Mike has awesome Systems and RF Engineering chops. GREAT resource! I posted a similar written doc in the Coaltion’s help channel a few years back, it is out and around with other folks, but Mike's video conveys it way better than I did. Thanks for taking the time to make the video, Mike! You rock!
Best thing I did was get a 5m USB-C to USB-A extension cable. It also has a power socket which I thought I'd need for that distance but I don't actually externally power it. Hanging the receiver on that near the back of the trainer has got rid of almost all my dropouts. I also don't put my headphones on until the ANT+ connections are up and running as I have a suspicion modern bluetooth looks for "clear" frequencies. Maybe I dreamt that.
That's great! You are right, the primary bluetooth device maps which of its 37 frequencies are working well and which are not, and shares this with the other device. I thought that updated all the time though so it shouldn't matter which device you pair first. But hey, if you have found a method that works for you, that is a great tip! Refs www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/EN-Understanding_Reliability.pdf
Great vide. Can you please share the tip on the software that you used for measuring ANT+ dorputs and RX failures. It looks really helpfull. I did the same during development in my IDE, but having this as a stand alone app will be great.
Do you mean the video I did a while ago using Simulant+ or this one? In this video I am using a variation of the zwiftalizer website with a small websocket server running locally to pipe the log file to the browser in realtime. The trouble is, it is pain to ask everyone to install the self-signed SSL certs as admin, and add a local hosts file entry just to make the connection secure end-to-end (browser requires it). A stand alone app would definitely solve that. I'll figure it out one day.
@@zwiftalizer Cool. I could only find one guy who tried it in 2022. He said he made it work. I ordered a cable yesterday and will pick it up tomorrow to try it out.
Hey again. Got the cable and it seems to work. I don't have time for a ride today, I turned of WIFI and connected the phone with the cable. Opened the Zwift app. Opened the game on a PC connected to the internet, also with a cable. Paired with Zwift Hub and the Zwift Clicker and it worked. Also it seems like the Zwift app is way more responsive. I will take a ride tomorrow and test it out more.
Hey again. Got the cable and it seems to work. I don't have time for a ride today, I turned off WIFI on my phone and connected the phone with a the cable to my switch. Turned on the companion app. I Opened the game on my PC also connected to the same switch. Paired with the Zwift Hub and the Zwift Clicker and it worked. Also it seems like the Zwift app is way more responsive. Tomorrow I will have time for a ride and test more.
That's great! Mine arrives today. I would expect turning off WiFi improves the quality of the Bluetooth signal a lot. This tip would help out AppleTV users too since they often must use the companion app BT to workaround the 3 devices limit. I might do a video about networking next.
I haven't made that available to everyone yet. Unfortunately, due to new browser security restrictions, it's not possible to continuously read the file without first installing an agent on your PC or Mac. The steps to install that agent aren't very intuitive. I will make it available for everyone when I solve that. Additionally, the log file doesn't update as frequently on PCs as it does on Macs, which makes it a bit useless on PCs.
Maybe release it as a separate app. That users could pay you for. As it looks very useful in solving issues. They could install it on their computers. To trouble shoot
Hello Stuart, thank for noticing the live tail version is done. You are the first person to ask about it. I'll send you a link. Unfortunately the set-up on the PC or Mac side turned out to be more complicated than I had hoped and it isn't something I can widely support. You won't have any problems installing it, but it isn't for everyone.
Good video, thanks. You were talking mostly about Ant+, but what about Bluetooth? Is there same issues? I have dropouts on zwift companion app. I run everything on bluetooth. Zwift on windows laptop, kicker V5, polar h10 heart rate strap. Companion app on Iphone14. Laptop and phone on 5Gh WiFi. Laptop also has dongle for logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. Phone connected to garmin watch via bluetooth. No garmin express on laptop.
Yes, Bluetooth has the same interference issues. All these tips apply to Bluetooth too (except for the one about stopping the Garmin ANT agent). Bluetooth using the Companion app on iPhone may work better than the laptop's built-in Bluetooth because you can move it and it has a good antenna built in. However, you now have an added failure point of iPhone to Laptop communication over WiFi. You can use the new chart I added last week - Companion App Connection Attempts - to check that the game has a stable connection to the Companion app. If you see any entries there during an activity, then your laptop lost connection to the iPhone and that is the cause of your dropouts. Otherwise, the cause of dropouts was Bluetooth interference on your iPhone.
I talked mostly about Ant+ because I could use the charts show the Ant+ failed messages in real-time as I moved things around. I can't do that with Bluetooth because they are not logged.
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Great video, hope my connectivity troubles go away with these tips. Thanks to GP Lama for sharing.
Mike has awesome Systems and RF Engineering chops. GREAT resource!
I posted a similar written doc in the Coaltion’s help channel a few years back, it is out and around with other folks, but Mike's video conveys it way better than I did. Thanks for taking the time to make the video, Mike! You rock!
