Unencrypted ADS-B Out

Well the Mode S connection and the tin foil hat brigade on that issue are on to something -

Air Force 1 used non-encryped ADS-B - thus - it can be tracked the same way. Yet, it is blocked - so either they can match a radar target to an ADS-B target and squelch them both, or, they squelch the target using the Mode S code. Either way, they can do what they have not done. . . .
 
Would be interesting to see what a direct receiver sees when AF1 is overhead, unfiltered by FAA.
 
By the way, folks trivializing privacy issues as "tin-foil hat crowd" as devices do more and more tracking of everyone, probably isn't exactly smart. All tech can be used for "good" or "evil".

I personally see very little "good" or necessary to know which specific aircraft a particular target is.

Couldn't possibly be related to the recordings of the NORAD hard-line channels on 9/11? They had no flipping clue which airliner was which, and the bad guys knew which breaker to pull or switch to throw, to disappear...

Anyway. Point is, sometimes it's unreasonable paranoia but sometimes nobody really needs to know some of the stuff the various location systems that track things already know.

The ham radio world's fascination with always on APRS beaconing always baffled me. Why would I want anyone to know where I was all the time, and thus, where to smash a window and steal my radio gear? LOL.

No one really needs to know where my specific 182 is either, really. I'm not totally paranoid about it, and it isn't blocked on Flightaware or anything, but I don't see much good coming of it, long-term.

Maybe, just maybe, SAR. Assuming none of the other designed-for-SAR systems worked.
 
denverpilot said:
There's others. Similar price tag, but judging by the pricing on SDR gear that'll be 1/2 that price in six months.
Click to expand...
Care to name a specific company and product? Preferably with an URL to their store.
 
zaitcev said:
Care to name a specific company and product? Preferably with an URL to their store.
Click to expand...

Well with SDR there's tons of fast hardware out there right now. Whether there's appropriate software from more than one source, I haven't had time to research yet.

It's about a year down my to-do list at current run rate. ;)
 
Palmpilot said:
How does that enable flying anonymously, as John suggested?
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I did some research on this. Assuming the UAT is installed in an aircraft that does not have a mode S transponder, the anonymous feature may be used. In the case of the GNS530W/GDL88, you need to add a switch to the panel that the pilot uses to control when anonymous mode is enabled. With a GTN/GDL88 installation, the GTN provides a screen option that the pilot uses to enable anonymous mode.

When the GDL88 is installed, the feature is configured to be enabled and the VFR code (usually 1200) is configured as the activating transponder code for anonymous mode. Anytime the pilot has anonymous enabled (by the switch or the GTN) and the GDL88 detects 1200 as the transponder squawk code, it enters anonymous mode.

When in anonymous mode, the 24 bit ICAO ID is not used and a status field in the broadcasts indicate that the ID is not the ICAO value. The value being used remains the same until the anonymous mode is exited, either by changing the squawk code or the pilot turns off the mode. When the mode is first turned on, a code is assigned based on a portion of the aircraft latitude and longitude at that instant and the aircraft ICAO ID.
 
Boy, this is really going to cut down on the flight hours for N12345... I dunno if people air-file as that or if ATC just uses it frequently when they don't hear/know someone's tail number in certain situations, but it used to show up as everything from a 152 to a jet, and have flights nearly every day. :rofl:
 
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flyingcheesehead said:
Boy, this is really going to cut down on the flight hours for N12345... I dunno if people air-file as that or if ATC just uses it frequently when they don't hear/know someone's tail number in certain situations, but it used to show up as everything from a 152 to a jet, and have flights nearly every day. :rofl:
Click to expand...

And there is no airplane with that number being registered.
 
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