FlightAware & Skybeacon / Tailbeacon / GDL82

Sinistar

Sinistar

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Brad
I'm at a pretty small field and getting to know most there. We're just outside the MSP veil so equipping is optional but some have. As of now I count (4) GTX345, (1) GNX375 and (1) Tailbeacon. Another is planning to install the GDL82.

So for as long the ADSB-out transponders have been flying we've all showed up on FlightAware for every single flight. So obviously the 1090ES is being picked up by their pi-aware stations. However, last night a plane with the tailbeacon installed did not show up on Flight Aware.

I am pretty sure he hasn't made his private (with FlightAware). My GTX345 was picking him up (directly) on the ground as he taxied which he thought was cool. I was also picking him up in the air (direct or puck - not relevant) after he departed.

So that left me wondering, will the Tailbeacon / Skybeacon / GDL82 equipped planes ever show up on FlightAware if they don't file IFR? Maybe their receiving stations are only rigged with one antennae / tuner for 1090 and not 978 (or whatever it is).

The next time we are both up I want to try a test to see how far away I can pick up the tail/sky beacon. I would think that even with less xmit power they should be picked up directly beyond the puck distance?
 
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I'm also part of the dirty beaconer mafia, and I too show up now every flight I don't forget to turn on my nav lights. :D
 
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Okay that makes 2. Are both of you guys at airports that have ADSB towers right on the field?
 
Sinistar said:
Okay that makes 2. Are both of you guys at airports that have ADSB towers right on the field?
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I have no idea about that. It’s a non-towered airport though.
 
Sinistar said:
Okay that makes 2. Are both of you guys at airports that have ADSB towers right on the field?
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According to the Google fu, my airport doesn't. Apparently the field 14nm up the road does have an adsb tower on the field. Mine is class D part time.
 
Sinistar said:
I'm at a pretty small field and getting to know most there. We're just outside the MSP veil so equipping is optional but some have. As of now I count (4) GTX345, (1) GNX375 and (1) Tailbeacon. Another is planning to install the GDL82.

So for as long the ADSB-out transponders have been flying we've all showed up on FlightAware for every single flight. So obviously the 1090ES is being picked up by their pi-aware stations. However, last night a plane with the tailbeacon installed did not show up on Flight Aware.

I am pretty sure he hasn't made his private (with FlightAware). My GTX345 was picking him up (directly) on the ground as he taxied which he thought was cool. I was also picking him up in the air (direct or puck - not relevant) after he departed.

So that left me wondering, will the Tailbeacon / Skybeacon / GDL82 equipped planes ever show up on FlightAware if they don't file IFR? Maybe their receiving stations are only rigged with one antennae / tuner for 1090 and not 978 (or whatever it is).

The next time we are both up I want to try a test to see how far away I can pick up the tail/sky beacon. I would think that even with less xmit power they should be picked up directly beyond the puck distance?
Click to expand...

My Skybeacon only shows up sometimes (< ~50% of the time). This is 25nm from a Class C primary airport.
 
Much of Flightawares ADS-B data comes from user linked receivers. Most of them are 1090 only, although they have been adding 978 to some. Around here it seems Skybeacon aircraft only appear once they pick up flight following.
 
Here’s what I think is a FlightAware track a friend sent me of my first flight with a Garmin GDL 82 installed in my Sky Arrow:

49339626397_07b8da5164.jpg


It’s a big loop around McGhee Tyson airport in Knoxville, a Class C. My home base, field elevation 900’, is just off to the left where the track begins and ends. My assumption is I needed at least a bit of altitude to be picked up.

Zoomed in here on my only subsequent flight. Looks like I have to be about 1,000’ AGL to be picked up. My transponder and GDL 82, on the same breaker, are powered up and squawking altitude from engine start, as recommended by the FAA.

49338997388_21db69ceef.jpg
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Ours seems to start tracking around 900agl. I've seen it track as low as 500agl.

