Featherweight Tracker Update - Build 130+

[kjs]

Sorry for the lack of clarity, no firmware updates for 158 or 160. It has been reported that if you have the latest iOS build, that the voice selections go away... Feedback is that there still is a voice, but that you can't pick from the variety. I have not updated (I'm still at 13.3.1) and still show all voice choices... I guess I'll try an update of iOS - now - while camping - over cellular - and see how it goes.. :-D

.... [27 minutes remaining... forgot to say - I do have a cellular modem, with dual antenna inputs, and am close to Tucson, and am in a camper on 'shore' power, with four computers (two work and two personal), and two monitors... but only getting about 10Mbps download... oh, now 44 minutes remaining... :-( ]

 

[Rocket86]

I am at 14.1 and the voice options are gone. Shame to mess up a camping trip with this though. Sorry about that.

 

[kjs]

I am at 14.1 and the voice options are gone. Shame to mess up a camping trip with this though. Sorry about that.

I'm still waiting for my 14.2 update to finish...

 

[manixFan]

Updated to 14.2, voice options show up, but when I choose 'Voice Sample', I don't get any feedback.


Tony

 

[Rocket86]

I just went to 14.2 and voice options are back and the samples work.

 

[kjs]

Updated to 14.2, voice options show up, but when I choose 'Voice Sample', I don't get any feedback.

Tony - is your mute switch on? That sounds like the mute switch behavior... Oh, and that 'Voice Sample' is a label, not a button. To test the voices, spin the picker wheel and select one. It should also do the voice when you first go to the 'Settings' page (unless the mute switch is on).

I just went to 14.2 and voice options are back and the samples work.

My update went straight to 14.2 (sorry - I fell asleep last night waiting...) but can confirm I still have voice selections.

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

After updating to 14.2 my voice selection wheel came back....flying today so will let you know if anything crashes

 

[manixFan]

Tony - is your mute switch on? That sounds like the mute switch behavior... Oh, and that 'Voice Sample' is a label, not a button. To test the voices, spin the picker wheel and select one. It should also do the voice when you first go to the 'Settings' page (unless the mute switch is on).



My update went straight to 14.2 (sorry - I fell asleep last night waiting...) but can confirm I still have voice selections.

Do'h! Yes, my mute switch was on! It's hard to find good beta testers!

Thanks,


Tony

 

[Jay Dub 4009]

Had three flights today.....one small issue. Just prior to flight I checked the GPS page to verify all is well, and it showed both good BT and LORA signals. Switch to track page briefly, and back to GPS to keep an eye on battery while I am waiting for my rocket to go. When I would do this, the GS would show comm loss and take roughly 10 seconds to recover. After take off, it never lost signal and gave me good flights and data each time, so i don't think it was actually losing BT to the GS. Funky but still works great....Love the system.

 

[Voyager1]

I just went to 14.2 and voice options are back and the samples work.

Same for me. I had lost the voice option, but installing iOS 14.2 fixed it.

 

[BDB]

Do'h! Yes, my mute switch was on! It's hard to find good beta testers!

Thanks,


Tony

I've done the exact same thing.

We flew the featherweight in my daughter's Asprie again this weekend. The motor ejected at apogee, so it drifted for ~1 mile. We would have never found it without the tracker, and we wouldn't have recovered it from the tree without a telescoping pole.

 

[T34zac]

I've done the exact same thing.

We flew the featherweight in my daughter's Asprie again this weekend. The motor ejected at apogee, so it drifted for ~1 mile. We would have never found it without the tracker, and we wouldn't have recovered it from the tree without a telescoping pole.

View attachment 437757

Great flight too! Glad we were able to get it out of that tree!

I flew my GPS for the first time on saturday. Straight boost up to about 2,130 feet. GPS walked me right up to the rocket that was also stuck in a tree.

 

[BDB]

Great flight too! Glad we were able to get it out of that tree!

I flew my GPS for the first time on saturday. Straight boost up to about 2,130 feet. GPS walked me right up to the rocket that was also stuck in a tree.

Yea. Thanks for the help.

(The two of us had to climb the tree and then use the 30’ pole. But the was no way I was leaving the tracker in the tree.)

