Since I plan to fly outside the US and in areas where TIS-B is not available, I got a GTS800 active traffic system for "cheap" on eBay (as in, 75% less than a new one). It was advertised as new but missing papers (A&Ps, please keep losing those papers!), so I wanted to verify that it was working and that it was indeed new.
The unit has two 78-pin high-density connectors and one 37-pin connector (plus the 8 connections for bottom/top antennas):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5S7_NMkS6XChC18EZ9aPzu-BvlBzikeUZAMAjbUEQ5GF5Q638t_ol44riPM4Qu9laBwvasPHl3klrquRyrMfZGIpjikzShhc8gI7wIyoOe_6cDdfYmeofAsaTPOKkh1d0YhIhTK-Grek/s640/IMG_20160528_234025.jpg) |
GTS800 connectors |
Checking the pinout in the installation manual, it seemed I only needed to connect a few pins in the 37-pin conector for power, plus a few pins in one of the 78-pin connectors for USB to the computer. I got breakout boards for that (
this,
this and
this):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWndwQrOCy4cFKW0r_qtwzSgiitzShKQBSqbYN0BI1OpIEeCzW5XZ89cn38M6sHRwF6x31u2w13XZM-CyM4-VZYe7qY5Qfp9FClcyZF9uA15TACvHx2T9E5iDclC4Z3JT3XnrNcbGGkw/s640/IMG_20160524_195903.jpg) |
Power and "remote power on" connections on 37-pin breakout board |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PqFFHdVz2uHiSVOoarx2kitu9dud7encpo4zvqR3QnMv0AFtSeRksDV_FcicWUrGnCTexBj987h_JsrBO8lonu4hkEeb2_FsOxSm12NlkkWwKj0jxwDtyMUssfL1UKFjkcZeb2nPxcg/s640/IMG_20160524_195752.jpg) |
USB breakout connected to the 78-pin breakout board |
then connected it all:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OFbLEkx3IZZtzxxZLNn2tFY4HWmeGJMMleU4LVA3dLE_I7PofdGZx-3jz_TFN5-aBrrZn6MM7HriMbCUDtB-hsuRAUCRYI3m_dU14cTFVhyhAqUOY2YDPXaagH-oyP9qLgy1iwrdO08/s640/IMG_20160524_193951.jpg) |
Break-out boards plugged to GTS for testing |
I had to get a special A-to-A USB cable, after a "duh" moment when I realized the USB breakout card I got had the same connector as the computer - I should instead have gotten
this one. Luckily I had that cable.
My first attempt was frustrated - it just didn't turn on or get recognized by the computer, and the power supply was making a weird noise - turns out I was trying to use a 2A power supply, and it requires more than that (manual says 2.6A, I saw 2.1A after it starts up). Tried a different power supply, and it just worked!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAp70uDbPHxFUHWf8rsKhQYYi4fPrm-0nGuGireTybm6xpVQWaFLf81eoNWkkrJR96Fc4EyAt2f0D5cnY95ixUZc3lsqyWnoulCNZkwLYrjWfM2Sj1q6j_DuY2lY_vLA9QARZvTMUrWIk/s640/IMG_20160524_193839.jpg) |
GTS plugged to a proper power supply (the bottom one had a 2A current limitation) |
The software showed me exactly what I wanted to see - that it had been turned on for only about 5 minutes, and it had recent firmware versions (so it was indeed new):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1v9QvVl7X13XENqs2V3HiPYqnc1toFNTyXVvPa7Pq53QU5VAT15MeSIpGJ-Q1kcxdBX21wggZrBqF3f4BfZuDczmquNcuJfXT-bop5QGWyc2rc-U875ASL_KvB10iehuwVZOk9zkPiJs/s1600/2016-05-24+19_35_30-GTS8XX+Install+Tool.png) |
The software detects it! |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOYovbj3ZeWs8O_hWZpqTUB2fEGLWXCFWISW200JpqbdHcb59gVgAzha0KNDL2NzuT4b9N8X-RFnC727IXPCm2kLT-Q4C-LQ3a9P6OQLuhljfsPmGQjKDum-GOaxkSnmzp4NKyRZa9xi8/s1600/2016-05-24+19_34_57-GTS8XX+Install+Tool.png) |
Recent firmware versions |
At first I was also worried that the fans didn't turn on, but as soon as the temperature reached about 35˚C, they turned on and the temperature stabilized.
With this, the GTS can go back to the shelf and wait until it's time to actually install it - at that point, I'll need to figure out its ground plane - probably following the recommendations from
this VAF post as well as
this blog post - not trivial, but doable.
Special thanks to VAF user Strasnuts for the help!