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Question on Weather Radar and the Yellow "Blob"


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Hello Gang!

I have a question on weather radar usage.

I have thoroughly read the instructions on how to properly use the weather radar on the A318/319/320/321 and have even looked at the tutorial videos on YouTube on how to properly use this tool but I am still running into trouble. I use ASN as my weather engine. For some reason every time I turn on my weather radar (with notable weather in the area) all I get is a yellow brick/blob in the displays. I do turn the ND brightness knob all the way to the right to ensure weather radar info is visible in the ND and I also turn the SYS switch to the number 1 position. I set the GAIN knob to the CAL position which is the recommended setting. I also set the GCS and multiscan switches to AUTO. Has anyone experienced this issue before? Anyone that can shed light as to whether I am missing a step somewhere or doing something wrong?

Thanks a bunch!

Dennis

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Hello Henry and greetings.

I got around to taking a screenshot - here it goes. I does not matter what I do, whenever I turn on the weather radar with the conditions specified above, the "Yellow Blob" turns up. I have yet to see weather depicted in my display the way it should look. Any help is appreciated.

Cheers.

Dennis

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  • Aerosoft

And in fact it can only scan the weather that is actually visible. So weather that is under the horizon is invisible.

It looks like your image shows ground clutter and not rain however. It's like what shows during a ground test, with the beam fully downwards.

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Hello Henry and greetings.

I got around to taking a screenshot - here it goes. I does not matter what I do, whenever I turn on the weather radar with the conditions specified above, the "Yellow Blob" turns up. I have yet to see weather depicted in my display the way it should look. Any help is appreciated.

Cheers.

Dennis

post-22186-0-05336900-1420394332_thumb.j

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Hello guys and Thank you so much for your quick replies.

Now I'm confused. Are you guys saying that:

1. I am scanning weather backwards instead of forward? I was not aware I was doing that - I assumed the weather radar would always look forward either up, down, or straight forward. How can I fix this then? Is it a setting in the weather area?

2. Should my ND be set to a distance higher than 10nm? I usually select 10nm for approaches to ensure I can read waypoint and traffic info displayed in the ND on final.

3. If the weather radar is stuck in the "test" mode, then how do I exit test mode and put it in active mode?

Thanks again for your help!

Dennis

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Hello Mathijs. Thanks for your reply!

I will not be able to post that shot until Friday as I am in Miami in a business trip at this moment, however, here are my weather switches settings:

Weather engine - ASN

ND brightness knob all the way to the right to ensure weather radar info is visible in the ND.

SYS switch to the number 1 position.

I set the GAIN knob to the CAL position which is the recommended setting.

I also set the GCS and multiscan switches both to AUTO.

TERR on ND button turned off.

MODE button is currently unusable - unless I'm experiencing an issue and not know it.

Hope this helps!

Thanks again - Dennis

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My understanding (somewhere from the tutorials) was that on decent you should set it on about -1.5, please correct me if I'm wrong.

-15 looks way too low.

I'm curious now.

Thanks,

Sabre10.

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

In auto mode the tilt knob does not do anything in RL. It would be nice of Dennis to report back with his findings.

And Sabre10, -1.5 would be a good setting in manual mode when starting a descent yes.

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Thanks, The Dude, I'll try in manual next time. I've seen some discrepancies already when tilting the radar in auto mode. I'll try manual next time. I understand this applies both to takeoff and climb (+4,5) and decent (-1,5), these both on manual?

Thanks,

Sabre10.

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Please do not hijack the thread Sabre10. If you have a problem start your own thread.

I have no problem, Frank. The subject of the thread is in direct connection to the tilting methods of the wx radar if you haven't noticed yet. I'm just sharing what I picked up from the tutorials.

Sabre10.

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

My understanding is:

-post nr 01 talks about auto mode

-post nr 10 shows the WXR in auto mode

So the problem of this thread is with multiscan auto mode and not manual mode.

If the WXR is in multiscan auto mode the tilt knob is inhibited. So manual tilting is not part of the topic. ;)

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

That is me as a support person seeing something unusual in the supplied picture that could or could not have something to do with the posters problem.

We have to rule out possible internal bugs and this is one of those cases where I would like to know if the problem still persists if the tilt is set to zero.

It's called trouble shooting.

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Hey Gang Dennis here.

I am back from a week long business trip and will get a chance to test the recommendation between today and tomorrow. I will re-test and post my findings. Thanks for keeping the conversation alive.

Cheers.

Dennis

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

But also be aware, that the radar only shows precipitation. If there is none it will show nothing, but maybe ground clutter.

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