tailBeacon Installed

After getting the initial sticker shock from the annual that wasn't, I took my windows and tailBeacon back from the A&P and told him I'd do the windows myself and wait on the tailBeacon.  Just to get another estimate, I reached out to one of the recommended avionics shops on the field to get a quote for installing the uAvionix tailBeacon.  He quoted two hours including filing the STC paperwork, which was less than the four hours I was quoted by my A&P (which he probably quoted on the high end in case of any problems).  

Since I needed to run up to the airplane to install the pax side window anyways, I dropped off the tailBeacon with the avionics shop with instructions to just hold onto it until my A&P was done with the aiprlane.  Much to my surprise, I got a call on the Monday before Thanksgiving that they had the plane in the shop and had installed the tailBeacon, but were having trouble getting it to send a signal.  Not really a problem since my plane was on the ramp anyways, but I was a little annoyed that they brought it in when I had asked them to wait.

I hopped in the car and headed to the airport.  While the avionics guys were friendly, it seemed that they weren't terribly familiar with the tailBeacon.  In fact, one of the guys had earlier suggested that I needed a panel mounted GPS to connect it to, which he then corrected when I told him that it had its own internal GPS and sent him the specs.

Let there be light! (and an ADS-B Out signal)

The reason the tailBeacon wasn't communicating with their gear was simply because I hadn't configured it in the app.  I pulled out my iPad at the airport which already had the app installed and went through the process.  After a bit of trial and error, it seemed to be reading correctly, and the shop guys pulled out some type of device that looked like a miniature radar unit and pointed it at the tailBeacon and transponder antenna.  Both produced an altitude consistent with field altitude, and I was able to see my tail number populate in the app.

The mag was on its way back to my A&P before the holiday, so I expect it to be installed today or tomorrow, and hopefully have the plane back by Wednesday for a shakedown flight (Tuesday is going to be a rainy mess anyways).  I'll use that flight to check the ADSB-Out capability.