On Jun 30, 7:50*pm, "Paul Remde" wrote:
Hi,

I imagine that ADS-B will eventually also make it possible to have real-time
data back at the home airport. *I look forward to that day! *But, until
then, this new product does look interesting.

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

Well the poor coverage of the FAA/ITT ground stations in many
important glider areas is going to be an issue for many of us, and
even in other places with "good" coverage gliders will "go off the
map" when they get low/shielded from terrain. So you better not rely
on piggybacking on data obtained off the terrestrial ITT network.
Local FBOs/clubs could set up an ADS-B receiver and see line of sight
out to some distance. And all that requires having ADS-B transmitters
in those gliders (and on UAT or 1090ES or both? And at what cost?).
And until the current requirement for STC based installations are over
getting ADS-B data-out anything in certified gliders is a total non-
starter.

I gave some interest in local tracking of gliders and have offered to
help two FBOs who are interested test out PowerFlarm ground stations.
That will see close by/local Flarm traffic and eventually (much much
longer term) 1090ES data-out equipped traffic over longer line of
sight distances. While interesting for local monitoring this is far
from the sort of infrastructure you need for effective contest
coverage. I just do not see any reason to look at terrestrial based
tracking systems when there are satellite based systems here already
and evolving.

Darryl