On Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 1:45:53 PM UTC-5, Doug Levy wrote:
On Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 9:34:34 AM UTC-8, Mike Schumann wrote:
On Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 7:03:09 AM UTC-6, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
On Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 8:00:34 AM UTC-5, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
On Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 12:30:46 AM UTC-5, Mike Schumann wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 8:10:28 PM UTC-6, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
On Saturday, November 7, 2020 at 12:02:53 PM UTC-5, Doug Levy wrote:
On Friday, November 6, 2020 at 2:55:37 PM UTC-8, Richard Pfiffner wrote:
PowerFlarm officially releasing the new PowerFLARM Fusion. It replaces PowerFLARM Core and comes loaded with features:

• Connect smartphones and tablets via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
• FLARM Hub web app for easy upgrades, configuration, and maintenance
• GDL 90 protocol for streaming traffic data to EFBs like ForeFlight and SkyDemon
• Worldwide interoperability (only one version)
• Previously optional features are now included: Radio Diversity (RFB), 1090 Receiver (ADS-B, Mode-S), IGC, ENL, and Audio. No need to purchase licenses.
• Updated antenna connectors — all screw-on
• Hassle-free upgrade from PowerFLARM Core


For complete details see:

http://www.craggyaero.com/fusion.htm

Standard Base Price $1795, Introductory Price $1526 until Jan 31, 2021

Richard
www.craggyaero.com
Do they have any plans to include 978? I have a dual-band ADS-B receiver and Flarm. There is a large percentage of aircraft on 978 that I'm not seeing on Flarm.
Doug, what is a large percentage in your opinion? Total number of positions in the last 30 days on 1090 Mhz equals 40,278,138,192 and on UAT 6,000,664. Let's divide the first number by 100 to assume that most of those positions are at higher altitude and only 1% at altitude relevant to us. So it is 6,000,664/402,781,381 * 100 = 1.489%
As you see you are not missing much, unless you are in a special place near a large flight school that decided to install UATs. I don't see many UAT aircraft in the North East, but I agree it would be nice to have support for UAT.
Where are you getting these statistics? I have a FlightAware ADS-B receiver at my cabin in Western WI. About 25% of the GA aircraft that fly over my cabin do not show up on my ADS-B receiver, which is 1090ES only. I suspect that most of these aircraft are UAT equipped.

Flightaware.com
To be more precise FlightAware ADS-B Statistics https://flightaware.com/adsb/stats/
Select top countries and the first entry is USA with the data I gave you.
That is totally misleading. What you are looking at is the number of aircraft seen by FlightAware. There are almost no FlightAware receivers in the US that are configured to receive UAT ADS-B OUT transmissions. The VAST majority of FlightAware receivers are 1090ES only.

The only reliable way to determine the 1090ES vs UAT equipage is to get this data from the FAA. They have all of this data, given that everyone equipped with ADS-B has to run an ADS-B performance report, which requires the pilot to identify not only what frequency the ADS-B OUT is on, but also the manufacturer of the ADS-B transmitter and GPS source.

When you look at the low-cost UAT ADS-B options available from Garmin, uAvionix, and others, I would be willing to wager that a very significant proportion of the GA fleet is UAT equipped.


This gets confusing as to why people use 978 UAT. This is from Garmin:
It’s on the receiving end of ADS-B “In” data that things get a little complicated. The issue is available bandwidth. Since 1090 MHz is being used to support all transponder interrogations and TCAS traffic alerting, as well as ADS-B transmissions, there exists the potential for frequency congestion as airspace traffic continues to grow. To help alleviate crowding on the 1090 MHz band, the FAA decided in 2002 to supplement this ADS-B solution with a second option: the Universal Access Transceiver, or UAT, which operates on a dedicated radio frequency of 978 MHz. As the word “transceiver” implies, the 978 UAT radio can be configured to provide both ADS-B “Out” and “In” capability in a single product. Some versions even include an integral WAAS GPS to provide a complete “one box” ADS-B solution. The ADS-B “Out” broadcast on 978 MHz carries all the same tracking data sent by ES transponders on 1090 MHz. However, on the ADS-B “In” side, the additional bandwidth afforded by the 978 MHz spectrum allows for a much more extensive list of data uplink services. Whereas 1090 MHz ES only has the capacity for ADS-B position and traffic reporting, the 978 UAT link is configured to support a variety of free weather, traffic and airspace information services. The FAA wants to encourage GA pilots whose aircraft typically operate below 18,000 ft to opt for 978 UAT, and thus help minimize congestion on the 1090 MHz frequency. The thinking is that a variety of free added-value features will further incentivize GA owners to adopt some form of 978 UAT for their ADS-B solution. It should also be pointed out that since the FAA’s infrastructure will rebroadcast information between 1090 ES and 978 UAT systems, it’s also possible for users to install a mixed ADS-B solution — for example, one using an ES transponder for ADS-B “Out” and a 978 UAT datalink receiver for ADS-B “In”. A variety of intriguing combinations can be considered.
Source https://www.garmin.com/en-US/aviation/adsb-compliance/
Why is this confusing? UAT is a modern protocol designed by Mitre to provide a huge increase in bandwidth to enable large increases in traffic and additional services, such as weather radar, etc. In addition, UAT transceivers utilize much lower cost and lower power hardware. 1090ES is another bandaid added to 1940s vintage transponder technology that was originally developed during WW II. What is unfortunate is that the FAA buckled to the international aviation community, instead of mandating that ADS-B in the US be standardized on UAT. As a result we get the complications of a dual frequency system.

Most Ads-B receivers sold in the US, except for FLARM, are now dual frequency so they can see both UAT and 1090ES traffic without being within range of an ADS-B ground station. This is a no brainer given the cost of this hardware ($175 for the pingUSB, $200 for Scout).