TIS (traffic information service)

I assume you are saying that your TIS goes into "coast mode" and stops
updating for a period of time. I've found the same to be the case in
the Sacramento area. Also, there are certainly holes in where coverage
is available. If I fly from Sacramento to the Bay Area I'll lose TIS
around Franklin Field and pick it up again near Concord. In general I
think my PCAS system is more reliable but it doesn't give direction.

-Robert


wrote:
We have had TIS in three of the planes in our partnership for a while
now. I consider it a safety of flight issue. When it is working the
number of unseen planes around you it displays is amazing. I really
don't want to fly without it at this point. Unfortunately is seems
that the data is not being sent more then 25% of the time, if that, in
the Seattle area. I'm aware of the issues of reception, and it's not
an equipment issue with three identical systems (GNS 430/GTX330) having
the same problems. I have spoken with the Center manager and he says
that if the radar is working, mode S and TIS data are working. I am
beginning to think that this is not true. Are you seeing the same
poor TIS data broadcast in your area? Does anyone have additional
information on the issue? I have spoken to AOPA and they are looking
into it. I've spoken with the avionics shop and they hear similar
complaints from other pilots. I've spoken with Garmin and they say
sales of the GTX 330 have fallen to nothing compared with what they had
been. There is no plan to replace our ASR 9 for a decade or so. We
should be able to count on TIS information being available in the
Seattle area for a long time to come. I'd like to see it working
reliably...

Thanks for the help,
Dave

Robert M. Gary wrote:
I assume you are saying that your TIS goes into "coast mode" and stops
updating for a period of time.

No. The box recognizes that it's being interrogated by the radar and
it responds with altitude data. It's programmed to display when the
mode S data does not contain TIS. That's the issue. TIS information
has been unavailable for as long as months at a time in Seattle. It
has been my experience that it is "rarely" available currently. I
would be interested to know if this is isolated to the NW or if the
entire country experiences this?

I would love to have ADS-B (the current name appears to be TIS-2). It
cost us $1000 to put TIS in the plane since we had the 430 and were
going to purchase a new transponder anyway. The Feds are still
thrashing around with the specs for the new TIS but currently politics
seem to be pushing to use the current spectrum which is too congested
to handle all the data. Sad but true.

A flight in the Seattle area will routinely put you in conflict with
dozens of other aircraft. We have congested airspace and mountains
that put a lot of VFR traffic in a small space. If TIS was only useful
for a year or two I'd consider it worthwhile. The Feds have indicated
that deployment of ADS-B in our area is a decade away.

Thanks,
Dave

wrote:

If TIS was only useful
for a year or two I'd consider it worthwhile. The Feds have indicated
that deployment of ADS-B in our area is a decade away.

I routinely fly across NY state and all the class C airports from western
to central and onto eastern NY offer TIS. Two years ago I installed the
Garmin GTX330 transponder that displays TIS traffic on an MX20 and GNS430.
It is definitely worthwhile in these areas.

--
Peter

Here's a good TIS map that includes the ones scheduled to be shut down.

http://www.garmin.com/aviation/tis.jsp

Gig 601XL Builder wrDOTgiaconaATcox.net wrote:

Here's a good TIS map that includes the ones scheduled to be shut down.

http://www.garmin.com/aviation/tis.jsp

Yep, a lot of my flying is in that big blue blob over the northeast US so
TIS serves my well.

--
Peter

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:45:03 -0400, Peter R. wrote:

Yep, a lot of my flying is in that big blue blob over the northeast US so
TIS serves my well.

But the question facing me (and my fellow partners): would you buy TIS
*today* given the FAA's emphasis on ADS-B and TIS-B?

Note that they just brought online more of PA:

http://www.flttechonline.com/Current...o%20Expand.htm
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...0817ads-b.html

- Andrew
http://flyingclub.org/

Andrew Gideon wrote:
On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:45:03 -0400, Peter R. wrote:

Yep, a lot of my flying is in that big blue blob over the northeast US so
TIS serves my well.

But the question facing me (and my fellow partners): would you buy TIS
*today* given the FAA's emphasis on ADS-B and TIS-B?
snip

The question isn't whether you should buy TIS. It's whether you should
buy a Mode-S transponder, because that's the primary difference between
the 327 and 330. TIS is just a perk of moving to Mode-S, and it was
specifically designed that way to encourage pilots to move to Mode-S
when it became clear they would not otherwise willingly adopt the new,
more costly, technology.

The FAA is continuing to invest in Mode-S radars (the ASR-11 is
replacing the ASR 7, 8, and 9 units that currently support TIS), so an
investment in the airborne component is still a wise move and will be
for MANY years.

Oh, and don't believe the hype out of Blakley's mouth for a second.
ADS-B is not being deployed so they can "decommission radar". That will
not happen in our lifetime due to security concerns. I fear that the
*real* reason the FAA is pushing ADS-B is for billing purposes. With
the kind of reliable and accurate position data facilitiated by ADS-B,
they could charge us by the mile.

-Doug

--------------------
Doug Vetter, ATP/CFI

http://www.dvatp.com
--------------------