The Rangr unit claims to work with any current transponder.
Slight-Shift-of-subject:
While pondering this ADS-B thing..... It occurs to me that we might be witnessing another huge gov't over-reach.
Consider this: ADS-B is being touted as the future of ATC because ground-based radar is too expensive to install/maintain.... and aviation is expected to grow during the next 20-30 year so significantly... that the cost will be astronomical to provide radar coverage for traffic seperation. Therefore, ADS-B was tried in Alaska to see if aircraft can be seen/controlled outside radar coverage and the system demonstrated a certain amount of capability.
ADS-B
IN is being promoted in order to addict the GA public with the idea of free weather (something they can already obtain on any smartphone) and
traffic ...(with caveat being that only ADS-B OUT aircraft and aircraft within ATC radar coverage will be depicted to the ADS-B IN equipped aircraft. It won't do diddely-squat for even an ADS-B IN aircraft if that aircraft is not within the range of ATC radar!
This ADS-B IN is relatively cheap (less than $1K) and so the authorities believe we'll all go for it....and by that measure they believe fewer people will complain about this new equipment requirement since they have already "bought into" the system and drunk the Kool-Aid.
To force compliance, a new rule is being made: Without ADS-B OUT.... one will not be allowed to operate within the
Mode-C veil.... not even
beneath it!
Now it seems to me that this is a huge
B.S.
Why? Well, for one thing, WHY...should it be illegal to operate beneath
Mode C under the veil.... since
Mode C airspace HAS RADAR coverage? In other words, any aircraft operating beneath the veil will already be visible both to ATC ...AND also to ADS-B IN aircraft. Those non-equipped aircraft will already be outside the important airspace...and will not pose any threat to primary airspace users! It is an onerous rule to require those aircraft to be ADS-
B OUT equipped!
Non OUT equipped aircraft will also not be allowed above 10,000 MSL! WHY ...did they choose THAT altitude? I suspect in order to make it troublesome not to be ADS-B OUT equipped. Why didn't they make the rule FL180? or at the very least 14,500...??? That way the average small airplane operator could still operate without having to shell out $7K or more! After-all.... in what area does radar not exist above those altitudes? Huh?
Why don't they simply move the transition level down to 15,000' and require that all class A airspace require ADS-B??
I think I know that answer too... It's because the BIG BOYS don't mind ADS-B. The rest of the world is doing it above the transition levels...WHY NOT THE USA where General Aviation is truly popular???
Meanwhile, the sport-flyers groups flying around in lawn-chair ultralights and J-3 cubs will not be ADS-B OUT equipped and will still be invisible below 10K to all the folks who've wasted their money on ADS-B thinking they no longer have to look outside the window!
AOPA has drunk the Kool-Aid. So has EAA. Those groups no longer represent the little-guy...they are now advertising outlets for those selling ADS-B and other aviation products. AOPA sells insurance, headsets, avionics, ...the list goes on. In fact, they've irritated the insurance folks by going into competition with them. Instead of going along with ADS-B ... AOPA should be fighting this every step of the way for small airplane owners who have no interest in landing at Washington Dulles, DFW, IAH, JFK, O'Hare and Hartsfield.... but ARE wishing to use DWH, Conroe, Galveston, LInden, and the thousands of other small fields under
Mode C veil.
What say you guys?