Portable TABS coming to the USA?

There are only 2 airports in the UK that have passenger carrying jet traffic in Class G; they are both very quiet, end of the country, coastal airports and one of them is trying to get a Class D CTR. Every other airport with commercial jet traffic already has a CTR and most have easy access to Class A. There are a few airports that have exec. jet traffic in Class G but, as a much smaller country there is much less exec. jet use. Generally speaking, jet traffic and VFR GA are segregated. We simply don't have vast areas of Class E with the wide mixture of traffic that you do. The biggest mid-air risk is GA-GA. If you read (and believe) the airprox reports, the biggest risk to airliners is rogue drone operators.

Most of the GA in UK Class G will not be using a radar service so a transponder is effectively pointless as a collision avoidance instrument. SkyEcho transmit can be used together with Mode C, it's only with Mode S that SkyEcho transmit has to be turned off. There has already been a trial of simultaneous Mode S and SkyEcho transmit involving about a dozen different aircraft. As I recall, only one aircraft with a particular transponder fit had a problem with SkyEcho transmissions interfering with Mode S returns.

I don't see CAP 1391 as ever being a worldwide standard, I see it as an experiment in standalone ADS-B in and out for GA. As another approach, a recent EASA rule change allows GA aircraft to use non-certified GPS as an ADS-B position source, but only with SIL=0.

I have no idea how many SkyEchos have been sold.

This seems all way too complicated to me... and I'm an electrical engineer! Can I just go fly please? I know where the jets hang out and I stay away.
Darryl - Have you posted a detailed explanation of this mess (for beginners) somewhere where we can review it this winter? Is it possible we could build our own equipment (for xperimental only)? Think I head of someone doing it with a Ras PI micro.

On Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 7:04:12 PM UTC-8, Soartech wrote:
This seems all way too complicated to me... and I'm an electrical engineer! Can I just go fly please? I know where the jets hang out and I stay away..
Darryl - Have you posted a detailed explanation of this mess (for beginners) somewhere where we can review it this winter? Is it possible we could build our own equipment (for xperimental only)? Think I head of someone doing it with a Ras PI micro.

Stuff is coming. ~weeks.

You know where the jets *usually* hang out. Grab a traffic history plot from your local FAA folks and see how much of that traffic is not sticking to STAR or SID routes. Maybe even better host your own FlightAware receiver (see below).

Build your own equipment for exactly what? Remembering much of this thread is about stuff not directly relevant to the USA.

For folks flying in GA aircraft Stratux ADS-B receivers are popular DIY receivers, but I think most folks are much better off with a commercial ADS-B In receiver like the uAvionix Sentry.

For folks flying gliders the PowerFLARM is likely your best ADS-B In choice.. Watch out for an expected ADS-B and TIS-B upgrades coming for PowerFLARM.... but to work properly that requires your glider has TABS or 2020 Compliant ADS-B Out. If you fly GA say with a ForeFlight and Sentry receiver and want that also in your glider that's doable, but talk to me about this if you also have a PowerFLARM ADS-B receiver and traffic display.

Building your own transmitting equipment is not practical, certainly not possible for TABS or 2020 Compliant systems.

I suspect more technical folks who want to play with this stuff would be better off spending time installing an OGN FLARM ground receiver or installing a free FlightAware ADS-B receiver near their gliderports or flying areas. That will let you know a lot more about glider and general traffic and potentially useful for other things, like in a SAR situation, or with OGN for checking glider FLARM antenna performance. (something great to help less technical folks with).

I have a whole pile of more detail/possible suggestions for things to do over winter about all this stuff. Will post more later or give a link.