Shortstripper, I think that ShyTorque (like me) sees blips on his TCAS all day long - many of which may not have been called by ATC.
Flying regularly with and without it in different aircraft I can assure you that when I am not fortunate enough to have it I miss at least half of the traffic. In busy airspace the system is often displaying the (maximum) 10 most proximate (transponding) aircraft within a 12 mile radius. When the blips start to take over the screen I just zoom in to the 2 mile radius view and focus on avoiding the closest.
Not having mode C selected or flying with the transponder off is just a waste of time. Locating yourself in 2 dimensions (rather than 3) causes more hassle for the rest of us. You could be causing proximity alerts for all sorts of other traffic.
So if you have it, please leave mode C on at all times, even in the circuit.
The mark 1 eyeball is absolutely no substitute for TCAS + eyeball.
Personally I don't think that safety should ever be compromised by intransigence to change or civil liberty type arguments.
The sky is busy and getting busier, any safety improvement should be embraced IMHO.
SB