On Monday, June 10, 2013 8:57:16 AM UTC-6, Dan Marotta wrote:
"Compulsory" for contests - fine with me since I don't fly in contests, but

you'll never get me to install one.



I'd much rather have ATC keeping power traffic, e.g., airliners, away from

me than seeing other gliders in my vicinity.
Dan

Dan,
Why the hard-on toward PF? Because of my abrasive personality around the gliderport I fly alone most of the time myself (Kidding, My job keeps me busy most weekends so I fly gliders mostly weekdays). I was out midweek at CV (Next to SLC) about 100 miles South of any metropolitan area and came across a glider out of Parawan right at cloudbase. At the time Parawan didn't have a regular or full time operation and the guy was on a different freq.(He never saw me and I had a hard time seeing him because I was looking up at cloudbase and I climbed right up at him). I never took flying alone for granted again.
I purchased one of the first portables sold in the US and transitioned to a Core on my new ship and I would not fly without it for several reasons. Especially at a contest. For those of you who believe airliners make "course diversions" for you do not understand how TCAS works. The best practice would be to study the STARs and DPs and stay clear of these areas.
Dan, Try this; borrow someones PF portable and try it for a couple of flights and then come back here and rant about your freedoms. Chances are you will be amazed at all the traffic that you did not see before. Hatches just blow, condoms break, and occasionally PF might miss an alert, but the technology is valid.