[Rob P]

Personally I make no attempt to identify how good or bad our EC setup is.

ADSB-Out from the approved GPS / Transponder fit, PilotAware for out and in, with very effective glider spotting at base.

Better than not having anything. Better than lookout alone. What more do I need to know?

Rob P

[leemoore1966]

all EC units can SEE adsb.

FLARM does not see ADSB, and there are thousands of FLARM mouse, classic, bat, softrf, etc which are pure FLARM
Thx
Lee

[Shoestring Flyer]

The problem is that the buyers of portable EC equipment are becoming disappointed because their £250 subsidised chosen device randomly positioned in an aircraft is not seeing all traffic!
Did you really expect that it would?
If you rent an aircraft then a mobile EC device is probably your only choice and it is certainly better than nothing and will see some traffic but a portable device just cannot give you optimal EC traffic viewing or transmit performance!
The best solution by far if own an aircraft either in a group or as a sole owner, for both seeing the most traffic and transmitting EC from your aircraft, is to fit a device permanently to your aircraft with suitable external antennas.

[gaznav]

all EC units can SEE adsb.

FLARM does not see ADSB, and there are thousands of FLARM mouse, classic, bat, softrf, etc which are pure FLARM
Thx
Lee

No one makes just plain FLARM anymore as I understand it? Everything is PowerFLARM and there are plenty of in-built or optional ADS-B receive capabilities on the market. Also, SoftRF can just about pick anything up, but is obviously a self-build thing

PowerFLARM transceiver with ADS-B reception
PowerFLARM Fusion
PowerFLARM Portable
PowerMouse FLARM (ADS-B option)

ADS-B receivers with FLARM reception
AIR Traffic AT-1
f.u.n.k.e. TM250
SoftRF (it does FANET too)

ADS-B Transceiver with FLARM reception
SkyEcho 2

I used to use a Classic FLARM (LX Nav Portable) with my SkyEcho to try and make myself visible to as many FLARM users as I could. Sadly the LX Nav FLARM Portables weren’t very robust and so they are pretty much scrap after about 7 years of use. Now I have in built FLARM detect, and the fact that the Rules of the Air require me to give way to the majority of FLARM users, then my SkyEcho 2 does just about all that I need along with the use of my eyeballs

[Shoestring Flyer]

Slight correction Gaz,
PowerFlarmFusion-
PowerFLARM transceiver (out/in) with also ADS-B reception also non-directional Mode S reception.

Couple it with an ES Transponder and you more or less (with the exception of P3i) have all bases both' in and out' covered!

[ls8pilot]

I was discussing this thread with another gliderpilot today (as we were working to set up our new Nympsfield Atom/Grid station). We could both remember when Flarm started where initially only a portion of other gliders had it. Within 5 years we went from remarking on the ones you saw with Flarm to (now) remarking on the (very rare) glider you see without it.

EC takeup in a voluntary environment takes a while, so don't expect to see everything, but IMHO it will gather momentum .

By the way in the first few hours of the new ground station we saw:

21 Aircraft with ADSB/Transponder
7 Aircraft with ADSB/SE2
11 Aircraft with Pilotaware
20 Aircraft with Flarm

(Of course there is some overlap in these figures - from Aircrew.co.uk).

FYI: At the moment only a small number of gliders will "see" ADSB; as pointed out most classic Flarm devices dont receive it, PowerFlarm can - but it is a £500+ add-on, so it will take a while for people upgrade. A good percentage of gliders will be sending ADSB-out (SE2 or transponder), but the ADSB-In function of SE2 does'nt integrate with any gliding kit......... I'm just about to invest in a major instrument upgrade to get PowerFlarm+ADSB,

[Cessna571]

Why I don’t get involved any more.
All the naysaying and backstabbing.

Ho hum.

I prefer flying.

Ho hum.

[Miscellaneous]

That's weird

That's exactly what I thought and having typed my response thought, maybe not so weird forJohn. So I deleted my response and went flying.

[Flyin'Dutch']

That's weird

That's exactly what I thought and having typed my response thought, maybe not so weird forJohn. So I deleted my response and went flying.

Best solution.

Managed some Cubbing myself on Tuesday..

[TopCat]

So my shiny new half-price SE2 seems to work. I haven't seen much traffic with it yet, but it's early days. More exciting is the fact that I've now found some of my recent flights on FR24.

However I have mixed feelings about having my movements so easily tracked.

Are they any rules governing what you have to transmit, if you transmit anything?

Obviously I'd like to be seen as well as see, so I intend to emit ADS-B, but do you have to also transmit a callsign with it?

[mick w]

My SE2 picked up Langar's Meat Bombers up nicely today , en route Leicester

[Miscellaneous]

Managed some Cubbing myself on Tuesday..

Fantastic. This evening was a proper Cubbing evening at home. I don't think there's another aircraft comes close to imitating Cubbing. Such a shame one has to embarrass oneself by having to wear loafers (or at least have a pair onboard) to fly one.

My milestone of 2021 was my first landaway of the year. Bloody marvellous it was too.

Checklist:
Packed lunch on board to include,
sandwiches, fruit, flask of coffee and cake…check, or so I thought until uncovering the cake, which turned out to be raw carrots. Shhh, I daren't complain or I will be told to sort my own packed lunch and there's zero chance of that including cake….ever.

To get back to the OP's point. I can report that my SE2 did, for the first time, pick up some other traffic. In fact, whilst warming up it picked up a heli which I was able to tune in to on the monitoring frequency and subsequently contact once I was airborne. He was low level on a training exercise. Job done. I decided to overfly an airfield for a look to see how busy it was to decide on whether I should land. No point in landing to talk to myself, I do that when flying/ As I approached the overhead SE2 picked up opposing traffic, which I have yet to see. Within a couple of minutes the MK1 spotted a 172 opposite direction about 1200' (?) below, SE2 didn't warn me of it. I will check out whether it shows on any of the tracking sites before pointing the finger at SE2. What I did not get today is any audio warnings, so it's off to the manual to check it out before criticising the product. In fact there's a couple of things to checkout before I apportion blame. Stand by!!

172 circled in black.

[MattL]

Spent most of the last two weeks examining in very busy airspace as lots of GA + good weather, the SE2/SD combination has been brilliant to tactically plan general handling and where to anchor around / where to avoid. Yesterday was a classic where I was about to initiate a practice forced landing for the candidate but SD showed a pop up other PA28 below in the same area. Visually acquired them and it seems they were also doing a PFL into same area so we moved away and repositioned. Yes we still need LOOKOUT but it’s all a real step change in capability compared to a few years ago, many of my students returning to flying from bigger stuff are amazed at what SD can do and display!

[Flyin'Dutch']

@Miscellaneous

Surreal colours.

Sandwiches, flask and basket it is here too with all eateries closed at the moment.

Tedious but prob 90 better for the coronaries than the 'apfelkuchen mit sahne' customary on normal days.

[Miscellaneous]

Ah, @Flyin'Dutch', there's more to quality of life than having the healthiest arteries. I'm not quite sure how one measures the negative health implications of the disappointment of raw carrots being revealed when expecting cake.