Tailbeacon opinions

cgrab said:
I had a Rasberry Pi ADSB in but sold it.
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I built one of those (Stratux) Raspberry Pi units from an kit available on Amazon. IIRC it was somewhere about $100 but it works perfectly. I still have it. Offered to let a friend use it in his plane as he's taking lessons now.
 
I can't use the TailBeacon because I have a Champ and it has those Flash Gordon style navlight pods (which BTW are just shy of $400 ea if you ever need to replace one - ask me how I know...) I've been mulling over the GDL 82 but as others have said for an extra $1200 you can get a brand spankin' new GTX 335 transponder so I've been struggling with the decision. I don't need it at my home field but the Mode C circle has me locked out of a lot of local airports so eventually I'm just going to have to break down and get it one way or another. I guess money's no good unless it's getting passed around but thirty two hundred bucks is probably sixty or seventy hours of gas money for the Champ. :(
 
BoButt said:
We put the Tail Beacon in the 1956 - 172. I had installed several for customers. The biggest issue was/is the #4 screws when many tail lights have #6. When the AT50 dies, will try to find a 327 to replace it.
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I picked up a working Narco AT150 on eBay last year for when/if mine dies. Very inexpensive. My tailBeacon works perfectly with the AT150.
 
One question I have about the tailbeacon... it's gotta be heavier than the nav light it replaces, so flutter could be an issue if your tail light is mounted in the [moving] rudder?
 
Dana said:
One question I have about the tailbeacon... it's gotta be heavier than the nav light it replaces, so flutter could be an issue if your tail light is mounted in the [moving] rudder?
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It's listed at 70g (around 2.5oz). It actually might not be heavy enough. :)
 
Notes from my 2019 installation of tailBeacon on a 1979 Piper Warrior (PA-28-161).
Removed rudder cap from plane.

Removed Grimes Model A2064 Tail light and weighed it: 76.8 grams
tailBeacon and hardware weighed: 91 grams.
Net difference 14.2 grams, the weight of 5.68 new US pennies.
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Silvaire said:
I can't use the TailBeacon because I have a Champ and it has those Flash Gordon style navlight pods (which BTW are just shy of $400 ea if you ever need to replace one - ask me how I know...) I've been mulling over the GDL 82 but as others have said for an extra $1200 you can get a brand spankin' new GTX 335 transponder so I've been struggling with the decision. I don't need it at my home field but the Mode C circle has me locked out of a lot of local airports so eventually I'm just going to have to break down and get it one way or another. I guess money's no good unless it's getting passed around but thirty two hundred bucks is probably sixty or seventy hours of gas money for the Champ. :(
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I decided to go Appereo Stratus ESG tethered to a stratus 3i, will be around 4-4.25 AMU but gives me out and in. The in will only be on iPad it won’t drive panel stuff - but I’ll never have panel stuff to drive in this plane but the iPad will have the WiFi to the stratus on start up without bringing the stratus 2 w me or having it charged... I just bit the bullet n did it. I don’t fly controlled much but not being able to do it at all is frustrating.

Dana said:
One question I have about the tailbeacon... it's gotta be heavier than the nav light it replaces, so flutter could be an issue if your tail light is mounted in the [moving] rudder?
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Not all birds the same but on my Cessna 140 the rudder is not a balanced surface. The only one that’s balanced is the ailerons... but that may not be true for all birds
 
just looking at the gulfcoast site, not to endorse them, but, they had the EGS with 3i package for 2695. tailbeacon is 1995. again, if you have an old transponder seem like a no brainer to me..........
 
Huckster79 said:
I don’t fly controlled much but not being able to do it at all is frustrating.

Not all birds the same but on my Cessna 140 the rudder is not a balanced surface. The only one that’s balanced is the ailerons... but that may not be true for all birds
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You don't need it in all controlled airspace, no B or C or mode C veil but D is OK.

Even an unbalanced surface can go into flutter if the weight is increased... but it sounds like the weight here is minimal.

Even though it's meant to be installed as a tail light, couldn't it possibly be mounted elsewhere, with the light disconnected?
 
Dana said:
You don't need it in all controlled airspace, no B or C or mode C veil but D is OK.

Even an unbalanced surface can go into flutter if the weight is increased... but it sounds like the weight here is minimal.

Even though it's meant to be installed as a tail light, couldn't it possibly be mounted elsewhere, with the light disconnected?
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yea i know i can get into D, but i have a club plane at a class c so currently have to drive 50 mins vs 15 min flight when i need the 4 seater, the cessna 120/140 convention is in a mode c veil this year, would like to meet my dad near where hes staying and its a little class d inside a mode c veil, etc. So it does limit my missions at times... So its time.

i dont think the tailbeacon can go elsewhere as its designed and approved for the tail. I think there needs to be no cause for flutter concern being its approved on a list of models, and hasnt seemed to be causing that... I changed my mind on it specially but only because I found a unit that I desired more, everything i found on it its a good unit..
 
unsafervguy said:
just looking at the gulfcoast site, not to endorse them, but, they had the EGS with 3i package for 2695. tailbeacon is 1995. again, if you have an old transponder seem like a no brainer to me..........
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I ended up buying it through a local dealer, should arrive today... yea i just came to see it as the no brainer when i seen out and in for and all new for about an AMU or 1.5 AMU...
 
Huckster79 said:
I decided to go Appereo Stratus ESG tethered to a stratus 3i, will be around 4-4.25 AMU but gives me out and in. The in will only be on iPad it won’t drive panel stuff - but I’ll never have panel stuff to drive in this plane but the iPad will have the WiFi to the stratus on start up without bringing the stratus 2 w me or having it charged... I just bit the bullet n did it. I don’t fly controlled much but not being able to do it at all is frustrating.

Not all birds the same but on my Cessna 140 the rudder is not a balanced surface. The only one that’s balanced is the ailerons... but that may not be true for all birds
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I think you are absolutely correct in your decision. One could say that I think that because I made the same decision, but I am further down the road with my 140 panel evolution and STILL think it’s correct.

I got my ESG complete with the 3i and antenna for $2300 as a gift deal because I had helped him have a hangar when he needed it. My thinking at the time was exactly the same as yours. I will NEVER put a navigator in the panel to take advantage of a 345’s additional ability to feed traffic and weather directly to the navigator. Well here I am a few years later and guess what? I am putting a navigator in the panel. I am doing it on an extremely limited budget trading an 8130’d O-200A case for the installation and a good price from a kind soul for a 420. So, at this point it would be nice to have put in a 345, but that would have cost AT LEAST $2,200 more.

Additionally, if I were putting in a more modern, higher resolution navigator the ADS-B traffic and weather on the navigator rather than the pad would be nicer. I have flown a 345 and 430W a good bit in my Mooney and Traffic on a 400/500 series is legible, but the weather is not all that great. So given the budget, the plane and the missions, the Appareo arrangement will still serve me very well and I still don’t at all regret the decision. I fully expect that you will be very happy with yours.
 
Dana said:
You don't need it in all controlled airspace, no B or C or mode C veil but D is OK.

Even an unbalanced surface can go into flutter if the weight is increased... but it sounds like the weight here is minimal.

Even though it's meant to be installed as a tail light, couldn't it possibly be mounted elsewhere, with the light disconnected?
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I have not read the stc for it but I don’t think the stc would allow that type of instillation.
 
steingar said:
How do you tell if the fool thing is even working?
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Well, on preflight, I confirm that the lights on the unit do the proper thing.
In flight, when I'm getting ADS-B In, I see my ship on screen.

Far more insight than my transponder and encoder ever gave me ...
 
JoeSelch said:
Well, on preflight, I confirm that the lights on the unit do the proper thing.
In flight, when I'm getting ADS-B In, I see my ship on screen.

Far more insight than my transponder and encoder ever gave me ...
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So if it breaks in flight you need to have your eyes on a screen in order to tell? My transponders have always had a light or something to show they're getting power. The encoder can go out and you'd not no it until you get a nastygram from the FAA. Of course, that was before ADSB. Then again, you have a point. My panel mount doesn't show my airplane on a screen.
 
steingar said:
The encoder can go out and you'd not no it until you get a nastygram from the FAA.
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I now set my transponder to show the pressure altitude as part of my preflight; it shows '-----' while the encoder is warming up and later displays a meaningful number when the encoder is operational.
 
steingar said:
So if it breaks in flight you need to have your eyes on a screen in order to tell? My transponders have always had a light or something to show they're getting power. The encoder can go out and you'd not no it until you get a nastygram from the FAA. Of course, that was before ADSB. Then again, you have a point. My panel mount doesn't show my airplane on a screen.
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Yes, eyes on a screen would tell; just like eyes on a transponder light. Although, the light is only good for transponder power and pings, says nothing about the quality of the transpondence or the encoder ("... we're not picking up your Mode C ..."). Not to mention that one is more likely to look at a screen displaying navigation information and traffic than a transponder.

Otherwise, yes, wait for a nastygram just like with the ole' transponder/encoder.
Or, periodically run a PAPR.
Probably not a bad idea for anybody running ADS-B to keep tabs on how well it's working ...
 
Checking if anyone has a working Narco AT 150 TSO available
 
My Appereo Stratus goes in tomorrow! Gunna give her the test Sunday and head to Florida in her
 
Rock Berube said:
Checking if anyone has a working Narco AT 150 TSO available
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I got a spare last year on eBay for $215 plus shipping. It took a couple weeks of watching, but if you have the time and are careful, it might be a way to go.
 
