ADS-B "en route traffic services"

[thibault]

My A/C is ADS-B out 2020 compliant and I use Skyradar, WingX Pro, and an Ipad for ADS-B in.

The equipment all works fine and I see FIS-B data virtually all the time in WngX. Also, I see traffic in WingX while in a terminal area. My flying is mostly AZ and points west.

The question is which ARTCC service volumes provide traffic services? I found two FAA notices announcing new traffic service availability for Houston and Ft Worth Centers, but can't seem to find a comprehensive list of all of the centers providing this service. Does anyone know of a list?

Am now near Boston and will be flying south to Georgia and then back to Arizona, so it would be nice to know what to expect while in the en route environment.

[MEdwards]

There's a good map at http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/flashmap/ but you have to wade through all the acronyms and know what they all mean in order to understand exactly what it's telling you. If you've equipped so well already, you probably understand what you're looking for.

On the map, Click to Begin, then ADS-B, Enroute, and then either Advisory Services or Separation Services.

Looks like Arizona is pretty well covered. East coast and south back as far as Louisiana less so, depending on what you're looking for.

I'm not Out equipped, so on a recent trip New Mexico to Seattle and return I saw only a little traffic (Sagetech Clarity and WingX). But near Phoenix, where somebody nearby was probably triggering the transmission of traffic, I saw a lot. It was actually startling when all those targets suddenly showed up in front of me!

Mike E

[thibault]

Thanks, but that is one of the graphics that the FAA provides that just doesn't quite tell you what you need operationally.

It describes what COULD be but doesn't tell you what IS. All they would have to do is color in which en route service volumes have the traffic service turned on and keep it relatively up to date. Instead, after wading through dozens of pages on the FAA site I randomly stumbled onto two notices announcing that Ft Worth and Houston respectively now have the service active. But even these notices didn't list what other centers already have it or mention a schedule. Very frustrating.

[thibault]

MEdwards,

More specific to your experience, yes, there is great coverage by the ground stations for FIS-B (weather) and the terminal areas that I passed near on my trip last week from RYN to TUL to AGC to GHG had pretty good traffic coverage. This is just like what I see near PHX and TUS.

I would like to know which centers have the traffic turned on right now and where to look in the future for the changes.

[MEdwards]

Interesting. I would have interpreted that map to tell you that traffic service is available "now" in the shaded areas. I don't have enough experience to know that that's not the case, but you obviously do. I'll keep that in mind as I look for more current info and post if I find anything more explicit. Thanks for the info.

[thibault]

Wouldn't it be nice if that is what the shading meant, but we sure don't have traffic services away from PHX & TUS in AZ.

I wonder if the white area is really just depicting sparse ground station coverage.