Non-Aircraft ModeS Codes

[Jay911]

Hi folks,
When I take my netbook and RTL device close to the international airport, I start seeing the following ModeS codes which are not aircraft and have the following callsigns:

C1E15C YYCRX1
C1E15D YYCRX2
C1E15E YYCCAB1
C1E15F YYCCAB2
C1E179 GP34

I'm presuming the first four are receive stations for the international airport and in the airport tower (cab). The last one is a little more cryptic to me.

This was from a brief monitoring session so I presume there's more out there.

Is there anything worthwhile that can be done with these (in terms of monitoring with PlanePlotter) or are they just positionless ground stations?

[DaveNF2G]

I've been seeing IDs like that from CYYZ via the PP sharing network. They seem to be something relatively new as ground plots from those airports have been available for quite some time and these IDs are just starting to pop up.

[Jay911]

I looked again today when I drove by (safely, of course, not literally when I drove by) and found that the four "YYC..." ones had a "Cat" of C3, and the "GP34" entry was cat C0. Of course, all that tells me from planeplotter / Customising the display is that the "YYC" ones are fixed stations and the GP34 one is uncategorized. It seems detrimental (or at least not very helpful) that the "cat" field isn't logged anywhere I can find. (My planeplotteryymmdd.log files are literally nothing but "Network error: 10054" repeated - I go by the "RTLyymmdd00.log" files when I'm analyzing stuff.)

I may be able to dig up the final one (seen in the PP Yahoo group thread, for lowercased c1e976) from an sqb file if the category is listed there. Time to learn sqlite...

[Jay911]

SQlite didn't help me - again, category doesn't seem to be stored anywhere, and not sure why.

However, this morning I drove closer yet again and got some more hits and enlightenment all at once.

Several of the codes (I found a bunch, while all but right up against the fence) were broadcasting cat C2, which is "Ground Vehicle - Service Vehicle" according to the above link. Two of them had callsigns such as TECH61, TECH59, etc. Two more, with many position reports, showed "VEELO5" and "VEELO7". A quick Google search showed me a low-cost AVL system using ModeS as the transport...

Sensis launches Airport Vehicle Location Unit, Veelo, for low-cost precision tracking of vehicles | Saab Sensis

In a side note of sorts, the airport authority has very recently received new licenses for several ModeS stations well outside the city, including two very close to me, almost as if they are setting up a "picket" of receiver/transmitters. This looks like it might have been a fun time to get back into this hobby.

[Jay911]

SQlite didn't help me - again, category doesn't seem to be stored anywhere, and not sure why.

However, this morning I drove closer yet again and got some more hits and enlightenment all at once.

Several of the codes (I found a bunch, while all but right up against the fence) were broadcasting cat C2, which is "Ground Vehicle - Service Vehicle" according to the above link. Two of them had callsigns such as TECH61, TECH59, etc. Two more, with many position reports, showed "VEELO5" and "VEELO7". A quick Google search showed me a "low-cost" AVL system for airport ground vehicles, using ModeS as the transport...

Sensis launches Airport Vehicle Location Unit, Veelo, for low-cost precision tracking of vehicles | Saab Sensis

In a side note of sorts, the airport authority has very recently received new licenses for several ModeS stations well outside the city, including two very close to me, almost as if they are setting up a "picket" of receiver/transmitters. This looks like it might have been a fun time to get back into this hobby.

[ATCTech]

These are sites being installed in preparation for M-LAT. GP34 is indeed the Glidepath site for runway 34, and although I don't work a YYC I suspect your RX1 and RX2 are at the main and backup receiver sites on the airfield. (ATC receivers, not airport authority.) The system will enhance low and zero vis operations to include ground vehicles and is being installed at this time at YYZ as well, replacing the current ASDE system.