Or, just look in Foreflight, More, Devices and it will show Connected. Make sure Traffic is selected in your choices at the top left of the Maps page. After climbout, look at the upper left corner of the Map and it will show Connection Good in white letters.

If you’re not a Foreflight user I’m sure that any EFB, even the free ones will show it.
 
Huckster79 said:
yea i know i can get into D, but i have a club plane at a class c so currently have to drive 50 mins vs 15 min flight when i need the 4 seater, the cessna 120/140 convention is in a mode c veil this year, would like to meet my dad near where hes staying and its a little class d inside a mode c veil, etc. So it does limit my missions at times... So its time.

i dont think the tailbeacon can go elsewhere as its designed and approved for the tail. I think there needs to be no cause for flutter concern being its approved on a list of models, and hasnt seemed to be causing that... I changed my mind on it specially but only because I found a unit that I desired more, everything i found on it its a good unit..
Click to expand...

We have too many things on the schedule that will probably prevent it, but I would like to go to the convention near Atlanta this year. If so, We’ll see you there. The last one I went to was 2014 I think. My late wife died in 2016. I am remarried now and my new wife loves flying in Miss Piggy (see signature.) I would like to do another 120-140 convention with my wife. I think she would love it.

Did they finish your transponder installation?
 
I installed a Tailbeacon on my Yankee. It checked the ads-b box when there was a 9 month wait to get my plane into an Avionics shop and a 2 month deadline before I could not fly over my home airport without it. I installed it myself and traded some old Subaru parts (that I had from a car I sold) for supervision, an inspection and a sign off from the A&P working on the 172 parked next to me.

In that time crunch, I would do it again with less hesitation than I had the first time. Without the time crunch, I would consider a new transponder. I would only consider it because when my KT76 (not A) died a month later, it was tough to find a serviceable replacement. If I purchased another plane today, I would check availability of a replacement transponder before I purchased a Tailbeacon. If the plane had a KT76A, I would install a Tailbeacon. If it has a KT76 or an AT150, I would purchase a serviceable backup to keep on a shelf before I purchased a UAT option or I would just install 1090 transponder.
 
steingar said:
How do you tell if the fool thing is even working?
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ElPaso Pilot said:
Look on Foreflight and see if there is an N-number next to your little icon on the map.
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MBDiagMan said:
Or, just look in Foreflight, More, Devices and it will show Connected. Make sure Traffic is selected in your choices at the top left of the Maps page. After climbout, look at the upper left corner of the Map and it will show Connection Good in white letters.

If you’re not a Foreflight user I’m sure that any EFB, even the free ones will show it.
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??? Are you sure, Doc?

Tailbeacon is ADS-B out. Foreflight won't connect to it.

Foreflight needs to connect to an ADS-B in device like a Stratus(x), at which point you see the "Connected" indicator.

Once you are receiving from an ADS-B ground tower, then the "Good", "Marginal", or "No Towers" is displayed.

I have had a transponder fail, which results in "Connected" "Good" and a working Tailbeacon that won't transmit since the transponder is not responding to pings. Then there is no N-number associated with my Foreflight self-traffic.

You can also connect the iPad app directly to the tailbeacon for diagnosis, as it stores the last broadcast date/time.
 
Whoops! I misunderstood. I thought you were asking about a full featured device of some sort. My bad.
 
MBDiagMan said:
We have too many things on the schedule that will probably prevent it, but I would like to go to the convention near Atlanta this year. If so, We’ll see you there. The last one I went to was 2014 I think. My late wife died in 2016. I am remarried now and my new wife loves flying in Miss Piggy (see signature.) I would like to do another 120-140 convention with my wife. I think she would love it.

Did they finish your transponder installation?
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yes and it worked great, we flew her down to Florida. Was really nice having IN as busy as the coast was with planes. I’m very happy with it. Less sold on the ANRs we bought for the trip... I thought I’d get used to em on the flight here but frankly I’m not impressed... we went lightspeed sierras and w my sunglasses on it’s a constant audible hiss w ANR on... it was a great flight though!
 
I converted a David Clark basic headset to ANR with the kit that I think was $170. It has served me very well. All the comfort and reliability of a DC headset with the ANR to boot.
 
MBDiagMan said:
I converted a David Clark basic headset to ANR with the kit that I think was $170. It has served me very well. All the comfort and reliability of a DC headset with the ANR to boot.
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see it’s the ANR part is what I’m not sold on... I think I’m going to return these- they said 30 day satisfaction guaranteed, no questions asked return... and then get a quality set of passives...

Neither of us thought it felt any quieter except on the ground or low rpm... I feel rather “disconnected” from my bird with them on during landing... I don’t feel the “I can’t hear my engine make trouble” feel with them as I can still hear engine fine... it’s the rush of the wind sound airspeed indicator I miss...
 
