I think most people accept that unless a substantial proportion of GA traffic use interoperable EC then it will be of limited use. However, I think it is a bit negative to suggest that unless we have a US-style mandate that EC is a waste of time. This carrot has certainly worked with me. I had been contemplating buying a SkyEcho2 ever since it became legal to use with a transponder. The rebate offer prodded me into action to place an order quickly before stocks ran out or the rebate reached its cap. I gave it a try yesterday, and was very pleased. For sure it only detected a minority of other traffic, but still showed up a worthwhile number of other aircraft, including giving an audible warning of one on a reciprocal heading which I can easily imagine not seeing until too late. If this initiative coaxes more people off the fence, that has to be a good thing.
Having said that, I am slightly surprised that this initiative is not restricted to ADS-B devices, given that the CAA have stated that 1090 MHz ADS-B is its preferred EC solution for GA. It would have been a great opportunity to encourage standardisation on ADS-B. Maybe they didn’t want to get into a fight with a howling lynch mob of PilotAware and PowerFlarm users. Does anyone have a better explanation? I suspect that most of the uptake will be with ADS-B, and the maximum rebate does seem to have the price of SkyEcho 2 in mind
. Looking at the interoperability matrix, I suppose counsel of perfection for the time being would be to use my SkyEcho2 for ADS-B out and my old PAW device (the explosion in an electronics shop version),as a receiver, though I really do not want all the clutter. PAW filled a gap for a while, but I think it has served its time and I hope that inclusion in this initiative does not delay de-facto standardisation, through weight of numbers, on ADS-B.