Well, I will be in the states for a week at the end of January, i was going to order a stratux, if someone were to ask me very nicely I could buy a second one!
Which one are you getting? I am deciding between
everlastconcepts.com or crewdogelectronics.com
Apparently the everlast has external gps which gives a better accuracy…do not know if that is true.
Crewdog seems less cable tangly.
Edit: I consider it a nice inexpensive gadget and will use it mainly as a worst case ahrs backup and to spot ads-b traffic on my smartphone…
Is there any portable device that shows transponder (a/c/s) and ads-b traffic?
I am going to get the crewdog edition, mount it behind my panel and Add usb câbles to the antennae, pilotaware seems to have the whole ga mapping of a/c/s signals but reading into the comments early on in this thread I am not so sure.
I think I found an alternative to stratux : the dual XGPS 170D
WAAS GPS, dual band ADS-B receiver, internal battery.
They seem to have a neat family of products.
A bit expensive, but looks simple and tough and should work work with many apps.
Any feedback on this stuff ?
Edit : does it works with SD ?
I use a DUAL XGPS160 which is solid and reliable. No experience with the 170
Hi everyone,
First thread here so please be gentle :-P
I did once a VFR flight with a colleague above some very interesting geographic phenomenon. Of course we were not the only one and we spotted several other aircrafts. At some points we wanted to do some air work so we flew away but one of the airplanes was following us so we went further and there we couldn’t see it anymore. Was it away or were we unable to see it? Any way we did some 360 to be sure before starting to do some wild aerobatics i.e. 60° bank turn…
This got me thinking, it would have been nice to know where the other aircraft was for sure and not just looking for it outside, with the doubt that if you don’t see it it doesn’t mean it’s not there…
I am thinking of buying an ADS-B IN device to be able to see some traffic on my tablet. This has to be portable because I do not own an aircraft.
I came across the stratux solution http://stratux.me/#pre-built-units, way cheaper than the other solution. But I see only American tests of it. So my question is:
1) has anyone used or tried such thing in Europe? Is it worth having double band?
2) I was thinking of building my own case with a solar panel on top to power the thing. Any suggestion?
Thanks
Valtime
Hello,
I have been using one for a tens of flights, and what I can say… You can see only airliners and you are separated from them most of time. There are very few ADSB GA planes (in France), some Cirruses mainly. At one point it is a bit useless because it is additional hardware, plus a lithium battery to carry. The suction mount is not really reliable when sun is shinning, more of time the device fall, so you can’t really rely on it, especially with the AHRS function that seems to work well with Skydemon.
I am currently wandering if I sell it or if I keep it.
Another reason is that stratux is not compatible with Flarm, and in south of France there are a lot of gliders.
3 monthes ago, I got a near collision situation with an helicopter, around the mountains, helicopter was not seen, not even signaling on the radio…
If we can find a cheap ADSB in./out with flarm solution, that would be great. I don’t think we need certified material as long as it’s not a requirement.
Hi,
What @greg_mp said is definitly true. There are very few GA aircraft that have ADS-B out and as pointed out you rarely get close enough to the big ones for it to matter. However I have seen a few helicopters using it. Generally in Europe you will not find any ADS-B on 978MHz since the frequency is still used by some TACAN station, so the second antenna on the Stratux is basically useless (except for the few weather stations in the south of England and now at Friedrichshafen EDNY). Fortunately someone went through the hassle to port the OGN FLARM library to be used with Stratux. I have been using the Stratux with ADS-B in 1090ES and FLARM since half a year now and I would not miss it. Certainly it is a hassle to carry yet another device with battery (or you can plug it into the power outlet) however I think the pros outway the cons. In my experience, range for FLARM especially in a metal airplane can be problematic with the Stratux since the antennas are inside (There is a new radio in the making which should have better sensitivity thus better range and lower power than the old SDRs that are currently used). Nevertheless I had countless times where I would see traffic in my EFB before I could spot them with my eyes. The only thing you won’t see are the airplanes left with Mode-S only.
Here is the link to the ready to go image with the FLARM port: https://github.com/PepperJo/stratux/releases
Disclaimer this is my github account however I did not write the initial port but only did some minor modification to it and created a ready to use image. Feel free to shoot me any questions.
Also it might be worthwhile to invest in an antenna tuned for 868MHz to get better reception for FLARM.
Jonas
I tried the stratux-flarm version last year with a 868 MHz tuned attenna.
The range was rather disappointing : about 1 km I would say.
I bought it and used it a few times. I second what’s written above. The main use was for Xavion (which doesn’t have accurate airport data for europe) and as attitude backup. I sold it again. I might buy another one though as it would work with Foreflight Synthetic Vision. The Sentry receiver is more expensive and has very bad reviews.
