700-800, TCAS, IVAO and SquawkBox

[Guest rcarlson123]

Thanks for the clarification Lee. I assumed that the bias switch affected the physical azimuth of the radar scan (as in fighter jet radar and such) ... mainly I assumed this because even with the "display non-threatening aircraft" checkbox checked, I was not seeing aircraft below me without setting the bias to BLW. Seems contradictory to the purpose of that checkbox setting. (I realize I'm taking the wording of that checkbox to the literal extreme, but the checkbox does not in fact display ALL non-threatening aircraft.) I, for one, would prefer to see all aircraft within radar range if that checkbox is checked, since checking that checkbox is removing a bit of realism anyway ... why not?As for telling the controller that you have a target on TCAS, as a VATSIM controller I can only speak for the virtual ATC world, but I can say that I certainly don't mind hearing a pilot tell me he has traffic on TCAS. Granted, it won't change anything about how I handle that aircraft ... I will still maintain radar separation between the two aircraft. But it at least tells me that the pilot has some additional situational awareness regarding that traffic, and knows exactly where to look even as the relative bearing to the traffic changes. If I had a lot of aircraft in the sky, I might move him down the priority list when giving non-urgent traffic callouts in favor of other close-proximity aircraft in my sector.So does it change anything? No. Is it completely worthless? Matter of opinion I guess. At any rate, I can certainly understand how it would become a pet peeve of a real-world controller, especially one that works a busy sector, where every second of time on the radio is precious. I would guess that the controller you read about also considers it a pet peeve when pilots are given traffic advisories and they answer "negative on the traffic, but we'll be lookin'." The last part of that sentence is truly worthless info. :)

[Guest TrafficTraffic]

They would want to hear "negative contact" or "traffic in sight." :-)There is no "radar" with TCAS like there is for weather. TCAS operates just by interrogating other transponders, and as such there isn't any azimuth control whatsoever.You'd have to ask Lefteris about how he treats ABV/N/BLW. I'll ping him about the interpretation of "display non-threatening aircraft." In my own IVSI gauge, it is a user option to set the limits for N (can be none). You are right though that it can be nice to see all the traffic. Flying online is a lot more lonely than in the real world, so we really don't need as much filtering.Lee Hetherington, PP-ASEL (KBED)

[crvm 0]

The Above/Normal/Below switch work like this. The Above/Below settings will extend (DOUBLE) the distance DISPLAYED for *Poximate Traffic - Other Traffic* ONLY. So really you will be seeing *Proximate and Other Traffic* up to 12 NM and 2400' vertically insted of the normal 6 NM and 1200' vertically (Some Proimate Traffic are shown when vertical ref is unknown but within 6 NM). This does not effect TCAS warnings such as TAs and RAs. If you can picture a imaginary circle around the aircraft as 6 NM and 1200 vertically then setting the switch to ABOVE will extend this UPWARDS but below will still be the default range. Same thing for below. [h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/betaimg.jpgAMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | WD SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 |

[Guest TrafficTraffic]

Where'd you get that doubling thing from Randy? I've heard a lot of other possibilities (could be for IVSIs) where ABV opens up to all traffic up to +10000 above, with no range restrictions. In the NG OM I don't see anything about ABV/N/BLW.Lee Hetherington, PP-ASEL (KBED)

[Guest BadKarma]

>Push the TFC button on the EFIS control panel to the left of>the MCP and you will see the traffic as well!>>Cheers,Finally It worked, all I haven't done was to push that tiny button "TFC" on EFIS panel...I really appreciate all you guys that gave me your support.Safety flights...Hernan

[Guest rcarlson123]

>There is no "radar" with TCAS like there is for weather. TCAS>operates just by interrogating other transponders, and as such>there isn't any azimuth control whatsoever.Aha! I always assume it was both radar and transponders working together, like it is with ATC. Never even occurred to me that a transponder is enough. How does the TCAS system know where the other aircraft are? For that matter, how does the ATC radar know how to match up a primary radar target with a given transponder signal? Does the transponder signal also include bearing and distance info? (Perhaps in the same way an ILS does?) Totally guessing here ...>You'd have to ask Lefteris about how he treats ABV/N/BLW. >I'll ping him about the interpretation of "display>non-threatening aircraft." In my own IVSI gauge, it is a user>option to set the limits for N (can be none). You are right>though that it can be nice to see all the traffic. Flying >online is a lot more lonely than in the real world, so we>really don't need as much filtering.Indeed. Thanks for the info Lee.

[Guest TrafficTraffic]

As you probably know, transponders broadcast pressure altitude to nearest 100' or 25'. The TCAS system estimates bearing with directional antennae on the aircraft to within a few degrees. ATC radar reads bearing by the position of the rotating antenna at the time the transponder reply is received.I am pretty sure that more advanced ADS-B transponders broadcast position and velocity information. For example, GPS position and groundspeed can be broadcast. I think they are using this in remote parts of Alaska in order to provide a radar-like environment where they do not have good radar coverage.Lee Hetherington, PP-ASEL (KBED)