The terrain situation around Moriarty works in our favor.Â* We have an
ADS-B antenna on top of Sandia Mountain which is about 25 miles west of
our airport and a bit over 5,000' higher.Â* And the ADS-B coverage map is
pretty complete already.Â* I was told that my Flarm was picked up in the
valley before installing the ADS-B.

On 2/3/2019 11:33 AM, wrote:
On Monday, 4 February 2019 03:08:45 UTC+13, Jeff wrote:
Our club is considering equipping our ships, and the ground-based operations folks, with a real-time tracking technology, so that we on the ground will be aware of club sailplanes locations and status, in order that we can better anticipate and prepare for arrivals, and schedule launches. This could be particularly useful in the case where multiple student pilots are in the air and soaring locally. We soar from a location in a valley surrounded by mountains. Line of sight Radio communication is fine for sailplanes operating within the valley, but radio communications from locations outside of the valley are limited.

What tracking technology might be preferred in this case? We are concerned that any technology that requires radio communication from outside the valley, might not work well. Would that be the case for ADSB-IN equipped sailplanes? ADSB-OUT equipped sailplanes? PowerFlarm equipped sailplanes? Other options, DeLorme, SPOT?

In mountainous areas radio comms are a problem. Transponder based tracking and ADSB need line of sight, just like your radio. Flarm based tracking uses low power radio, so lots of ground stations to work around mountains. Same for cell phone based tracking. Only going to work in an area with good cell coverage.

Spot and/or Delorme based tracking will work great, but will cost money. Not just initial purchase, but the service charges. Make sure every-one understands they will have a bill to pay regularly and that the system will stop if it doesn't get paid.

Phil Plane
User of Spot for tracking since the Spot 1 came out. Currently wishing for a new Delorme mini.

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Dan, 5J