diamondaviators.net

I played around with this plug-in and see something interesting for my area. The environment around and down somewhat South of Redmond airport lacks coverage up through 1500 ft. AGL. Only radar. The local towers are at Bend and Madras airports and the Bend ADS-B tower reaches to Prineville by 500 ft. This is consistent with my experience, BTW. I get a weak tower pickup on the ground at a couple of spots but it comes in fine just after liftoff. I can't think of any terrain issues that would preclude tower coverage of the Redmond airspace.

Tim H wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 5:04 pm Charles-

Could you share your parts list to build the traffic display set-up?

Thanks!!

Sure. Here it is with links to Amazon.ca (you can find them on the US site as well):

- Raspberry Pi 3 ARM processor board: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LPLPBS8/ref ... pEbMZ7A9K6
- Touchscreen with a plastic case for the Pi: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01CQIPEO0/ref ... pEb7QNW471
- MicroSD card (64GB is overkill but it's half the price of a 32GB): https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XX29S9Q/ref ... pEbV9KQADS
- GPS: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07QRGK7ZK/ref ... pEbRXY2YEA
- ADS-B radio: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B076GWVNHS/ref ... pEbZXKYHY2
- 5V micro-USB power supply: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0131AYG8C/ref ... pEbH6E5YWS
(or for a lighter plug: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00OY0G2LI/ref ... pEb23N1NES )


I can provide a link to download the software if you want. You can just burn it on the MicroSD and it will work as in the picture.

Rich, thanks for the map. I have not seen an updated version. NE AZ is the area I was flying in for part of the flight. Thanks

The FAA forced ADS-B on us but doesn't use or have the system themselves. Maybe some day! Sure am glad I am spending $12k this week on ADS-B for no return.

Boatguy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2020 5:02 pm Two days ago using flight following with Oakland Center in the area of KCIC and KRDD, another plane asked ATC to confirm their ADSB. The controller responded that they didn’t have ADSB equipment yet. Maybe the FAA overstated the successful completion of their ADSB project.

Lance Murray wrote: ↑Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:35 pm The FAA forced ADS-B on us but doesn't use or have the system themselves. Maybe some day! Sure am glad I am spending $12k this week on ADS-B for no return.

Boatguy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2020 5:02 pm Two days ago using flight following with Oakland Center in the area of KCIC and KRDD, another plane asked ATC to confirm their ADSB. The controller responded that they didn’t have ADSB equipment yet. Maybe the FAA overstated the successful completion of their ADSB project.

I'm questioning whether the controller's response was accurate. I've seen several articles that the ADS-B and radar targets are integrated on the controllers' screens, and the target is not differentiated as being ADS-B. In any case, this is of less importance to me. The fact that I have had ADS-B out makes me much more visible to other nearby traffic equipped with ADS-B in, even if they lack ADS-B out. I know of local aircraft owners in the latter category. As far as verifying ADS-B in real-time, FF will tell me what it sees from my transponder. And a PAPR is available once the flight is completed.

From an AOPA article late last year:

Like the transition to ADS-B for pilots, the ATC changes have been designed to be transparent to controllers. “It’s so tough to get people to see that sometimes the transparent approach to integrating technology is best,” Hamilton said. “You don’t want to shake things up too much.”

In the SoCal area, the only airport towers equipped with ADS-B at this time are Class Bravo towers. I was recently flying into KEMT, a class Delta airport, and there was an intruder in the airspace that the tower was warning other aircraft that he was not taking to the intruder. I then located the aircraft on my screen and gave the tower the intruder's tail number. The controller responded, "Awesome" and then thanked me. Now I am wondering if the intruder got some kind of letter from the FAA.

I took a tour of Boston Center in Nashua, NH about 2 years ago and asked the controller how ADS-B was affecting their work. He said that they could maintain radar contact on the ADS-B equipped aircraft at lower altitudes than non-equipped aircraft. I asked the same question to our local tower controller and he said he knew nothing aobout it. Of course the local tower gets radar feeds from Boston Center and Approach so he is getting some benefit without realizing it.

Here's another wrinkle:

Some ADS-B capabilities are being withheld from controllers. Call sign mismatch (see “ADS-B: What is an NPE?” March 2017 AOPA Pilot) continues to be a problem that has required suppressing some data from controller displays. “Call sign mismatch [CSMM] is one thing that everybody is working to mediate. It’s been a long journey,” Hamilton said. “This is a prime example of why we’re not using the full capability of ADS-B. Some of the capabilities are suppressed to work out these growing pains.”

A fair fraction of installations are not being done properly. I have noticed Ground Mode not being properly enabled/configured, as well.