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APRS obsolete with ADS-B?

krw5927

Well Known Member
With the proliferation of ADS-B based flight trackers like flightradar24, is there still a benefit to using an APRS tracker if your aircraft is ADS-B out equipped?

I'm thinking that now that my aircraft has ADS-B out, there doesn't seem much point in doubling up on tracking technology. I can remove the APRS and lose a few ounces of weight.

Thoughts?
 
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With the proliferation of ADS-B based flight trackers like flightradar24, is there still a benefit to using an APRS tracker if your aircraft is ADS-B out equipped?

I'm thinking that now that my aircraft has ADS-B out, there doesn't seem much point in doubling up on tracking technology. I can remove the ADS-B and lose a few ounces of weight.

Thoughts?

That is an excellent question, and one on which I need some education. Is there an internet site that provides subscription-free display of the ADS-B track? And if so, at what resolution?
 
I haven't searched exhaustively, Sam, but Flightradar24.com does not require a subscription. It's more suited to tracking flights that are actually in the air at the given moment, but you can search by tail number and find past tracks as well using the "advanced search" feature. I'm unsure how long this particular system saves tracks (edit: 7 days for the free version, 30 days for the subscription account.)

The resolution seems to be far better than APRS. If I show the graph of my past flights, there appear to be 5-6 data points per minute (sometimes more).

Certainly more sites like this will be popping up as 2020 nears.
 
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I haven't searched exhaustively, Sam, but Flightradar24.com does not require a subscription. It's more suited to tracking flights that are actually in the air at the given moment, but you can search by tail number and find past tracks as well using the "advanced search" feature. I'm unsure how long this particular system saves tracks (edit: 7 days for the free version, 30 days for the subscription account.)

The resolution seems to be far better than ADS-B. If I show the graph of my past flights, there appear to be 5-6 data points per minute (sometimes more).

Certainly more sites like this will be popping up as 2020 nears.

This is for a flight not on an IFR flight plan or using flight following?

By the way, I think you are typing "ADS-B" when you mean "APRS".
 
This is for a flight not on an IFR flight plan or using flight following?

By the way, I think you are typing "ADS-B" when you mean "APRS".

You're right, Sam. I corrected my posts above.

Yes, this is for all flights transmitting ADS-B out (maybe it only works for 1090 out, not sure), regardless of flight following or IFR.

For example, see the link below (Feb. 5 flight). I was flying around with a friend, shooting some practice approaches. No flight following, no flight plan, nothing.

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/n425kw/#8bcdd3f

Compare with the APRS track:
http://www.mail2600.com/cgi-bin/track.cgi?call=N425KW

(Note, these links will only be relevant and valid for a couple more days.)
 
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Sam,

I looked of my flight Saturday up to BGF in my 8 and it shows my flight to and from BGF via my ADSB out.
 
Am I the only one that has a problem with someone watching my every move? I guess the State Police will put GPS trackers on my car next :eek:
 
If the fuse / cb to the xpndr blows, ADSB out stops working. I have a bag of spare fuses....

Our flight in the 9 showed up nicely, but I wasn't flying the crop circles around HSV....
 
Stealth mode

The NavWorx 600EXP unit can be configured to omit the N number when squawking 1200. Perfectly legal unless you're flying when/where ADSB is required.
Stealth mode!
Tim Andres
 
The NavWorx 600EXP unit can be configured to omit the N number when squawking 1200. Perfectly legal unless you're flying when/where ADSB is required.
Stealth mode!
Tim Andres

Yes, 978 UATs can be configured to provide a randomized ICAO 24-bit address (hex code) so that your aircraft cannot (quite as easily) be identified.

As of now, sites like flightradar24 aren't collecting 978 UAT data. I bet that will change soon.

Keep in mind that many of us actively choose to be tracked anyway, by turning on an APRS transmitter that broadcasts to the public. No different from a 1090 mode S transponder.
 
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