330 vs 327 and 496 GPS setup

[TomH]

Decision making time. 330 traspndr hooked to a 496 and its traffic capabilities. Based in the L.A. area and to see traffic on the 496 would be good. 327 setup is 2 grand less. Who has and how beneficial has this setup been.
Appreciate the help

[RV7Factory]

I could be wrong, but isn't the traffic system (TIS) being phased out?

[RV7Guy]

Brad is correct that TIS is being phased out but will be a long process.

I have the 330 tied to my 430. I love the traffic capabilities and feel naked when I'm in an area it doesn't work. Living under the Class B in the Phx area it has been extremely beneficial.

A friend has his 496 tied to a 330 and say it works perfect.

I feel this was one of the two best decisions I made when building. The best decision was the TruTrak Digiflight II VSGS.

I figure if it takes another 5 years to phase out TIS I will have gotten my monies worth out of the extra expense. I have had three very close calls where traffic was displayed on the screen that I didn't see until they were very close. The TIS gave the opportunity to alter course slightly One was within 100 feet. This encounter was on the first flight with the system operational and I didn't even know what I was looking at!!!!

Definitely money well spent. In the LA area haze you can't go wrong. Do it.

[aadamson]

Might be sooner than you think. Here' in ATL, we already lost the Teladega TIS site and the Pensacola Site, others are slated for decomission this year. It has nothing wtih it's phase out and everything to do with a new radar system coming in that doesn't include TIS - So you guess which timeframe will be quicker.

As for me, I'm holding out for ADS-B

[splevy]

I have the 330 and 396 in my Grumman, and really appreciate having it in the LA basin. TIS is not being added to the new radars that are being installed, but the radar in LA was replaced fairly recently but before the decision to drop TIS was made. Considering how long the last radar version was in place, it seems likely it will be quite a while before the TIS actually goes away here.

ADS-B is a great concept, but I see on a typical day there are several NOTAMS for LA Center that run something like "GPS may be unavailable or unreliable for a 320 nm radius around Nxxxx/Wxxxx" for periods of several hours. How exactly is the ADS-B supposed to work when no one can get a GPS fix? Are we going to have to put inertial nav in our planes?

I hope someone has considered that, but I have not seen any reference to it in any of the articles extolling the virtues of the ADS-B.

Stan

N67SL (reserved)
RV-7A (wings)
KCCB

N6085L
Grumman AA-5
KEMT