 

[micro]

Why can't you publish a known working version of the software and give users the OPTION to upgrade? I just turned mine on to make sure everything is working and charged up before a launch this weekend and my app said it had expired so I was forced to update it. Then it forced me to update the firmware of all my devices before I could use them, I didn't have a choice. Do I own these or am I leasing them?

Now they're even more wonky then ever and I have no faith they will work this weekend. It was permanently stuck on tracker 1 (kept blinking its name and 88 days on the screen even though I clearly had tracker 2 selected on the screen. Flipping back to the device list and back to the track screen didn't help as it had in the past. I gave it about 15 minutes to try to figure itself out. Restarting them all didn't help. Finally it brought up tracker 2 once I got back in Bluetooth range.

 

[Buckeye]

Why can't you publish a known working version of the software and give users the OPTION to upgrade? I just turned mine on to make sure everything is working and charged up before a launch this weekend and my app said it had expired so I was forced to update it. Then it forced me to update the firmware of all my devices before I could use them, I didn't have a choice. Do I own these or am I leasing them?

Now they're even more wonky then ever and I have no faith they will work this weekend. It was permanently stuck on tracker 1 (kept blinking its name and 88 days on the screen even though I clearly had tracker 2 selected on the screen. Flipping back to the device list and back to the track screen didn't help as it had in the past. I gave it about 15 minutes to try to figure itself out. Restarting them all didn't help. Finally it brought up tracker 2 once I got back in Bluetooth range.

I have not had all these troubles, but I do kinda agree with the sentiment as I mentioned here.

The app has been in Test Pilot development for years, and one must keep track of this thread to really know the bugs and issues. When can we see a stable version published to the app store where the user can manage versions?

 

[kjs]

Why can't you publish a known working version of the software and give users the OPTION to upgrade? I just turned mine on to make sure everything is working and charged up before a launch this weekend and my app said it had expired so I was forced to update it. Then it forced me to update the firmware of all my devices before I could use them, I didn't have a choice. Do I own these or am I leasing them?

Now they're even more wonky then ever and I have no faith they will work this weekend. It was permanently stuck on tracker 1 (kept blinking its name and 88 days on the screen even though I clearly had tracker 2 selected on the screen. Flipping back to the device list and back to the track screen didn't help as it had in the past. I gave it about 15 minutes to try to figure itself out. Restarting them all didn't help. Finally it brought up tracker 2 once I got back in Bluetooth range.

My apologies if the upgrade experience didn't go well. Let me know if you are still having issues. The flashing and 88 days meant it was 88 days since it last had a good fix/location from the device. So it might have been talking fine to the device over the radio, but if the device was inside and had no good view of the sky, it still was 88 days since it last knew a good location.

I have not had all these troubles, but I do kinda agree with the sentiment as I mentioned here.

The app has been in Test Pilot development for years, and one must keep track of this thread to really know the bugs and issues. When can we see a stable version published to the app store where the user can manage versions?

Let me think about how to pursue an official release. I have avoided it as it involved some quantity of a) "submit to Apple" b) "they say what isn't right" and 'repeat'.

Having said that, the firmware updates for versions are intended to keep the 'community' of trackers on the same page. One past firmware update updated them to be FCC compliant. Another updated allowed them to communicate with each other for frequency coordination (still to be totally leveraged). Some of these updates are not backward compatible, so all your units need to be on the same version. If you bought a new unit to add to your collection and it had newer firmware already installed, would you want to update the phone app and your other units and/or downgrade the firmware?

Not trying to make excuses, just explaining the complexity of adding features and keeping things compatible across all the devices as the features expand....

Thanks!

 

[micro]

My apologies if the upgrade experience didn't go well. Let me know if you are still having issues. The flashing and 88 days meant it was 88 days since it last had a good fix/location from the device. So it might have been talking fine to the device over the radio, but if the device was inside and had no good view of the sky, it still was 88 days since it last knew a good location.

No, I know what 88 days means. That's another tracker (#1) let's say, I didn't even have that one powered up yet. It kept blinking on the screen while I was trying to connect to a different tracker (#2) with a different name on a different frequency. Remember the whole lie about tracking multiple units with one ground station... Even with one powered off it still can't figure itself out.

