope you're well and will you be joining us at Lelystad this year?

have a great day ...

regardsian

[Pete Dowson]

i've installed the new dll and have assigned a button input to the Xpndr Ident option in the dropdown menu.

pressing said button does not action the ident light on the squawkbox on-screen panel.

Hi Ian,

I don't use SquawkBox, but it has been tested with Squawkbox 4 and FSX and reported working fine. I've no idea about any Squawkbox panel -- I didn't know it had one. Even if I used SB I certainly wouldn't want any on-screen panels.

so, am i right in assuming that FSUIPC changes the value in the offset 'in the background' which SB3 (or SB4

in FSX) reads and then acts upon without flashing the Ident light on it's own panel ?

In both FSUIPC3 and FSUIPC4 the only thing the new controls do is change the relevant bits in offsets 0x7B91 and 0x7B93, exactly as it says in the Release notes which I repeat here for you:

2. Support for the SquawkBox 3 transponder mode and identify actions has been added via four new assignable controls to operate the 7B91 and 7B93 offsets read by SB3.

Xpndr stby (sb3)

Xpndr on/mode c (sb3)

Xpndr toggle (sb3)

Xpndr ident (sb3)

With SB3 folks have always done this before now by assigning buttons to "Offset Byte Set", to change those offsets. The new controls just make it easier. What happens when the offsets are changed is completely down to SB3 which is reading them. The standby and mode c controls set 1 or 0 to 7B91, the Ident sets 7B93 to 1. SB3 is supposed to clear the latter when done.

With SB4 not interfacing to FSUIPC at all, I implemented a way found by "bojote" (see main Transponder thread here) to watch those offsets and copy the changes to registered SimConnect client data offsets. SB4 then does whatever it is supposed to do, and FSUIPC4 clears 7B93 down again. Really it is only FSUIPC4 which has been enhanced. The additions to FSUIPC3 were really just an implementation of two "Offset Byte Set" controls.

And I'm pretty sure the action of the Indent one is correct. The SB3 manual says:

0x7b93 1 Transponder Ident pressed. When the user presses the ident button on your transponder gauge, you should set this value to 1. When SquawkBox notices it is set to 1, it will transmit an ident on the network and reset the value to 0.

I've no idea what it does to its panel. I've no control over its own graphics at all. Have you tried using Ident via 7B93 or the added control? Doesn't it work?

hope you're well and will you be joining us at Lelystad this year?

I was thinking of giving it a miss this year and perhaps only going every other year. There wasn't a lot different last time from the time before and I found myself at a loose end for much of the time. In fact I found a comfy chair in a less busy part of the museum and had a good kip for some of the time! If the weather had been better on the Sunday I'd have gone up in one of the school's aircraft for an hour. But 50 metres visibility?:-(

Also it is a bit soon after June and I return from a steam trip in Eritrea (though that's yet to be confirmed).

Best Regards

Pete