Recently I discovered the “frequency database” in the Trig radio in the aircraft I am flying these times. Looks like a nice feature to confirm you remembered/copied/dialled in your next frequency correctly.
I created a CSV file with a couple frequencies using this web page: https://www.trig-avionics.com/support/trig-radio-database/ and then tried to upload it to the radio. It just didn’t work. After trying a few different USB sticks I realized the same web page says you are supposed to upload/download the database using the particular USB stick that came with the radio. Well, I do not have it handy, and actually it might be quite difficult to get…
I am ready to give up, since having these station names displayed – or not – will not probably make a big difference to my flying… but I thought maybe it’s just a software requirement and it just suffices to clone the Trig USB stick to any other pendrive (?). Would anyone here owning a TY96 be willing to dump and share a binary 1:1 image of their original, Trig branded stick? This can be done eg. using this Windows program – https://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html – there’s a detailed guide eg. here – https://www.howtogeek.com/446176/how-to-create-an-image-of-your-usb-drive/
Have you tried formatting the stick with a different file system ? Maybe an older variant like FAT16.
Have you tried contacting Trig? Their customer service normally has good reputation
I haven’t tried different file systems yet. Also it could also require a specific “volume name” – and then it might be hard to guess (unless it’s “TRIG”…).
Thanks for your suggestion to contact Trig’s support. That did not occur to me at all! It has been a long time since any “customer service” actually helped me solve my problem, but no reason to overgeneralize… After all, sending an e-mail does not cost much. So I just did that and I will see what happens.
I happen to have one in the drawer. It’s a 4 GB drive formatted with FAT32 filesystem. Volume label is “Trig USB”. I can send an image, too.
Thanks a lot for the PM, I got the image. Will try if it works soon :)
What usefullness do you see to this function ?
I am cautious because when you get to a station that has the same frequency than your base, you miht get confused.
But for our club aircrafts which rarely ventures beyond 50nm from base, it might be good for some ahem, distracted pilots.
I find the memory function very useful in my glider. I think it is a combination of cramped cockpit, panel just a tiny bit too far, flying in bumpy air on purpose, flying close to others.
Don’t forget that besides the USB-loadable database, TY96 and TY91/92 have a serial input supporting the Garmin/Apollo SL40 protocol, which allows a GPS or another device to upload airport identifiers and frequencies dynamically as the flight progresses.
So the radio does not recognize the cloned USB drive. However Trig’s customer support offered to post me a replacement original!
@Jujupilote I think it is only moderately useful. I am not really too upset that I don’t have it working. It is just on my list of things I could improve in the aircraft during the time I can’t do any serious flying anyway (due to Covid restrictions…). There is little (but still some) value added in that it can give me a quick confirmation that the fact no one is answering my calls might (or might not) be due to my error.
I don’t remember exactly, but I think in my 300+ hours of flying I might have messed up the frequency maybe three or five times. Of course one aims to be diligent at all times but in real life it does not take a lot of distraction to set squawk 1255 and 120.505 instead of squawk 1250 and 125.505…
Perhaps about the same number of times my initial call was answered only after half a minute – or upon repeating it. Seems to me sometimes the ground operator must simply be eating their sandwich, not expecting any traffic in his/her sleepy airspace corner…
And obviously you need to use your brains in such situations anyway, no gadget or database can substitute that ;-)
Xtophe wrote:
Have you tried contacting Trig? Their customer service normally has good reputation
I am happy to second this opinion. Indeed I got a prompt reply and they posted me the missing gadget from their service center in the UK to Poland, not even asking about the radio’s S/N or anything else. And they added the newest radio firmware. Actually the parcel – already slightly delayed – reached me more than two weeks ago, but only last Tuesday I was able to test if the USB drive works as expected. All went smooth. I upgraded the firmware and uploaded a test frequency database while warming up the engine.
