What I am understanding is that, with OUT installed, it must be ON whenever I fly, period. OK, but am I then subject to FAA scrutiny for every flight with emails and phone calls coming, that I didn't have before I installed OUT (I haven't installed it yet), if for some reason they didn't get my signal (I dropped to 500' agl) or I was at the wrong altitude for a short period of time because of down-drafts or whatever? Other words I am a little wary of this "watching me".
As long as your "Out" transmitter works flawlessly you won't receive any communications from the FAA's ADS-B team.
Dropping out of coverage does NOT transmit an error message. As I noted in one of my earlier posts, the FAA sent me a map of one of my flights where I had dipped down into a canyon (intentionally to see what would happen) and the map was overlain with color, which indicated ADS-B projected coverage. Worst case scenario, the FAA would look at that and realize that you were out of coverage.....which does not constitute an "error".
The problem I'm having is repeated NIC errors. In simple terms, an NIC error implies that the GPS connected to my ADS-B transmitter is either not sending a position, or the position is in error. In my case, the GPS is built into the SkyBeacon unit, so there's no way to fix it, apparently.
Also, remember that a GPS receiver requires a little while to develop an accurate signal. This may be as much as five minutes or more. If you launch prior to the GPS having acquired a precise signal, your transmitter will send a NIC error message. If you download a PAPR report after the flight, you'll see that NIC error block highlighted in red.
BUt, at least theoretically, your aircraft leaving or re-entering the ADS-B coverage area SHOULDN'T generate an error.
As to whether the FAA will ever use ADS-B data for enforcement purposes, you can bet your bottom dollar that if you were to violate a TFR or other restricted airspace and the FAA came at you, that they'd have a PAPR report on your flight in hand. Every ADS-B system includes a WAAS enabled GPS, so your location will be precisely noted. I presume the same would apply to accusations of flights close to people/structures, etc, since these things also transmit altitude-both GPS and encoder. Other kinds of possible violations? Who knows?
But, there WILL be a record of your flights.
MTV