Avionics News February 2014 - 31

FreeFlight Systems'
RANGR FDL-978RX

requirement of every IFR unit. To work
with ADS-B, it must be able to send the
integrity data to air traffic control along
with the rest of the position information
through either a 1090 ES (extended
squitter) Mode S transponder
or a 978 MHz UAT (universal
access transceiver). Again the
collective eyebrow climbs to an
asymmetrical position. Let me see
what I can find.
I start with Trig Avionics. During
an interview for a story published in 2012, CEO
Andy Davis said Trig used the FreeFlight 1201, an
FAA-approved GPS/WAAS position source, to certify its
1090 ES transponders, the plug-and-play TT31 and the
diminutive TT22. Because the TT31 was the first Mode
S to meet the technical standard order requirements,
the Federal Aviation Administration used it and the
FreeFlight blind GPS/WAAS to test the growing ADS-B
ground network. If that's good enough for the FAA, it's
good enough for its ADS-B mandate.
The 1201 does not navigate or fly instrument
approaches; all it provides is a GPS/WAAS position
with integrity monitoring. A remotely mounted box 5.13
inches wide, 6.5 inches deep and 1.6 inches high, with
an antenna it tips the scale at 1.5 pounds and sells for
approximately $3,500. The Trig TT31 is the same size as
the BendixKing transponders it replaces, and it weighs
2.97 pounds. The TT22 fills a 2.25-inch panel hole, and
with its remote box weighs 0.8 pounds. Again in ballpark
numbers, the TT31 runs $2,800 and the TT22 is $2,600,
for an ADS-B Out system sum in the middle of the four-

Accord
Technology's
tiny NexNav
mini circuit card
assembly

figure range. The FreeFlight 1201 also
is STC'd for the Garmin GTX 330
ES Mode S transponder.
Jessica Power, FreeFlight's
director of sales and marketing,
reminded me that aircraft owners
who don't venture into Class
A airspace or beyond America's
borders do not need a new 1090 ES
transponder. The mandate does not render
their Mode A/C transponders obsolete.
Instead, they can satisfy the mandate with
FreeFlight's RANGR family of 978 and
1090 MHz ADS-B products. Each of them automatically
reads the code dialed in the airplane's current Mode A/C
transponder, Power explained, "so pilots don't have to
touch the RANGR control head; if the airplane has a
Mode S transponder, there's a direct connection between
them."
Each member of the RANGR family is certified for
single-antenna installations, but "diversity," upper and
lower antennas, is an option. So is an internal GPS/
WAAS sensor. They all weigh less than a pound, and
they all look the same: a remotely-mounted blue box 5
inches wide, 5.75 inches deep and 1.7 inches high.
Right now the family includes the TX, a transmitter
that meets the FAA's ADS-B Out mandate. With the
internal GPS/WAAS option, its price is in the lower half
of the four-figure range. The RANGR RX receives the
ADS-B In services that pilots want most, free traffic and
flight information, TIS and FIS, respectively.
The RANGR XVR combines both ADS-B Out and In
capabilities in a true universal access transceiver. This
unit was selected to replace the existing GDL-90 system
for the Capstone Program in Alaska, according to Power.
One benefit of that participation is its STC-approved
model list continues to grow beyond 450 aircraft. With
all the STC paperwork and required documentation,
antennas, wiring and installation kit, the list price of
the GPS/WAAS-equipped RANGR XVR is $5,495, said
Power. The ADS-B Out TX unit lists at $500 less.
Watching several of the seven YouTube chapters in
FreeFlight's ADS-B University, available online at www.
adsbuniversity.com, supported some things I'd learned
about ADS-B In from others, and it taught me something
Continued on following page

avionics news

*

february

2014

31
http://www.adsbuniversity.com http://www.adsbuniversity.com
Avionics News February 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News February 2014
