The thread is actually about Tasmanian multilateration. Hopefully we will be able to get back onto that track.
ScottyDoo, I thought the Flight Service units (especially the remote ones at places like Cooma, Coffs Harbour, Charleville and Longreach) were fantastic. It just so happened that the cost a fortune and the user was being forced to pay by the Government. Since the closure, over $1 billion has been saved by the industry, with no measurable affect on safety.
Imagine if that extra $1 billion had been charged by Airservices – no doubt general aviation and the small commuter operators would be in an even worse condition.
In relation to the ADS-B system, it is pretty obvious that is hasn’t been worked out. For example, Sweden has gone to a different system to the rest of Europe, and the United States still states that it will go ahead with a dual system (i.e. ADS-B Mode S squitter and Universal Access Transceiver – UAT).
Many agree that we would want to be very careful in making a decision on this in too hasty a way, only to find out that the United States goes in a different direction, and the inevitable inexpensive Garmin/Honeywell units are not useable in Australia. The fantastic satellite based weather service that is available in the USA, which appears in real time (or within a few minutes) on the Garmin hand-helds, will never be useable in Australia because we have allocated the satellite frequency for another use. This means a $29 satellite receiver could cost thousands of dollars here.
Remember years ago we allocated a television channel (I think it was Channel 5A) to the international FM radio band. Fortunately, commonsense prevailed and this was changed. A similar situation existed with the AWA DME. In the end I paid a small fortune to remove the Van X DME from my Citation and put in an International DME.
Some may believe that 1090 MHz technology is the way to go. This would seem logical to me, but as stated above, at the present time the FAA has a different mindset. It will be interesting to see when and if they change.