IFD540/MLB100 Data Display

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   My MLB100 was installed yesterday, and I have a grand total of one flight of about 45 minutes with it.  I also sat in the hangar for a while and played with the ADS-B In features. (I can get ADS-B on the ground at my airport. The antenna is 500 feet from my hangar.) 
Based on this not-very-extensive experience, I noted the following:
I can receive and display METARS, TAFS, regional weather radar, and national weather radar on the IFD540.
I CANNOT see TFRs, pireps, special use airspace, winds aloft, and notams. All of these are available through ADS-B on my Foreflight/Stratus system. I can't see traffic either on the Avidyne, but I wasn't expecting it.
I knew that some of the weather products would not be available on the IFD540. These are documented on page 3-21 of the new IFD540 manual. But I was surprised that TFRs are not being displayed yet. I flew right by Oshkosh, where there's a big TFR for next week. It was displayed clearly on Foreflight and on a Garmin 396, but the IFD540/MLB100 had no clue of it.
Another odd thing was the display of METARS. Some were displayed in a decoded format, others were in a single-line undecoded format that didn't fit the width of the screen. You had to scroll back and forth to read them.  KOSH and KGRB were correct; KATW was undecoded. TAFS were garbled a little. Where Foreflight correctly showed a TAF reading "FM161800", the IFD540 dropped the F on several occasions, showing "M161800". 
There was no thunderstorm activity in the regional radar area to display. When I zoomed out to look at US national radar, the IFD540 picture was "scarier" than the Foreflight picture. Areas that were green and yellow in Foreflight looked yellow and red on the Avidyne. And the IFD540 doesn't weave regional and national radar together, like Foreflight does. You have to select one or the other, which is a little awkward.
Does anyone else have any more experience with MLB100 ADS-B weather? I'd like to hear other's impressions of it.
When will Avidyne implement IFD540 TFRs and the rest of the ADS-B weather products?
Mike

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mfb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 20 Dec 2014 Location: KATW Status: Offline Points: 293	Post Options Post Reply Quote mfb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: IFD540/MLB100 Data Display Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 12:07pm
	My MLB100 was installed yesterday, and I have a grand total of one flight of about 45 minutes with it. I also sat in the hangar for a while and played with the ADS-B In features. (I can get ADS-B on the ground at my airport. The antenna is 500 feet from my hangar.) Based on this not-very-extensive experience, I noted the following: I can receive and display METARS, TAFS, regional weather radar, and national weather radar on the IFD540. I CANNOT see TFRs, pireps, special use airspace, winds aloft, and notams. All of these are available through ADS-B on my Foreflight/Stratus system. I can't see traffic either on the Avidyne, but I wasn't expecting it. I knew that some of the weather products would not be available on the IFD540. These are documented on page 3-21 of the new IFD540 manual. But I was surprised that TFRs are not being displayed yet. I flew right by Oshkosh, where there's a big TFR for next week. It was displayed clearly on Foreflight and on a Garmin 396, but the IFD540/MLB100 had no clue of it. Another odd thing was the display of METARS. Some were displayed in a decoded format, others were in a single-line undecoded format that didn't fit the width of the screen. You had to scroll back and forth to read them. KOSH and KGRB were correct; KATW was undecoded. TAFS were garbled a little. Where Foreflight correctly showed a TAF reading "FM161800", the IFD540 dropped the F on several occasions, showing "M161800". There was no thunderstorm activity in the regional radar area to display. When I zoomed out to look at US national radar, the IFD540 picture was "scarier" than the Foreflight picture. Areas that were green and yellow in Foreflight looked yellow and red on the Avidyne. And the IFD540 doesn't weave regional and national radar together, like Foreflight does. You have to select one or the other, which is a little awkward. Does anyone else have any more experience with MLB100 ADS-B weather? I'd like to hear other's impressions of it. When will Avidyne implement IFD540 TFRs and the rest of the ADS-B weather products? Mike

pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 12:25pm
	Thank you for the first-look. I am still on the fence, waiting for the traffic functionality before I pull the trigger. I have XM on Foreflight and am very pleased with the presentation. Of course I still have wires in the cockpit.

MysticCobra Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 29 Jan 2013 Status: Offline Points: 649	Post Options Post Reply Quote MysticCobra Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 1:50pm
	You sure the IFD540 doesn't show any TFRs? There's a difference between not showing any at all, and not showing TFRs that are coming soon but are not yet active.

mfb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 20 Dec 2014 Location: KATW Status: Offline Points: 293	Post Options Post Reply Quote mfb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 3:04pm
	I don't know about "any" TFRs. The TFR over Oshkosh is not active until next week. It showed up on Foreflight, so it was being sent out over the ADS-B system. It showed up on the Garmin 396, which comes from XM. And, interestingly enough, it shows up on the IFD540 iPad simulator, which displays WSI weather. That means that the IFD540 is capable of displaying TFRs (as is documented in the manual). But it doesn't show TFRs from the MLB100. Also, when I went to the AUX -> SYS -> DATALINK page on the IFD540, it clearly showed the time since the latest radar, TAFs, and METARs were received. But there were dashes after the TFR entry. That looks to me like it's not receiving any TFRs. I would say that ADS-B was not transmitting any, but the Foreflight/Stratus system was tuned to the exact same ADS-B tower at the exact same time and it had the OSH TFR. So what's up with that? Mike

AviJake Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815	Post Options Post Reply Quote AviJake Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 5:05pm
	Right, couple points: 1. IFD540 supports more products from GDL69 and MLB700 than it does for MLB100 as of 10.1 2. On the Datalink Status page, dashes ("---") mean the weather product is not supported for that device and ("Not Rcvd") means the weather product is supported but the data hasn't come in yet. 3. A table on page 3-21 of the 540 Pilot Guide talks about the products supported and this webpage (http://www.avidyne.com/products/ifd540/ifd-weather.asp) is kept current for products supported too - the webpage is the easiest/best place to see what products are supported from what device. 4. TFRs, Winds Aloft and Temps Aloft from the MLB100 will be added in the next major software release. 5. We'll keep adding products incrementally with follow-on releases.
	Steve Jacobson sjacobson@avidyne.com

mfb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 20 Dec 2014 Location: KATW Status: Offline Points: 293	Post Options Post Reply Quote mfb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 6:33pm
	Thanks for the clarification. Mike