TIS-B not available. Is this a budget cut?

FlightAware
1

I live south of Houston and usually have very active TIS-B on 978 (UAT).
The last days, maybe even a week or more, there’s been no TIS-B information. Has anyone else seen this change. Are there technical problems or has the FAA discontinued this service because of “budget cuts”?

2

Hi,

Normal ops on both 1090 and 978 TIS-B/ADS-R and also the FIS-B weather from my local FAA ground tower here in NW Florida. Both 1090 and 978 are from the same site about 3 nm from me.

Do you normally receive TIS-B/ADS-R on both 1090 and 978. I imagine both come from the same tower.

Based on your location, most likely it is this FAA site located just north of the fire station at Texas Gulf Coast Regional.

lat/lon = 29.109634, -95.459480
http://maps.google.com/?q=29.109634,-95.459480

Google Maps Street View has some great photos on the road right next to the site clearly showing the antennas, electronics, backup generator, backup generator propane, and all the extra goodies. This tower looks like most of the FAA stand-alone dedicated sites. My local one is mounted on a normal county tower used for other things. The antennas look the same (2 on each side), but otherwise mine looks like a normal comm tower.

My guess is that it’s a temporary thing unless something has happened to your local receiver or possibly local noise levels. That 978 FIS-B weather data is especially valuable, and I imagine they want it back on the air if it is offline.

Regards,
-Dan

1 Like
3

Hi,

Just for fun. After posting, I realized I had never looked to see if things like TIS-B and ADS-R outages are posted in the NOTAMS. It turns out they are.

Below is a current NOTAM for your area:

NOTAM #: 5/0333 (KZHU-A1342/25)
Class: Airspace

Issue Date UTC: 07/17/2025 2109
Start Date UTC: 07/17/2025 2100
End Date UTC: 08/18/2025 2200

!FDC 5/0333 ZHU AIRSPACE ADS-B, AUTO DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCE
REBROADCAST (ADS-R) SERVICES MAY NOT BE AVBL WI AN AREA DEFINED AS
60NM RADIUS OF 284306N0953528W. AP AIRSPACE AFFECTED MAY INCLUDE
ARM, BYY, GLS, LBX. AIRSPACE AFFECTED MAY INCLUDE GULF OF AMERICA
AREAS OF BRAZOS AREA, BRAZOS AREA, SOUTH ADDITION, GALVESTON AREA,
GALVESTON AREA, SOUTH ADDITION.
SFC-3999FT.
2507172100-2508182200EST

The 60 nm radius is not centered on the site at the airport, but just south of town. The outage above for one month specifically mentions LBX in the text and does cover your area.

This was just a good excuse to check the NOTAMS and learn something new.

Regards,
-Dan

2 Likes
4

Great information, thank you