TIS outage

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.

Is there any other way to get information on whether the uplinks are working
or not?


TIA


JN

"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?"

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

Actually, I learned from the FAA today that Mode S was out in our local area
and under repair. Apparently the radar was working in IBS (?) mode, but not
full mode S, so traffic uplink was not available. However, when it works, it
works great- it's unbelievable how many planes are out there that you never
would see visually even with a mile or two and while doing a good scan!

JN

Viperdoc wrote:
Actually, I learned from the FAA today that Mode S was out in our local area
and under repair. Apparently the radar was working in IBS (?) mode,

That's IBI.


but not
full mode S, so traffic uplink was not available. However, when it works, it
works great- it's unbelievable how many planes are out there that you never
would see visually even with a mile or two and while doing a good scan!

It's also amazing how stupid some of you are. We have two TFR's for
firefighting here, one is a 5 mile radius, the other a 10 mile radius.
Fer chrissakes people, stay away from the smoke.

Thanks for the info. What does IBI stand for? I was told they were trying to
save the equipment, so they were running in IBI mode and not full mode S.
(Whatever this means as well)

Regardless, I hope they get it up and working soon, since I live south of
OSH, and the traffic information would come in very handy over the next week
or so.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message ...
Actually, I learned from the FAA today that Mode S was out in our local area
and under repair. Apparently the radar was working in IBS (?) mode,

Irritable bowel syndrome? And you thought ATC was ****ting on you before...

Viperdoc wrote:

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.

Is there any other way to get information on whether the uplinks are working
or not?

TIA

JN


As others have stated, it must be mode-s (most radars are) and transmitting TIS
(most radars do not). If the Garmin unit says "unavailble" it is not lying to you,
it means you absolutely are not getting any TIS at all.

In the bay area, San Jose radar is marked as a TIS facillity, and it has been
on fairly reliably there. However, I have been able to get TIS, depending
on altitude, out in the central valley and far north. What I believe this means
is that a radar can give you TIS for any airplane on any radar, even if that
airplane is not being scanned by the radar transmitting the TIS information.

It works this way because radar information is networked so that radar A and
radar B share data to cover each other's holes.

As stated, it seems to be pointless to talk about it to the FAA at this point.
The people I have talked to are interested in it, but have no direct knowledge
of it. There are stations, like Sacremento, that are supposed to have TIS
but clearly don't have it operational.

I source who I won't mention has told me that they know of radar sites
who the FAA lists as having TIS because they shipped the equipment to them, but
in reality the TIS gear is sitting in storage at the radar site in its shipping
boxes, awaiting trained installation personell.

There is little to do but have patience. The system is not really operational
yet.

--
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