I just verified with the tailbeacon pilot that he did not hide his flights on flightaware.

I'm guessing our nearby flightaware receivers don't have 978 rx yet.
 
They’re 978. The amount of 978 receivers is way lower than the amount of 1090, so Flightaware coverage is spotty
 
I run FlightAware feeders for both 1090 and 978. Both receivers are located in my home inside a Mode C veil, and less then five miles from the local Class D. Both receivers are equipped with FlightAware antennas for the appropriate frequency, with similar siting (i.e. about 25 feet AGL in my attic, under a basic asphalt shingle roof).

My RV has an echoUAT, and is based at the Class D mentioned above. Every VFR flight, regardless of whether I get a squawk code, is picked up before I reach pattern altitude.

Everything else being equal, 1090 is “punchier” when it comes to reception through ground clutter, so I’ll see those targets nearly out to the horizon. 978 traffic needs to be a bit higher. In real terms, for typical traffic at 2000’ AGL, I’ll lose 978 traffic somewhere between 10-20 NM away, and will get closer to 30-50 NM range for 1090 traffic.

Oddly enough, I do pick up ADS-R (and a steeply decreasing amount of TIS-B) from the nearest 978 tower (8 NM away). Recently, these rebroadcasts seem to outnumber “live” 978 traffic about 5 to 1.
 
I have TailBeacon on my C150, and I fly inside the MSP veil. I am usually picked up after takeoff (that is, my wife gets an alert on her phone from FlightAware that the a/c is "enroute" and available for tracking). However, when flying about 30 nm out of the veil, I haven't been picked up until I turn back towards the metropolitan area. I attribute this to spotty coverage outside of the veil. I have also found that FlightAware begins to "see me" as soon as I ident.
 
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MarkH said:
The 978 ADS-B units have an option for anonymous mode that will not be tracked by tools like FlightAware.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/february/pilot/ads-b-incognito
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Thanks for sharing that! My friend that just installed the tailbeacon is a 50/50 partnership. I think the other partner might have organized the installation so maybe he opted for the anonymous mode. Or is it that the anonymous mode is selectable? Then you could usually just leave it in anonymous until you file a flight plan or request Flight Following, etc. That makes things even more interesting then - lets say you decide to request flight following and they give you a non 1200 squawk code. You would need to disable the anonymous mode. Since the unit it outside the plane you would have to use an app to connect to the sky/tail beacon to change it...is that right?
 
Chilito said:
I have TailBeacon on my C150, and I fly inside the MSP veil. I am usually picked up after takeoff (that is, my wife gets an alert on her phone from FlightAware that the a/c is "enroute" and available for tracking). However, when flying about 30 nm out of the veil, I haven't been picked up until I turn back towards the metropolitan area. I attribute this to spotty coverage outside of the veil. I have also found that FlightAware begins to "see me" as soon as I ident.
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Curious which airport you are flying out of? If you are at a towered field (MIC,ANE,STP,FCM) do you always request flight following before taking off?
 
Sinistar said:
Thanks for sharing that! My friend that just installed the tailbeacon is a 50/50 partnership. I think the other partner might have organized the installation so maybe he opted for the anonymous mode. Or is it that the anonymous mode is selectable? Then you could usually just leave it in anonymous until you file a flight plan or request Flight Following, etc. That makes things even more interesting then - lets say you decide to request flight following and they give you a non 1200 squawk code. You would need to disable the anonymous mode. Since the unit it outside the plane you would have to use an app to connect to the sky/tail beacon to change it...is that right?
Click to expand...

No, that's not quite right. The anonymous mode only affects identity in 1200 code. That means when you are squawking a non 1200 code, the beacon transmits in non-anonymous mode automatically. When you squawk 1200 it does so in anonymous mode again without need for user input.

Furthermore, the anon mode is in fact user-selectable from your phone/device app, which is connected via wifi to the beacon and works on the ground (wifi doesn't work in the air, the beacon turns off wifi after a certain ground speed threshold), so you can easily toggle that prior to taxi from your own hand. It really is a very flexible feature.
 
