An ADS-B In Question

On Friday, January 15, 2016 at 12:28:44 PM UTC-5, Darryl Ramm wrote:
On Friday, January 15, 2016 at 8:20:51 AM UTC-8, Dan Marotta wrote:
But there's one minor point of contention in your reply, Darryl.* I
don't have Flarm.

/snip/
Dan, 5J

Everybody here is well aware you don't have PowerFLARM, you seem to have some objection to it that I've never been able to follow logically.

But you are playing around with an ADS-B SDR toy, and learning about ADS-B, and some of the discussion shows you are learning about the ground-based services that you misunderstood until now. And you'll get a good feel for the carriage and coverage in your area (although a better receiver may give you more range and reliable reception). And that is all seriously great, you will know way more than most pilots about ASD-B. I totally encourage anybody interested to get something like this and set it up and play with it (mostly on the ground) to learn about ADS-B. Preferably with a dual-link receiver.

But when it comes to using an actual "ADS-B" In device in an aircraft, for actual in-flight use, other folks need to be clear in their minds about what exactly "ADS-B" means, what they will/won't receive and why they require ADS-B Out to get full ADS-B services.

The simple answer as always remains USA glider pilots interested in traffic avoidance technology should get a PowerFLARM or transponder or both (choice based on where they fly/what traffic they fly most with). Ideally a Mode S transponder that supports 1090ES or in future, e.g. a Trig TT-22. Everything beyond that for now is more for geeks who want to play around with stuff. And lots of things are likely to change with possible loss of carriage exemptions or TABS regulation... including more affordable/better ADS-B solutions, so for most folks just wait vs. trying too far down the ADS-B path.... but install a transponder or PowerFLARM now as appropriate.

The reason people aren't lining up to buy PowerFlarms is because it is a half-baked Europe centric solution that doesn't take into account the unique ADS-B situation in the US. If PowerFlarm supported TIS-B and ADS-R, which all ADS-B receivers in the US should implement, this would be a different story.

As of two days ago, Dynon has started shipping their 2020 compliant GPS position source. This module costs $590 and is a good indicator of other products that soon will be available. I think that by Oshkosh you will see Trig introduce a similarly priced GPS source that works with the Trig 22 transponder. With that, an ADS-B receiver designed for the US market, and an smart phone app, and you'll have a decent state of the art collision avoidance system that will show you every ADS-B and transponder equipped aircraft in your area. That's the kind of functionality than can get people interested in pulling the trigger and making this kind of investment.