 

[micro]

Delete

 

[Crazyrocket]

Just got my Featherweight GPS and tried to install the FIP app (Version 1.0, Build 161) onto my iphone. I get an error "unable to Install FIP. Try again later." Anyone else having this issue?

 

[kjs]

Just got my Featherweight GPS and tried to install the FIP app (Version 1.0, Build 161) onto my iphone. I get an error "unable to Install FIP. Try again later." Anyone else having this issue?

That seems to be an Apple store thing sometimes. I have had it with other apps too. Email me if you still have issues by tomorrow.

 

[Crazyrocket]

I finally got it to work. Thanks!

 

[manixFan]

Just got my Featherweight GPS and tried to install the FIP app (Version 1.0, Build 161) onto my iphone. I get an error "unable to Install FIP. Try again later." Anyone else having this issue?

Apple was having all kinds of problems with their servers yesterday, not long after Youtube went down globally. Hmm.


Tony

 

[firemanup]

Anyone using the app/tracker with an iphone 12?

My phone is ready to upgrade and im about to purchase my first iPhone solely because of this tracker, just don’t know if there would be any reason to go with the 11 vs the 12 in reference to how the tracker would work.

 

[ChicagoDave]

Anyone using the app/tracker with an iphone 12?

My phone is ready to upgrade and im about to purchase my first iPhone solely because of this tracker, just don’t know if there would be any reason to go with the 11 vs the 12 in reference to how the tracker would work.

I just upgraded to the iPhone 12 (non-pro version) and it worked great with iFIP and the Featherweight. I don't know the difference between the 11 and 12. I upgrade form an XS and I'm really happy with the 12. Happy enough that I got my girlfriend one too.

If you're just going to use the phone for the tracker only I'd look into a refurbished one or maybe one from a pre-paid plan (which are often referbs). In fact if next time your at a QCRC launch I can bring my old XS and let you try it

~Dave~

 

[Adrian A]

Anyone using the app/tracker with an iphone 12?

My phone is ready to upgrade and im about to purchase my first iPhone solely because of this tracker, just don’t know if there would be any reason to go with the 11 vs the 12 in reference to how the tracker would work.

I just upgraded to the iPhone 12 (non-pro version) and it worked great with iFIP and the Featherweight. I don't know the difference between the 11 and 12. I upgrade form an XS and I'm really happy with the 12. Happy enough that I got my girlfriend one too.

Glad to hear it. You may be the first one who has used the FIP with the new iPhone 12.

If you're just going to use the phone for the tracker only I'd look into a refurbished one or maybe one from a pre-paid plan (which are often referbs). In fact if next time your at a QCRC launch I can bring my old XS and let you try it

~Dave~

For people who don't use iPhones as their primary phone, please note that a used iPhone will work fine for the Featherweight GPS Tracker without any data plan at all. Just download the software at home over WiFi, and then you don't need any internet or phone connection after that. A used iPhone 5s currently goes for about $60-$80 on eBay, and iPhone 6 is a little under $100 and has a larger display. That's probably the current best value for a cheap phone dedicated to Featherweight GPS tracking, but later models will have fresher batteries and will be compatible with more recent OS.

 

[Crazyrocket]

I have an iphone 6S from my daughter when I upgrader her to an XR. I'm willing to sell it. It is great shape, screen is not cracked and battery was replaced about a year ago. 32GB phone. PM me if your interested.

FIP work fine on the iphone 12. I've had no issues at all at this point.

 

[firemanup]

Has anybody tried this on an ipod?

Also can i have my ground station and tracker setup on multiple devices? Phone/ipad/ipod?

 

[Adrian A]

Has anybody tried this on an ipod?

Also can i have my ground station and tracker setup on multiple devices? Phone/ipad/ipod?

Yes, you can use an iPad. You can also set up multiple iOS devices to work with a station or tracker, but only one can communicate with it over Bluetooth at a time.

 

[firemanup]

Been using an ipad, i have an ipod i am going to try it out on, it appears to have the same operating system as my ipad, just a much smaller device that i can throw in my pocket easier.

 

[kjs]

Been using an ipad, i have an ipod i am going to try it out on, it appears to have the same operating system as my ipad, just a much smaller device that i can throw in my pocket easier.

Adrian read iPad, but you are talking iPod.... I have not tried it with an iPod... I agree smaller would be better. let us know if you encounter issues.