@Sinistar, regarding anonymous mode:

Sinistar said:
My GTX345 was picking him up (directly) on the ground as he taxied which he thought was cool. I was also picking him up in the air (direct or puck - not relevant) after he departed.
Click to expand...

Do you recall if you saw his tail number on the traffic display lined to your 345 (EFB or GPS)? If so, that would be a dead giveaway that anonymous mode was *not* enabled. Has he requested a PAPR report from the FAA to verify the installation? That would also fail in anonymous mode, since there's no way to link the broadcasts to a specific airplane.
 
hindsight2020 said:
No, that's not quite right. The anonymous mode only affects identity in 1200 code. That means when you are squawking a non 1200 code, the beacon transmits in non-anonymous mode automatically. When you squawk 1200 it does so in anonymous mode again without need for user input.

Furthermore, the anon mode is in fact user-selectable from your phone/device app, which is connected via wifi to the beacon and works on the ground (wifi doesn't work in the air, the beacon turns off wifi after a certain ground speed threshold), so you can easily toggle that prior to taxi from your own hand. It really is a very flexible feature.
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Thanks for clarifying! They did a good job then of being compliant just based on the 1200 squawk. Its also cool that user anonymous mode can be changed by the owner without a trip to the avionics shop!!! I am a GTX345 owner but I think the sky/tail beacons are a fantastic product. There was a lot of talk about install difficulties related to older xpdrs and we're not hearing much of that either! Thankfully Garmin didn't end up squashing them regarding the IP. I have a hunch a used sky/tail beacon will always retain at least 85% of its original price as they are such a nice solution whether they are permanent or even just temporary.
 
Coup de chat said:
@Sinistar, regarding anonymous mode:



Do you recall if you saw his tail number on the traffic display lined to your 345 (EFB or GPS)? If so, that would be a dead giveaway that anonymous mode was *not* enabled. Has he requested a PAPR report from the FAA to verify the installation? That would also fail in anonymous mode, since there's no way to link the broadcasts to a specific airplane.
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Yes, when I did see him on the ground Garmin Pilot (via the GTX345) it showed up as the brown rectangle (indicating on the ground) and his full tail number showed up. So clearly his anonymous mode was off. That helps a lot! Still not sure if he bothered to pull the PAPR report. Since his install was after the rebates dried up maybe he never bothered.
 
Sinistar said:
Yes, when I did see him on the ground Garmin Pilot (via the GTX345) it showed up as the brown rectangle (indicating on the ground) and his full tail number showed up. So clearly his anonymous mode was off. That helps a lot! Still not sure if he bothered to pull the PAPR report. Since his install was after the rebates dried up maybe he never bothered.
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That's very helpful! Go ahead and pull the PAPR report based on that flight.

FAA's ground station coverage is dense enough that you're almost guaranteed to "hit" at pattern altitude at any airport just outside the Mode C veil. If you don't get a report, this would point so configuration errors that would prevent correlation to his flight, such as a typo in the ICAO hex code.
 
The ADS-B coverage of 978UAT on FlightAware depends on whether someone has a UAT receiver connected to their server. As time goes on, I expect to see a more complete picture of 978UAT flight data, but for now, it is spotty in comparison to 1090ES coverage.
 
Sinistar said:
Yes, when I did see him on the ground Garmin Pilot (via the GTX345) it showed up as the brown rectangle (indicating on the ground) and his full tail number showed up. So clearly his anonymous mode was off. That helps a lot! Still not sure if he bothered to pull the PAPR report. Since his install was after the rebates dried up maybe he never bothered.
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I don’t believe you can set anonymous on the certified skybeacon.
 
I am now based at Lake Elmo-21D, but when I used to fly out of STP, I picked up flight following from ground control about 99% of the time. They would take care of the squawk code and coordinate with approach, which I miss, but isn't a big ordeal to request when airborne.
 
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