Thank you!
Best thing I did was get a 5m USB-C to USB-A extension cable. It also has a power socket which I thought I'd need for that distance but I don't actually externally power it. Hanging the receiver on that near the back of the trainer has got rid of almost all my dropouts. I also don't put my headphones on until the ANT+ connections are up and running as I have a suspicion modern bluetooth looks for "clear" frequencies. Maybe I dreamt that.
That's great! You are right, the primary bluetooth device maps which of its 37 frequencies are working well and which are not, and shares this with the other device. I thought that updated all the time though so it shouldn't matter which device you pair first. But hey, if you have found a method that works for you, that is a great tip! Refs www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/EN-Understanding_Reliability.pdf
Thanks for the tips, more methodical than my attempts at Bluetooth Feng Shui.
Thank you for the great tips!
That’s fantastic!
Thanks Rob! Great chatting with you the other day.
@@zwiftalizer yeah, really enjoyed it!
Great vide. Can you please share the tip on the software that you used for measuring ANT+ dorputs and RX failures. It looks really helpfull. I did the same during development in my IDE, but having this as a stand alone app will be great.
Do you mean the video I did a while ago using Simulant+ or this one? In this video I am using a variation of the zwiftalizer website with a small websocket server running locally to pipe the log file to the browser in realtime. The trouble is, it is pain to ask everyone to install the self-signed SSL certs as admin, and add a local hosts file entry just to make the connection secure end-to-end (browser requires it). A stand alone app would definitely solve that. I'll figure it out one day.
Hey. A lot of good stuff here.
Have you, or anyone else tried a USB-C to ethernet- cable, from phone to router/Switch. to completely avoid WIFI?
That's a great idea. I will try one and report back.
@@zwiftalizer
Cool. I could only find one guy who tried it in 2022. He said he made it work.
I ordered a cable yesterday and will pick it up tomorrow to try it out.
Hey again.
Got the cable and it seems to work. I don't have time for a ride today,
I turned of WIFI and connected the phone with the cable. Opened the Zwift app. Opened the game on a PC connected to the internet, also with a cable.
Paired with Zwift Hub and the Zwift Clicker and it worked. Also it seems like the Zwift app is way more responsive.
I will take a ride tomorrow and test it out more.
Hey again.
Got the cable and it seems to work. I don't have time for a ride today,
I turned off WIFI on my phone and connected the phone with a the cable to my switch. Turned on the companion app. I Opened the game on my PC also connected to the same switch. Paired with the Zwift Hub and the Zwift Clicker and it worked. Also it seems like the Zwift app is way more responsive.
Tomorrow I will have time for a ride and test more.
That's great! Mine arrives today. I would expect turning off WiFi improves the quality of the Bluetooth signal a lot. This tip would help out AppleTV users too since they often must use the companion app BT to workaround the 3 devices limit. I might do a video about networking next.
How do you see the live capture of Bluetooth and Ant+ signals
I haven't made that available to everyone yet. Unfortunately, due to new browser security restrictions, it's not possible to continuously read the file without first installing an agent on your PC or Mac. The steps to install that agent aren't very intuitive. I will make it available for everyone when I solve that. Additionally, the log file doesn't update as frequently on PCs as it does on Macs, which makes it a bit useless on PCs.
Maybe release it as a separate app. That users could pay you for. As it looks very useful in solving issues.
They could install it on their computers. To trouble shoot
How do we access the ANT+ Log Live?
Hello Stuart, thank for noticing the live tail version is done. You are the first person to ask about it. I'll send you a link. Unfortunately the set-up on the PC or Mac side turned out to be more complicated than I had hoped and it isn't something I can widely support. You won't have any problems installing it, but it isn't for everyone.
Good video, thanks.
You were talking mostly about Ant+, but what about Bluetooth? Is there same issues? I have dropouts on zwift companion app. I run everything on bluetooth. Zwift on windows laptop, kicker V5, polar h10 heart rate strap. Companion app on Iphone14. Laptop and phone on 5Gh WiFi. Laptop also has dongle for logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. Phone connected to garmin watch via bluetooth. No garmin express on laptop.
Yes, Bluetooth has the same interference issues. All these tips apply to Bluetooth too (except for the one about stopping the Garmin ANT agent). Bluetooth using the Companion app on iPhone may work better than the laptop's built-in Bluetooth because you can move it and it has a good antenna built in. However, you now have an added failure point of iPhone to Laptop communication over WiFi. You can use the new chart I added last week - Companion App Connection Attempts - to check that the game has a stable connection to the Companion app. If you see any entries there during an activity, then your laptop lost connection to the iPhone and that is the cause of your dropouts. Otherwise, the cause of dropouts was Bluetooth interference on your iPhone.
I talked mostly about Ant+ because I could use the charts show the Ant+ failed messages in real-time as I moved things around. I can't do that with Bluetooth because they are not logged.