As the owner of a TAS605, absolutely no way would I replace it with any of the portable gadgets.
The adoption of those, including full ADS-B OUT, is very low, as Airways says (and he should know).
The good olde Mode C/S transponder is still by far the most common common denominator.
Also there is no portable product currently available which gives you azimuth or distance of a transponding aircraft. Only relative altitude, and a range estimated from the signal strength (which will be heavily dependent on the two antenna gains). There used to be the old ZAON box which did azimuth but I don’t think anybody else has made a similar product after they went bust.
I am planning to upgrade my TAS605 to a TAS605A, to get ADS-B IN, but that still won’t show the majority of portable ADS-B OUT emitters because they are SIL=0. I am waiting on that upgrade until Avidyne can supply me an exchange unit, so if there is a compatibility issue I can swap right back.
Thank-you all for your valuable insights. Super helpful as usual !!
I guess I will stick to my TAS610 for the moment and maybe add an external ADSB/FLARM receiver on top.
Airborne_Again wrote:
A disadvantage (well, maybe depending on where you operate) with the Air Avionics Air Traffic is that it doesn’t display mode C transponder targets. The PowerFLARM Fusion displays both FLARM, ADS-B, mode S and mode C transponder targets. Like the Air Traffic unit, it doesn’t have a directional antenna so transponder targets are only displayed with altitude difference and approximate distance.The Air Traffic unit has an advantage over PowerFLARM in that it can send traffic data to Garmin displays. FLARM (the company) has dropped support for that in its own new units apparently because of compatibility issues.
Stratux EU will do both: show you mode C,S, ADS-B, FLARM targets and connect to panel mounted avionics via RS232
Peter wrote:
there is no portable product currently available which gives you azimuth or distance of a transponding aircraft. Only relative altitude, and a range estimated from the signal strength (which will be heavily dependent on the two antenna gains).
All of the above mentioned limitations apply to Stratux EU, but it’s dirty cheap, also because one can use soft-rf to detect FLARM targets
Peter wrote:
There used to be the old ZAON box which did azimuth but I don’t think anybody else has made a similar product after they went bust.
and that gave azimuth with an error margin of ±45° so the traffic was within a 90° sector
I did some comparison flights with a PilotAware Rosetta and a BF Goodrich Sky 497 (fixed TAS). My conclusion was; there is no substitute for accuracy. The bearingless traffic info was useless and the lack of an external antenna (PA) made that you missed the traffic that REALLY mattered, namely heads-on/same level.
I’m gonna bite the expensive bullet and go for a fixed installation…
I was quite surprised nobody else made a ZAON replacement, especially after they went bust.
I suspect it is because it really is the case that most prospective buyers of these things are confused (as is intended) and those who read “it sees Mode C/S transponders” never realise it is actually useless because you get no range or azimuth. Very cynical marketing…
Peter wrote:
I suspect it is because it really is the case that most prospective buyers of these things are confused
I lately did chat with a shop owner and he told me he will make cutomers sign a waiver explaining the limitations of passive traffic system before any installation to avoid just too many unhappy customers.
@peter wrote “ but that still won’t show the majority of portable ADS-B OUT emitters because they are SIL=0.”
Uavionix Skyecho2 is SIL 1 and I suspect this is the market leader at the moment.
I lately did chat with a shop owner and he told me he will make cutomers sign a waiver explaining the limitations of passive traffic system before any installation to avoid just too many unhappy customers.
That’s absolutely hilarious 
When you have flown across Europe, you know how to tell when you are in the UK? Suddenly your TAS / TCAS-1 shows a load of Mode A contacts 
I wonder how many think that adoption of ADS-B OUT will be any bigger, given the triviality of central monitoring of the emissions and instant compilation of infringers against an airspace database.
It reminds me of the old joke where I come from: After a particularly successful summit in Prague with his Czech comrades, Brezhnev is returning to Russia on a night train, with his comrade Kosygin. Pitch black outside. After a few hours, Brezhnev sticks his arm out of the window and says “we are still in Czechoslovakia”. A few hours later, he sticks his arm out of the window and says “we are now in Poland”. A few hours later, he sticks his arm out of the window and says “we are now back in The Motherland”. Kosygin is really impressed: “Comrade Brezhnev, we all know of your superior intelligence, but how do you manage this?” Brezhnev: “Easy. In Czechoslovakia, they kiss your hand. In Poland, they spit on your hand. In the USSR, they steal your watch”.
Uavionix Skyecho2 is SIL 1 and I suspect this is the market leader at the moment.
Yes that’s a good thing.
The strange thing is that a check on the flight following sites on a day with good flying weather in the UK will show a large increase in targets as compared to previous years. One major UK supplier had over 300 back orders for SE2 at one point in December so there is plenty of demand, maybe just not in your local area.
