Avidyne have finally delivered the ADS-B IN upgrade to their TAS6xx traffic boxes – here
At 700 quid I would be seriously inclined to get this box put in, just to see if my two SN3500 EHSIs and the KMD550 display it, or indeed display any traffic at all. There should be no risk, since it doesn’t interface to anything in the aircraft (other than getting gray code pressure altitude from the kea130a; it refused to take the arinc429 pressure altitude from the gtx330 
).
The reason I am keen to test it is that I’ve been told (as posted above, etc) that the merged (Mode C/S and ADS-B) data stream will not display on any device I have. I reckon this is probably not true, not least because it would trigger massive equipment obsolescence in any aircraft which installed the new TAS box.
I don’t have a WAAS GPS so presumably it would not show targets which emit just ADS-B OUT. Can the upgraded TAS605 box work at all, without a GPS input, in this way? And will its output data stream change fundamentally when the WAAS GPS is connected to it, and the ADS-B IN is enabled?
Perhaps @steveavidyne or @avijake might know more.
Peter wrote:
I don’t have a WAAS GPS so presumably it would not show targets which emit just ADS-B OUT.
Why would that depend on your GPS?
Peter wrote:
At 700 quid
Peter, you have seriously misunderstood the situation.
My upgrade was “free”, because of a long standing offer made by Avidyne, now no longer available. The 700 quid was just the engineering cost for fitting the upgrade.
Anyone without that “free” offer, I am guessing that the cost would be in the many thousands.
Why would that depend on your GPS?
Because any certified ADS-B IN product requires a WAAS GPS position source. Yes I know this is crazy; the extra accuracy / reliability assurance is not required in the real world.
The TAS6xx one doesn’t have a GPS inside.
My upgrade was “free”, because of a long standing offer made by Avidyne, now no longer available. The 700 quid was just the engineering cost for fitting the upgrade.
Anyone without that “free” offer, I am guessing that the cost would be in the many thousands.
Yes; I worked this out, looking back through the other thread. You got a voucher some years previously.
My TAS605 was installed Jan 2013 and – not sure about this, actually – the voucher was not available by then. Is that correct?
I would be looking at some 5k.
But let’s see if anyone from Avidyne pops up after my post above. They really should, given the quality of EuroGA daily audience.
Jan 2013 and – not sure about this, actually – the voucher was not available by then. Is that correct?
Nope. Mine was in 2014; I don’t know exactly when it started or ended.
AFAICT the Avidyne guy in the US turned off his forum notifications… I’ve emailed Steve directly.
My guess is that UK installer experience of this system is close to zero, currently.
Peter wrote:
My guess is that UK installer experience of this system is close to zero, currently.
I think I was the third that my guy had done, and they’ve only been out a couple of months.
One way to solve this question would be to park your plane next to mine and run your ARINC429 traffic feed over to mine and see if any of the traffic shows up
I don’t actually think anybody is going to underwrite the compatibility question in any contractually binding way… Who would risk a 5k box becoming “secondhand”. But I remain to be surprised.
I wonder if your installer has a TAS simulator. They are expensive. For sure mine didn’t have one, and Avidyne have told me that having one is not a requirement to be an Avidyne TAS dealer/installer. My installer just pushed the plane out of the hangar… which does work but probably doesn’t indicate poor sensitivity on certain bearings. Also one would need a proper tester to simulate ADS-B radiating targets, because there are so few of these in GA that you could sit there all day waiting to see one.
Does the ADS-B IN feature have similar altitude config as the basic TAS has i.e. + or – 3000ft/10000ft etc? If one sets it to 10000ft one can see airliners above, while parked.
Does the ADS-B IN feature have similar altitude config as the basic TAS has i.e. + or – 3000ft/10000ft etc? If one sets it to 10000ft one can see airliners above, while parked.
The UI is unaltered. So you still have N, A, B and U, and they seem to work in the same way.
Avidyne have been pointed to this thread and have told me they will get back in due course.
Another Q is whether a TAS605 can take a GTX345 GPS output as the “W” position source. I think replacing my GTX330 with a GTX345 would be the most cost effective way to do that bit, not having a “W” GPS in the panel (yet).
This is the “Avidyne fed from Garmin” question; e.g. a TAS605 cannot take the GTX330’s ARINC429 pressure altitude (this did not work in 2013 but I read somewhere that was fixed with some software update).
At the start of this thread was the Q about a GTX345 merging traffic data, which it can do, but if my TAS605 is replaced with an ADS-B IN capable TAS605 then that function becomes irrelevant.
Avidyne will have to supply a “trial TAS605 unit” so I can make sure it can feed the two SN3500 Sandels and the KMD550 like the present ones does, with a back-out option if it doesn’t work.
