The International Cessna 170 Association

ATC is using transponders in ground vehicles as well as part of their program to make ground ops safer. Go on flightradar24 or similar site and zoom over any large airport--you will see aircraft on ground and the occasional fire truck or ops vehicle.

With ADSB being implemented, you are basically always squawking your ID and position data. (ADSB out is either implemented through the ATC transponder or a separate box that is tied to the transponder code) I have had ADSB in my "Brand P" airplane for a year now, and am seeing more and more GA traffic on the ground reporting their ADSB info. It can be useful to know someone is about to launch when you are inbound and haven't been switched to CTAF from approach control, for example. Hopefully the price will come down, as it is a great tool for weather info and an increasingly valuable tool for traffic info--especially in the busy airspace where I am in the NE. The 170 is in the shop now getting its ADSB out fitted.

I bought a Stratus at OSH this year. I liked having nexrad and winds reports on the flight home. And it's great to be able to see traffic, especially here in the Denver area where things are pretty busy. I don't have "out", but sometimes my airplane shows up on the iPad traffic display, I guess because I'm detected on Denver approach radar.

You will only see the traffic when there is another aircraft in the same area with ABS-out to excite the system.

Yes, but that's close to 100% of the time in the Denver area. Even flying home from OSH we didn't lose traffic for more than a few minutes at a time. The bigger problem was not seeing any ADSB towers for about an hour in eastern Colorado.

Varel,

Would it be acceptable to ask what ADS-B out system you are having installed in your 170? I am tentatively in the Market for a 170, and am trying to budget for ADS-B since I live under the Seattle Bravo airspace.

Thanks!

ATC radar generates the TIS system data by interrogating txdrs, then rebroadcasting to receiver/displays equipped for it.