An ADS-B In Question

On Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 3:21:40 PM UTC-8, wrote:
Well that got technical right away. In general terms, would I be able to know about small aircraft with transponders, ie C172 etc, flying into the airport I fly? It's a class E airport, but near a class B airport so, most aircraft are transponder equipped. The device I am looking at is an ADS B - in, receiver, and I would send the information to my iPhone 6+ via wifi. It seems like most major areas now have ADS -B coverage and since I don't have to install an ADS-B out signal, yet. It seems like a solution to what I am looking for, which is some indication of another aircraft near me when my eyes did not pick him up.
Since I am not sending the "out" signal, would I not receive the transponder only traffic? Also since the "out" signal is not present, would the set up just report useless information to me and maybe even show my own glider as traffic?
The device I'm looking at is a TRX1000 from Air Avionics, used with iGlide software.
Thank you.

You are in the USA? Which local airport?

This really has been flogged to death in the past. have you tried looking up those past threads?

And any answer is going to be "technical". this stuff, especially in the USA, is a complex ball of string.

But the simple answer is if you are not outputting a *compliant* ADS-B Out signal, correctly configured to describe the aircraft's ADS-B In capability, the FAA ground infrastructure will not broadcast TIS-B data for your client aircraft. TIS-B is what lets you "see" transponder equipped traffic. So no ADS-B Out worrying about TIS-B is a non-starter.

Then even if you have all that, where exactly are you worrying about seeing such traffic? is that within both ADS-B ground coverage and SSR coverage? Don't assume, check - ask other local pilots who have ADS-B Out & In today.

TIS-B is a transitionary thing, and a bit of a mess. Over time as many aircraft equip with 1090ES our UAT Out then the ideal ADS-B receiver becomes a dual-link (1090ES and UAT In) device. That is the only thing that makes sense for stand-alone receivers in the USA GA market. And maybe there is some hope somebody will integrate a UAT receiver with PowerFLARM's internal 1090ES receiver. It's possible but would take somebody willing to d a lot for no chance of making money on it. of course if most aircraft just equip with 1090ES Out, they you just see them direct on a PowerFLARM. Totally whtotu reliance on ADS-B ground infrastructure.

I suspect the TRX1000 was never something intended for the USA market. Does it even support ADS-R and TIS-B as used in the USA? I'd be very careful assuming it was suitable for use here. Check with the manufacturer -- but unfortunately that same manufacturer has been giving some clueless answers about ADS-B questions to folks from the USA, which makes me think they don't understand much about the operation of ADS-B here.

I'm lost as to why anybody in the USA would look at an Air Avionic TRX1000 when the PowerFLARM is widely used and already has FLARM and 1090ES In (but (apparently) does not support TIS-B).

I guess my real answer to this is kind of unfortunately if you are having to ask questions like this,it is not the time for you really be playing with ADS-B. ADS-B right now is something for the geekier folks to play with. Everybody else in glider land in the USA either gets basic 1090ES In with their powerFLARM or should wait and see what happens with mandatory carriage and TABS regulations and new future products. But don't put off adopting a transponder if flying near busy airspace --and pick a good Mode S transponder (e.g. Trig TT-22) that will allow future 1090ES Out upgrades.