ADSB... uAvionix

[joekinnc]

Can-o-worms??  What are folks thinking of this solution... seems hard to beat for easy and simplicity... the engineer in me likes both...

Edited November 30, 2018 by joekinnc

[David_H]

Big G made it a can of worms... regardless of the reasons for doing so.

[BDPetersen]

I guess I’ll find out in a month. Canary in the coal mine?

[Skates97]

They are saying the tailBeacon will be 1st quarter of 2019, I'm holding on hoping for that.

[SantosDumont]

I’m waiting for Tailbeacon and will slap it on the second it’s available. 

[Immelman]

I'll be eagerly awaiting your pireps! Please post once you get your beacons.

[Mooneymite]

As I mentioned in another thread, I bought Tail Beacon for my experimental back in September. 

Installed in virtually no time.  You use your smart phone to program it.  The logbook entry (they tell you what to say) took almost as long as the actual installation.  

First time I flew it, the report came back all OKay.

For my experimental, it was definitely the way to go.  For my Mooney, I'm still weighing the options.  Obviously, I am not happy about Garmin's suit and that will probably prejudice me against a Garmin solution for the Mooney.

[joekinnc]

cool - forgive me fore being naive - why are folks waiting for the tail beacon vs the one on the wingtip - looking to learn what I don't know...

 

[bob865]

My SkyBeacon came in on Friday and is sitting on my table waiting on time to get it installed.  Would have done it this weekend except the rain didn't stop until late Sunday and unfortuanately I don't have a hangar.  May try to take an afternoon this week to go intall it so I can work with my A&P.  Pirep to follow.

[Sabremech]

1 hour ago, joekinnc said:

cool - forgive me fore being naive - why are folks waiting for the tail beacon vs the one on the wingtip - looking to learn what I don't know...

 

I have the 201 wingtips with the lighting enclosed under a cover. Tail beacon is the solution for me. 

[skydvrboy]

So does the skybeacon work with any existing mode C transponder?  I have an old KT 76 TSO that works fine and I don't want to replace it if I don't have to.

[Raptor05121]

8 hours ago, joekinnc said:

cool - forgive me fore being naive - why are folks waiting for the tail beacon vs the one on the wingtip - looking to learn what I don't know...

 

Some of us have LED nav lights already, no point in throwing one side away. Plus, like said above- OCD. The tail unit is nice and neat

[Sime]

I notice on the uavionix website that the Skybeacon lens is clear so you can see all the guts of the assembly. It's not a dealbreaker, but I'm not a fan of that. Are production units like this or was the clear lens just for marketing purposes?

Also, what have they done for security on these units? I imagine they are mounted with screws and even if you used security head screws, they are pretty easily bypassed with a tool you can buy at most hardware stores. Is the Sykbeacon registered/encrypted to the aircraft it was originally purchased for so that it can't be used on another aircraft (ergo, no point stealing it)?

Edited December 4, 2018 by Sime

[SantosDumont]

17 hours ago, joekinnc said:

cool - forgive me fore being naive - why are folks waiting for the tail beacon vs the one on the wingtip - looking to learn what I don't know...

 

I spent $1000 on Whalen LED NAV/Strobes that look great. Don’t want to have something hokey that sticks out on the wingtip and doesn’t have a strobe. 

[Mooneymite]

15 hours ago, Sime said:

Also, what have they done for security on these units?....

Though the Tailbeacon is passcode protected, an uninformed theif might think it's a great way to get ADS-B compliant.  It wouldn't be until he tried to reinstall the unit the passcode would come into play.

The small allen screw would, perhaps, deter a walk-by thief, but the unit itself is both easily installed....and removed.

[bob865]

13 hours ago, SantosDumont said:

I spent $1000 on Whalen LED NAV/Strobes that look great. Don’t want to have something hokey that sticks out on the wingtip and doesn’t have a strobe. 

I don't disagree with not changing LED nav/strobes if you already have them done, but it does have a strobe.

[OR75]

42 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Though the Tailbeacon is passcode protected, an uninformed theif might think it's a great way to get ADS-B compliant.  It wouldn't be until he tried to reinstall the unit the passcode would come into play.

The small allen screw would, perhaps, deter a walk-by thief, but the unit itself is both easily installed....and removed.

if it was not password protected, it would be a great way to track thieves 

[bob865]

41 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Though the Tailbeacon is passcode protected, an uninformed theif might think it's a great way to get ADS-B compliant.  It wouldn't be until he tried to reinstall the unit the passcode would come into play.

The small allen screw would, perhaps, deter a walk-by thief, but the unit itself is both easily installed....and removed. 

What deters the walk by thief from pulling off $500 LED nav lights?  Ones without any identifying marks on them?  I know plane theft happens and stuff gets stolen out of/off of planes, but this is an odds game.  How often does that really happen? Again, not saying it's not worth considering.

With that said, if I ran across a security set of 6x32 screws I would definitely use those to intall vs. #2 phillips screws.

[MARZ]

Is the tail beacon requiring an independent power run? 

[N6018Q]

11 minutes ago, Mike Ropers said:

Is the tail beacon requiring an independent power run? 

Easy Installation

Installation is as simple as replacing the aft aircraft position light.  

• No airframe modifications or additional antennas are required.

• Works with any  Mode C or Mode S transponder.

• Transponder data is provided via the existing aircraft wiring system using the Power Transcoder.

• tailBeacon uses the existing mounting location, breaker, and wiring.

• The installation requires 2 screws and reuses the existing power and ground to your current position light

[bob865]

Here is what the actual unit looks like.

[GDGR]

23 minutes ago, bob865 said:

Here is what the actual unit looks like.

I think this, LED strobes, beacon and a Stratus for ADS-B in will be added to my next annual

Edited December 5, 2018 by GLJA

[MARZ]

17 hours ago, N6018Q said:

Easy Installation

Installation is as simple as replacing the aft aircraft position light.  

• No airframe modifications or additional antennas are required.

• Works with any  Mode C or Mode S transponder.

• Transponder data is provided via the existing aircraft wiring system using the Power Transcoder.

• tailBeacon uses the existing mounting location, breaker, and wiring.

• The installation requires 2 screws and reuses the existing power and ground to your current position light

That statement requires the lights to be on at all times for the tail beacon (ads-b) to work? Don't seem right

[kpaul]

1 minute ago, Mike Ropers said:

That statement requires the lights to be on at all times for the tail beacon (ads-b) to work? Don't seem right

Do you fly with your lights off?  My nav lights and landing light are on from engine start to shutdown.  Strobes are on before I enter the runway and off after clear.  Day and night I want to be seen.

For folks looking for a cheep and easy solution it seem using the current tail light power source wires is the way to go.

[Marauder]

2 hours ago, kpaul said:

Do you fly with your lights off?  My nav lights and landing light are on from engine start to shutdown.  Strobes are on before I enter the runway and off after clear.  Day and night I want to be seen.

For folks looking for a cheep and easy solution it seem using the current tail light power source wires is the way to go.

I do fly with the lights on unless I am in the clouds at night. Then the strobes go off. So I guess it should be wired to the Nav lights and not the strobe circuit? Same for the ADS-B out light?