"Viperdoc" wrote in
:

Does anyone know how to tell if the Traffic Information System
uplinked by Mode S is in service or not? My Garmin 530/ GTX 330 says
"traffic unavailable" and passes all of the diagnostics, but when I
called ATC and flight service they said Mode S was operational.

Mode-S is needed, but Mode-S is not TIS. Unfortunately, the problem you
are having seems to be wide spread and random. I have heard other pilots
with the exact same gripe (TIS just randomly comes and goes for months at
the time).

Aviation Consumer magazine did an article on it recently. They ran into
the same problem - when it would not work, no one at ATC could tell them if
the system was up or down. A number of times their inquiries were met with
blank stares of "What's TIS?"

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James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
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