With PaW Mode C you get altitude but no bearing or range
The Zain’s was indeed a mighty product and shame it folded – though doesn’t that speak volumes.
As cellular connectivity improves there will be a point where the viability of rebroadcast traffic does become a no brainier. But then the analogy is with ground based navigation beacons – you need enough coverage for it it to work.
@Peter the value prop is that at the moment – unless you have top end avionics, you need a box to receive traffic and potentially multiple ones if you want the best coverage (types). You then need a separate box if you want weather (away from cellular). You then need to monitor if you have cellular to decide where to get your data from. And loads of cables and boxes and apps. And to top it off – you can’t show them all concurrently on some EFBs – like SD.
Peter wrote:
That’s correct – no azimuth from anything currently on the “cheap” market.
I thought there was height/altitude info on Mode C/S traffic?
Peter wrote:
Not sure I have a “favourite” app.
Sorry, generic expression/term for whatever you may have and run…
Regards, SD..
That’s correct – no azimuth from anything currently on the “cheap” market.
I bet a lot of people are buying these boxes without realising this, because the advertising avoids explaining this aspect.
Not sure I have a “favourite” app. The moving map one I fly with is an unusual one which runs the normal VFR charts, and can’t display any overlaid data onto the map. If I was using something more “modern” I would use EasyVFR which I also have installed. But I do negligible VFR in the UK now, after the new CAA zero-tolerance policy started.
You will not get an idea where to look in PAW when you encounter a ModeS/C traffic, all you know it is there with unreliable range information (also if he is very low not replying to any Radar interrogations it will not exist on the tablet, looks same as if he is “transponder off” but the legal version of the switch)
Peter wrote:
What I think would be a good product would be a Zaon-like device (the £1k one they discontinued before they went bust) which gives you azimuth on Mode C/S and thus gives you traffic info on the vast majority of radiating targets, and then you can add what everybody else is doing i.e. bring in the various ADS-B flavours, Flarm, etc.
Perhaps I mis-understand the tech, but isnt that what PAW are now doing and connecting and displaying this to your “favorite” tablet nav-app?
I think there is also a dedicated App for your phone? And re-broadcast data too in the UK?
Regards, SD..
In that case I really don’t understand what the business proposition is.
Anybody can buy the ADL directly from @Sebastian_G and I believe there is some way to integrate traffic data from some other devices.
And “below satellite level” you have 4G and then the whole world of data is free. You don’t need messaging; you can run whatsapp telegram etc 
Years ago there were various people looking at airborne data delivery using the GSM system (GSM (SMS), GPRS, 3G, 4G) by using tricks, properly doable only on rooted devices, for aggressively connecting to barely accessible networks. AFAIK none of these ever went anywhere. And things are very slowly improving; for example crossing France ~FL110 this week I did actually get some intermittent connectivity on 4G (maybe 10x) whereas in past years there would be zero. I think Belgium is still zero. Vodafone contract.
What I think would be a good product would be a Zaon-like device (the £1k one they discontinued before they went bust) which gives you azimuth on Mode C/S and thus gives you traffic info on the vast majority of radiating targets, and then you can add what everybody else is doing i.e. bring in the various ADS-B flavours, Flarm, etc.
Then, for a real coup, fake a SIL=3 traffic stream which merges everything into a “certified” stream which can display on certified avionics, GNS upwards You will need to have a GPS in there and will need to reverse engineer the Garmin traffic data stream. Lots of previous threads here on EuroGA.
There’s a strong chance it may be using ADL under the hood
Have you looked at the costs?
There is a reason why the ADL is €25+ per month. The hardware is also not dirt cheap.
This old experiment may be fun to read Not a lot has changed.
Probably iridium
What type of satellite connection?
