Anonymous Mode for ADS-B

Who knows the regulations for using the anon mode?
My Navworx has the option in settings. But it seems to apply only when on 1200 SQ. Is it prohibited in the Mode C veil? My nasty letter from Houston FAA said they think I am using a portable transmitter. No ID is being broadcast, even though I have the proper ICAO code in the unit. (600-EXP)
The GPS position must be pretty accurate since they correlated my aircraft with an ATC code and postion bread crumb map of the ADS-B signal. (they include a copy of the plane tracking across the map... with their letter)
The letter concluded by inviting me to email Michael Smith. He never answered my email. Go figure.

You are correct, anonymous mode cannot be used except when squawking 1200.

What's the point of the Anonymous mode anyway. I personally would not fool with it. The govt/faa can track and find out who we are in hardly any time at all. You're cell phone alone tells them who and where you are based on cell towers pings, (on the ground). If you don't want them knowing who your are or that you're flying... probably have to turn your ADSB off all together as well as your transponder. I wonder if this actually makes your target MORE rather than less noticeable to them. I suspect most folks simply don't care. I know I may have this wrong but..... if you haven't committed a crime or something what's the point.

The hitch in the gitty up is that the ADS-B regs clearly state that if an aircraft is ADS-B out equipped, then it must be on at all times when the aircraft is operated. In the air or on the ground. Even taxiing between hangars. Even when you are on a private ranch in the middle of Montana taxiing from the barn to the house. This is effective NOW. If the aircraft is ADS-B out equipped, the equipment must be on and functional any and all times the aircraft is "operated". This is quite different than the older legacy transponder rules (Mode A or Mode C) that allow turning off the equipment when not in required airspace.

So if you pull your breaker or otherwise disable the expensive weighty ADS-B compliant equipment any time the engine is running or the airframe is moving you are violating FARs.

This is why the Oshkosh arrival NOTAM has all legacy transponder-equipped aircraft turn off transponders but all ADS-B out keep their systems in full functional mode. They cannot pre-empt the FARs with a NOTAM without the equivalent hassle factor of an act of Congress.

"Political" text deleted per forum rules; S. Buchanan

Jim

My reason for being in the anonymous mode when squawking 1200 is the same reason that some corporations block their N numbers, so that the casual observer can't tell who they are and what they are doing. When you are being handled by ATC and given a discrete code the anonymous mode should be automatically disabled. The FAA has already said that ATC will not handle aircraft in the anonymous mode so all they have to do is give you a code that is different from 1200.


Dan
RV-7A

Be careful my friend . . .

Paul 5r4 said:

I know I may have this wrong but..... if you haven't committed a crime or something what's the point.

Click to expand...

Because tracking your every move is a communist way of life. Traveled there - seen that, 6 months after the curtain fell. They came into my room when I was gone and went through my bags. It's ugly when everyone in the government has the power to track you.

The larger question is why should anyone be tracked if you haven't committed a crime.

Isn't ADS-B OUT is only going to be required where mode C transponders are required today?

bkervaski said:

Isn't ADS-B OUT is only going to be required where mode C transponders are required today?

Click to expand...

Not an accurate statement. What the rules state is that if you fly in airspace where a Mode C transponder is required you will be required to have ADS-B OUT equipment functioning before you will be able to fly in that airspace. The rules further state that if you have ADS-B OUT equipment installed the FAA mandates it be on and active at all times.

FAR 91.215 states that your transponder must be on in all controlled airspace not just the airspaces where it is required.

Dan

I predict that it will just be a matter of time (after 2020) that they use this data to implement user fees and possibly automatic flight violations. Just think how easy it would be to automatically charge your credit card for any and every FAA service provided.

Reference to deleted text in earlier post removed due to political content; S. Buchanan

The NPRM for ADS-B came out in 2007 (and NPRMs are the proper way for new regulatory agency rules to be promulgated under the law). There's nothing unconstitutional about the FAR requiring ADS-B-equpped aircraft to have the equipment on and operating. If you feel it is, then the judicial system still works in the U.S., and that would be one avenue for fighting it.

I get much more worked up about things like CBP harassing pilots within the borders (sometimes well within the borders) without any probable cause or reasonable suspicion.

Now, if you want to talk user fees and automatic billing and all that...yeah, I definitely foresee that coming to pass. Especially since there is a push on currently to privatize ATC. Now, who can we blame for that, I wonder?

RV7A Flyer said:

Which is why we don't have to have a driver's license or register our cars...oh, wait...

Click to expand...

Well, we already have to register planes and have pilot's licenses. But our planes' numbers are available worldwide with our registration info. A normal mode S or ADS-B out gives all of that to anybody in the World anytime we fly. Except UAT in anon mode. Yes, the govt. still knows who we are if they want to, just like they can find who owns your car in a few seconds by the license plate.

But imagine the uprising if our wives drove into town to do errands, and anybody in the world can see where and when they go because of the tracking device required by law? I know mine would feel LESS secure. The promise of this ADS-B that I remember was that pilots would have more freedom to make their own traffic avoidance. Not so that the entire planet could monitor your every move.

Flflyer said:

Well, we already have to register planes and have pilot's licenses. But our planes' numbers are available worldwide with our registration info. A normal mode S or ADS-B out gives all of that to anybody in the World anytime we fly. Except UAT in anon mode. Yes, the govt. still knows who we are if they want to, just like they can find who owns your car in a few seconds by the license plate.

But imagine the uprising if our wives drove into town to do errands, and anybody in the world can see where and when they go because of the tracking device required by law? I know mine would feel LESS secure. The promise of this ADS-B that I remember was that pilots would have more freedom to make their own traffic avoidance. Not so that the entire planet could monitor your every move.

Click to expand...

Anyone can have their tracking data blocked at the FAA level, so it doesn't get disseminated by FAA (although that doesn't prevent anyone with an ADS-B ground receiver to get the data directly from the aircraft).

I'm not sure how one could make the system secure so that only other planes can get the data to do traffic avoidance, but non-planes can't...I'm not an IT Security expert, but I suspect it would start with encryption methods and go from there.

And I've long felt that for the FAA to make aircraft registration info publicly available, including home address, is a gross violation of privacy. The states learned years ago not to give out personal info based on auto licenses, after that young actress got murdered by someone who got her info from DMV. Why the FAA still does this is beyond me.

Moderator

Please lock the thread. I only intended to diagnose why my ID failed on the compliance report. Thank you.