Jim,

You also make some good points. But I think you left out the most
important point of all, which is: what will the proposed device
protect me against?

Flarm may go on sale in the USA this summer, but as others have said
in this thread, it won't provide protection against SEL and MEL
aircraft in the USA. For that, as stated before, one needs a
transponder and a PCAS. Also, there is going to be a time period for
adoption of Flarm - how long will it take to get enough Flarms out
there to make a significant difference? A year? Two years? As was said
earlier in this thread, even in Europe where Flarm has had years to
make inroads, once you get away from the high glider traffic areas
there a many gliders without Flarm. It seems it would be much faster
to get a new mode S transponder with integral altitude encoder and
extended squitter, plus a Zaon MRS.

Let's suppose for argument that like you said, everyone in areas like
the Inyo and White Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Wasatch, and the
Appalachians agree to buy Flarms (and ignore the SEL and MEL threat).
I'm sure that would be helpful (eventually), but how about contests?
The competitors are looking for every advantage they can get, do you
think that they will fly with their Flarms turned on to broadcast
their position? I know, the same could be said for transponders...

As I said in my original post in this thread, my conclusion is that
given where I fly my best bet is a transponder and MRX.

-John

On Jul 23, 12:56 pm, JS wrote:
Good points, John.
But there's a 4th thing. The original post is about this summer, not
2013 or so. The feds are involved in ADS-B, so 2013 is likely a dream
and "outrageous" costs by roll-out time will seem luxurious.
In order to compare what's available, proponents of any systems
please give the cost to get it operational in glider cockpits now, not
in some future time after budget overruns and inevitable delays.
Price (if a transponder is required, include that).
Present availability of the entire system.
Power requirements for the entire system.
Installation process.
Certification process.
There must be other things.
And to compare apples to apples (or is it now macs to macs), if all
aircraft were equipped with similar devices, let's look at the pros
and cons.