Looking for assistance from Stratus owners

[John Collins]

I am compiling a list of ADS-B ground station locations (GBT). The FAA won't provide the locations other than on a crude map of the CONUS. The eventual purpose would be to get the locations shown on the Sectional Chart. If you have a Stratus portable ADS-B receiver, it can display the latitude and longitude of the locations of the GBTs it is receiving. It is important that the format setting of the latitude/longitude be set to DD MM SS as I am not using the other two formats (DD.dd and DD MM.mm).

What I am looking for is a screen shot of the stations while in flight. This may be done two ways, touching the settings button on the map page and then touching Stations. You can also go to More>Device>Stations and cause them to be displayed. If you do a screen shot about every 100 miles while in route, you will capture most of them along your route.

Please send any of the screen shots to me at my yahoo email account: john.collins52@yahoo.com.

So far, I have collected locations for 252 GBT sites and have entered their locations as user waypoints on FF. I have attached a few screens to show what I am looking for and the areas I am missing. I will sort out any duplicates.

Change this setting:



To the following:

View attachment 31694







Thankyou in advance for anyone who is willing to help.

 

[comanchepilot]

I'm pretty sure sooner or later someone is going to contact you and tell you [likely without any legal authority] to stop doing that because a) its classified b) its a public health and safety threat, c) its national security!! you idiot or d) stop or else.

Its the security apparatus and it must be in control. . . .

 

[John Collins]

I'm pretty sure sooner or later someone is going to contact you and tell you [likely without any legal authority] to stop doing that because a) its classified b) its a public health and safety threat, c) its national security!! you idiot or d) stop or else.

Its the security apparatus and it must be in control. . . .

The information is in the public domain transmitted in the clear by the GBT. Regardless, I am just asking just for shots. I have already received from another forum help to obtain what I have accumulated in the past three weeks. If someone doesn't want to help, that is their choice.

 

[comanchepilot]

The information is in the public domain transmitted in the clear by the GBT. Regardless, I am just asking just for shots. I have already received from another forum help to obtain what I have accumulated in the past three weeks. If someone doesn't want to help, that is their choice.

Sarcasm emoticon missing . . .

Would not be the first time someone said or did what I joked about ...

 

[BillTIZ]

I'm just curious as to the benefit of having this list?

Either I'm recieving data from the ground, or I'm not. I would not alter my course just to get coverage. I've flown enough years without to know having or not having will not impact my flying.

 

[John Collins]

I'm just curious as to the benefit of having this list?

Either I'm recieving data from the ground, or I'm not. I would not alter my course just to get coverage. I've flown enough years without to know having or not having will not impact my flying.

I see a benefit, others don't. That's what makes the world go around. It makes a difference to me which airport I chose and what route I take, particularly thru the mountains if I want to maintain service. I am not trying to convince anyone, just collect data. If you can help, thanks. If not, I understand.

Edit: I have no use for NDB locations on a sectional, but I have no problem with them being there for those that have a use for the information.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

John,

To clarify, you're looking for screen shots with the lat/longs of the received stations?

I have some of those. They're not in DD.dd format (I'm using... Uh, whatever the default is, I think - Or maybe I switched it to match the KLN 89B) but they're converted easily enough. Do you need the screen shots, or would you like me to provide you a list?

I think this sort of info is good, too... Thanks for compiling it!

 

[John Collins]

John,

To clarify, you're looking for screen shots with the lat/longs of the received stations?

I have some of those. They're not in DD.dd format (I'm using... Uh, whatever the default is, I think - Or maybe I switched it to match the KLN 89B) but they're converted easily enough. Do you need the screen shots, or would you like me to provide you a list?

I think this sort of info is good, too... Thanks for compiling it!

The format I am using is dd mm ss. The FF default is DD.dd. Although it is easy to convert DD.dd into the format I am using, the data lacks precision. In many cases I can use the rough DD.dd position and other tools to locate the actual position, it just involves more work.

What part of the country are you flying in? I have attached a screen shot of the Wisconsin area so you can see the open areas that I don't have location data for. If my location snapshot is a wrong guess, let me know the area and I can show you what I have so far. To date, I have location data on over 320 GBT sites.

 

[AuntPeggy]

I see a benefit, others don't. That's what makes the world go around. It makes a difference to me which airport I chose and what route I take, particularly thru the mountains if I want to maintain service. I am not trying to convince anyone, just collect data. If you can help, thanks. If not, I understand.

Edit: I have no use for NDB locations on a sectional, but I have no problem with them being there for those that have a use for the information.

Will you be selling the data?

 

[John Collins]

Will you be selling the data?

No. I hope to have the ADS-B GBT locations noted on sectional charts. I am going to the ACF (Aeronautical Charting Forum) meeting in the Washington DC area during the last week of this month and intend to offer my suggestions in reference to a request from Alaska FAA. Most of the GBT locations are already charted as obstacles on the sectionals without any annotation. I am going to recommend that a label or icon be added to indicate the class of the GBT, H - high, M - medium, or L - low altitude. Each class of GBT provides different services, for example the L class does not include the CONUS Nexrad product. According to the FAA documentation, the GBT fractional distribution is H - 1/9, M - 2/9, L - 2/3. So I would have the text read something like adsb-M. The locations where the GBT is located at an airport, I would include the data in the airport block.

 

[LDJones]

All I know is they're still too few and far between where I fly.

 

[John Collins]

All I know is they're still too few and far between where I fly.

That makes knowing where they are located more important. If you are using a Stratus, send me some screen shots. Here is a screenshot of the locations in your area that I currently have.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

If you have lat/long data, visit one of each class and get a picture. I'd be interested in knowing what a GBT station looks like (much like being able to identify a VOR, AWOS, ILS array, etc.).

 

[Rigged4Flight]

Send a FOIA request. Easy to do, and they have to at least respond with either the information you're asking for or a valid reason why they can't.

http://www.faa.gov/foia/foia_coordinators/index.cfm?action=other_requests

 

[John Collins]

If you have lat/long data, visit one of each class and get a picture. I'd be interested in knowing what a GBT station looks like (much like being able to identify a VOR, AWOS, ILS array, etc.).

Most are on existing Microwave towers used for communications, telephone and cell phone. New ones located at airports where there wasn't previously a cell tower are barber pole red/white poles inside a fenced area with electronics and standby power capability.

Here is a Google earth of an existing tower used by ADS-B



Here is what the one at my airport looks like: