ADS-B IN receiver

[jdubner]

Dynon marketing: do you have plans to eventually add dual-band capability to the SV-ADSB-470?

I realize this would be a hardware change as well as firmware (probably big jobs for both).

The reason I'm asking is to help make my purchasing decision (Dynon vs. one of the dual-band portables with a tablet) and also to install a second antenna while I'm installing the first.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Dynon]

It's on our radar (excuse the pun), but there's nothing imminently in the hopper. In a sense, until we announce something, there aren't any plans. If you're in the US, our SV-ADSB-470 gets you the whole traffic picture when you're also using our mode-S transponder to tickle the ADS-B ground stations.

 

[jdubner]

Good to know that it's a possibility, even if way off in the future.

I'm concerned about traffic while over the large areas of Nevada, eastern Oregon, Idaho, etc. where there is little or no ground station coverage. I would like to be able to operate autonomously (assuming all were ADS-B OUT equipped, as may be the case in another 5 years).

--
Joe

 

[dynonsupport]

Joe,
A few things to consider:

1) I realize you understand this, but just to make it clear: Without ground station coverage, a dual band receiver can only receive aircraft equipped with an ADS-B out transponder. While this will become more common as we approach 2020, for aircraft flying in remote areas, there's no requirement they have a transponder at all, much less a Mode-S ES with ADS-B out. It won't just get every airplane that has a Mode-C or Mode-S transponder.

2) The ADS-B ground station system is fully built out in the USA and there are virtually no gaps in coverage. I just flew back from Oshkosh up in the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho, and I was never without coverage if I was more than 500 feet off the ground. You can look up a coverage map online, and one thing to note there is that coverage is based on a receiver that just meets the TSO. Dynon's receiver is significantly better in sensitivity than the TSO requires, thus we get even better coverage. The map is also based on coverage at 1,500' AGL, so if you are higher you will get signal farther out in most cases.

Check out the current coverage map. There's no large areas missing:

3) The primary use of a dual band receiver is as a hack on top of planes that are not ADS-B OUT equipped. With dual band they have twice the chance of piggybacking on a plane in their area that is ADS-B out. However, all Dynon SkyView installs with our transponder are ADS-B OUT, so this isn't much of an issue.

 

[jdubner]

Thanks for explaining it to me. Now that I understand it better, I agree: there's no compelling need for the 1090 MHz receiver.

Besides, if Dynon /does/ include the second band at some later date, I would expect you'd also include a diplexer so a single antenna would suffice.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[rvator51]

I have the Status dual receiver that I use with Foreflight on my iPad.  With the 1090 antenna, I pick up mostly high altitude jet traffic.   I ended up turning the distance traffic off as a lot of times the high altitude traffic is going directly overhead or close by (horizontal distance wise) and it clutters the display and I spent time looking at it.  In going to Oshkosh and back this year, I ran into dead spots between Phoenix and Dalhart TX, and also in Nebraska and Colorado coming back.  Its really annoying to be flying through the front range of the Rocky Mountains and lose your ADS-B weather.  I may just need a remote antenna for the Stratus receiver to get better reception, but I do miss the XM weather.  I think the Dynon transponder and ADS-B receiver is the way to go.  They are doing more integration with ADS-B weather onto the map page and i assume more features will be added in the future.  The Dynon ADS-B receiver seems a little high priced based on other receivers out there though and I wish it has bluetooth so I could send it to the iPAD so my wife in the back seat of our tandem aircraft could see it.

-Tom 

 

[dynonsupport]

Tom,
You will find the sensitivity of the Dynon ADS-B receiver installed with a permanent belly mount antenna to be much higher than a portable on your panel.

 

[jdubner]

Like Tom I'm attracted to the Stratus (and other units) by the lower (but still not "low") price and Bluetooth or WiFi link to a tablet for display.  But I would only use a portable with the external antenna I have installed; I just can't abide with built-in antennas in a metal airplane.

But that's the rub: every portable I've researched that will work with Avare (an Android charting app) contains its own GPS without provisions for an external antenna so the unit must be positioned with a view of the sky.  And it gets worse from there: one well-known unit requires 5VDC/2A power.

So I'm going with the Dynon receiver (and I just ordered it today).  I'm looking forward to its solid performance and the integration with SkyView although I'm unhappy how cluttered my map screen already is.

Speaking of cluttered, I have a feature request for a "de-clutter" button that I've put in another thread.
http://dynonavionics.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1407444060

--
Joe

 

[60av8tor]

Tom,
You will find the sensitivity of the Dynon ADS-B receiver installed with a permanent belly mount antenna to be much higher than a portable on your panel.

+1. I had a portable and it was sporadic at best - I was really down on ADS-B wx vs XM. After installing the Dynon, however, I have excellent wx all the time - without the $55/month