For some reason, my ANR headset is more important to me in the Mooney than the 140. I don’t think the Mooney is louder. I think it has something to do with the Mooney being more intense flying for me. This probably doesn't make sense.
 
MBDiagMan said:
For some reason, my ANR headset is more important to me in the Mooney than the 140. I don’t think the Mooney is louder. I think it has something to do with the Mooney being more intense flying for me. This probably doesn't make sense.
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I think I might get ya...
 
MBDiagMan said:
For some reason, my ANR headset is more important to me in the Mooney than the 140. I don’t think the Mooney is louder. I think it has something to do with the Mooney being more intense flying for me. This probably doesn't make sense.
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I owe you a thank you, and if you make convention a beer! Your comment gave me pause to reconsider the stratus esg, I couldn’t be more happy!

I put 25 hours on last week and into some busy airspace and man it was nice just firing up turning on a transpinder and instantly had traffic and weather on my iPad without setting up the portable stratus 2. It was so nice no circumnavigating around class C and slid under several class b’s - it was fantastic!

Thank you! I’m sold on the ESG/3i for folks not looking for panel driven stuff.

it as a great trip! Smooth air whole way down to FL, met up w a former owner of my bird n we flew I got to ride as Px which was really neat to see flight from that perspective. We did the low approach down the space shuttle runway, it was a lot of fun and the adsb really was frosting on the cake.
 
I’m glad it worked out as well for you as it has for me. Aren’t you glad you didn’t use the cheapest thing you could get by with? I have tried to explain the value to people looking to buy the beacon, but you’re the only person that I recall that was open minded enough to look harder at it. I believe that for someone who flies with an EFB capable of ADS-B utilization, they would find the difference worth it if they would try it but “you can lead a horse to water...”. Punching in your squawk rather than twisting it in is a nice side benefit that, again, people see no advantage until they try it.

Do you have any application to let you use the synthetic vision? I use a Foreflight plan that provides synthetic vision. My stratus is mounted underneath the right side of the panel and is transparent to connect just like your ADS-B connects every time you crank it up. It gives you a glass cockpit type display of heading, altitude, air speed combined with valuable obstacle information and you can even so the synthetic runway as you are on final. It’s fun to play with.

I’m a week or two away from having a GNC420 in place of COM 1 in the stack. It would be nice to have a 345 instead of the Appareo in the panel to feed the 420, but in my case it would have cost $2,200 more and I just can’t justify that for the 140.

Hope to meet you at an event sometime. Enjoy your new panel toy.:)
 
MBDiagMan said:
I’m glad it worked out as well for you as it has for me. Aren’t you glad you didn’t use the cheapest thing you could get by with? I have tried to explain the value to people looking to buy the beacon, but you’re the only person that I recall that was open minded enough to look harder at it. I believe that for someone who flies with an EFB capable of ADS-B utilization, they would find the difference worth it if they would try it but “you can lead a horse to water...”. Punching in your squawk rather than twisting it in is a nice side benefit that, again, people see no advantage until they try it.

Do you have any application to let you use the synthetic vision? I use a Foreflight plan that provides synthetic vision. My stratus is mounted underneath the right side of the panel and is transparent to connect just like your ADS-B connects every time you crank it up. It gives you a glass cockpit type display of heading, altitude, air speed combined with valuable obstacle information and you can even so the synthetic runway as you are on final. It’s fun to play with.

I’m a week or two away from having a GNC420 in place of COM 1 in the stack. It would be nice to have a 345 instead of the Appareo in the panel to feed the 420, but in my case it would have cost $2,200 more and I just can’t justify that for the 140.

Hope to meet you at an event sometime. Enjoy your new panel toy.:)
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I didn’t use the synthetic vision much- we had to go around the smokies due to clouds on way down and turbulence on way back. But figured it would be nice for the mountains and when I go to the Rockies again.

I’m tweaking my iPad location and then I might.
I really like where I have the iPad - its more comfortable than pics make it look and totally out of my way.

19F26340-EF6D-4D60-A400-26F61D2CA50C.jpeg


I’m going to move it a couple inches forward which will allow me to turn it out a bit more to face me and block nothing- but not in front of you the synthetic vision seemed uncomfortable- but for just the map part it was great to not have anything on my lap or in my way- reaching it to tweak a route or whatnot is actually very ergonomic where it’s at...

And yes punching in a squawk code is far nicer!
 
I rarely use the synthetic vision either. I was just pointing out another advantage you have because I didn’t know if you were using it.

How did you mount the iPad up there? It works very well in my lap when I’m flying by myself, but when there is another adult with me in Winter with coats on, the lap doesn’t work out very well. I don’t think it would work very well up there when under the hood, but I’m anxious to explore it. What size iPad is that? Mine is the biggest I could get.
 
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