Steve Kroop at Flytec <<info>>
writes:

Flytec instruments have a given amount of user memory that is used
for storing instrument settings and logbook. In the case of our more advanced
models, flight recording, waypoints/routes and restricted airspace are also
stored in the user memory. This memory is static so if power is lost this
information is not. Because this memory is finite, flight recording can only go
on for so long before the portion reserved for this function is filled. In all
of our models, when the flight memory is full the instrument will continue to
record the current flight by wrapping over the oldest flight. This means the
current flight is recorded at the expense of the oldest flight. When the
instrument wraps the recording, it is writing new data directly over old data,
this happens invisibly and generally without any issues. However, it can happen
that when writing new data on top of old data the memory can get bugged.
Depending on the instrument model, when this occurs, it can manifest in a few
ways (1) the flight recording is corrupted and may not download properly (2) the
flight recording has odd data (3) the instrument will freeze when attempting to
start a new flight recording (4) the instrument does not record the flight.

The good news is that this is easily prevented. To avoid the problems above and
keep your instrument recording properly it is recommended that you periodically
clear the flight memory. Before clearing the flight memory, download any flights
you wish to save to FlyChart, GPS Dump, etc. Alternatively, 6030/6020 users can
save recorded flights to an SD card. Once and desired flights have been saved
then the flight memory can be cleared. Some of our instruments allow you to
delete flights one-at-a-time but this is not a proper clearing of the flight
memory. Please consult your manual for specific instructions on clearing your
particular model. In the case of the 6030, clearing the flight memory is done in
Menu>Clear/initialize memory>Delete all flights. How often you do this is a
function of the record interval you have selected. For example, the
6030/6020/5030/5020 have 48 hours of record time at 10s record interval, 24
hours at 5s, 9 hours at 2s, etc. The available record time is shown on the when
setting the interval in the 6030 in Menu>Settings>Recording>Record interval. It
is generally not necessary to religiously clear the flight memory each time
before the memory wraps but it is a good idea to not let the memory wrap
repeatedly. At a minimum, I strongly recommend that pilots clear the flight
memory before they start a comp and prior to any record attempt.

As mentioned above, a portion of the user memory is reserved for the storage of
waypoints and routes. For similar reasons I recommend, when participating in a
competition, that you clear the WP list before uploading the meet waypoints from
the meet staff. In the case of the 6030, clearing the waypoint list is done in
Menu>Clear/initialize memory>Delete all WP and routes. If your instrument starts
behaving oddly after a WP upload there may have been an error in the process. In
this case, clear the WP list and then re-upload the waypoints from the meet
staff.

The last section of the user memory is the portion reserved for user settings.
Since this memory is not accessed very often (only when you change
user-settings) it is less prone to get bugged, especially if you make your
changes via the instrument keypad. However, if you use FlyChart to load and
change your user-settings it is conceivable that this section of the memory can
get bugged during the upload. If your instrument starts behaving oddly after
changing the instrument settings with FC try re-uploading the user-settings.
There is one known issue where the user can bug the instrument memory and
prevent it from properly downloading a flight to scoring software and that is
the use of "illegal characters" in the Pilot name, Glider type or Glider ID in
the 6030/6020/5030/5020. These illegal characters are $, *, !, , ^, ~ and they
are reserved for use in FAI/IGC flight records. Since the three data fields
above and any used in WP/route names are written to the IGC file when the flight
is saved internally, it can cause scoring software to reject the flight
download. Current versions of the 6030 and 6020 do not offer these characters
when entering text.

Lastly, If your 6030/6020/5030/5020 just starts acting weird you can always
completely clear the user memory by reinitializing the EEPROM but remember all
the flights, WP/routes and user settings will be erased. Please consult your
manual for specific instructions on reinitializing the EEPROM.