I think the ga tcas you are talking about might be the alert only systems like zaon sell which relies on replies from aircraft that have been interrogated by atc or other tcas aircraft as your description seems to suggest this,if you are out of coverage of either then you will see nothing. They use a combination of signal strength and c replies to get aprox distance and height - better than nothing I suppose. Tcas equipped aircraft can interrogate other aircraft either mode s or ping only a/c.
Nigel Andrews Sent from my iPhone On 21/04/2012, at 12:30 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Send Aus-soaring mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Aus-soaring digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Gliders, Transponders and ATC (Texler, Michael) > 2. Re: Radio & near collision. (Lucas James) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2012 06:36:17 +0800 > From: "Texler, Michael" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Gliders, Transponders and ATC > To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: > <19a4aca95b66d84bbebec02ddcaadef20f19b...@w3c06pevs.hdwa.health.wa.gov.au> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >> Not true, TCAS will trigger your transponder outside radar coverage. > > Thanks Mike. > Is that sort of TCAS still a big boy's (heavy metal) toy or is it creeping > into GA? > > When I have used GA a/c equip with a so-called 'TCAS', I was told it relied > upon using signals from interrogated transponders. It gave only rudimentary > information such as aircraft at, above or below, and no heading information. > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: not available > Type: application/ms-tnef > Size: 2928 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: > <http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/private/aus-soaring/attachments/20120421/aa9d9dac/attachment.bin> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:01:35 +1000 > From: Lucas James <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Radio & near collision. > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed" > > On 20/04/2012 21:37, Simon Hackett wrote: >> In the unlikely event you've not all seen it already, here's one way >> the outcome could have turned out: >> >> http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/007288.html >> >> I will say that while I appreciate its an issue that more than a few >> glider pilots seem passionately opposed to for their own reasons, the >> notion of regularly operating transponders in gliders is one that I >> personally believe would be of active assistance here (I certainly do so). >> >> I think that doing so could directly improve safety in this regard >> [noting that the link above indicates the glider concerned had one, >> but it wasn't powered up - like all electronics, its far less >> effective when its switched off] >> >> I'm not directly arguing for mandating transponders in gliders (and >> not specifically seeking to re-start that particular debate). >> >> Rather, I'm just indicating there are significant merits in choosing >> to operate a transponder in a glider, because having ATC and TCAS >> equipped powered aircraft able to see *you* is definitely a source of >> additional alerted avoidance of mid air collisions - whether or not >> you have something in your glider that works in the other direction. >> >> I've found that air traffic control is frequently helpful to VFR and >> IFR aircraft, in that they will call you up proactively and advise of >> the presence of transponder-equipped unidentified traffic in your >> vicinity on a pretty routine basis. They're as interested in avoiding >> mid air contacts as the rest of us are. >> >> In addition, aircraft like the powered plane I'm fortunate enough to >> fly also paints any aircraft with a working transponder on my moving >> map... with position, relative altitude, and aural and visual alerting >> of nearby traffic. This is becoming very much more common over time, >> and increasingly affordable as a retrofit as well (cf. Zaon units, and >> the always-nearly-available Power FLARM units). >> >> As for all of the other ways we might become aware of another aircraft >> in our vicinity (Mark I eyeball, use of VHF radio, FLARM, hang glider >> pilot screaming obscenities after a powered aircraft or glider passes >> too close, etc)... having one more way to avoid a collision has to be >> a good thing, IMHO. >> >> Anyway - we all do the best we can. And if we keep looking out for >> (and looking after) each other, hopefully we can continue to minimise >> the chances of such collisions overall. >> >> Last thought I have here is that I reckon it'd be great if CASA (via >> the GFA?) was asked about the notion of allocating a generic >> transponder code for transponder-equipped gliders to use instead of >> 1200. That would help ATC to be sure that what they are seeing is a >> glider, and hence would help them to inform other traffic more >> usefully about the likely tracking characteristics of a glider they >> may wish to alert other traffic about. >> >> Regards, >> Simon >> > > For all that want to read the report: > > http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20060906X01297&ntsbno=LAX06FA277B&akey=2 > > <http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20060906X01297&ntsbno=LAX06FA277B&akey=2> > > And the recommendations: > > http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2008/a08_10_13.pdf > http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2008/a08_14_15.pdf > > > regards, > Lucas > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/private/aus-soaring/attachments/20120421/903c4795/attachment.html> > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > > End of Aus-soaring Digest, Vol 103, Issue 21 > ******************************************** _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
