I was admiring the PC board within my PingRX receiver, and did a small amount of reverse-engineering so that I could better understand uAvionix’s approach. As I did so, I came to the realization that it was unlikely that it could receive the UAT packets which are transmitted at 978 MHz. The board has two SAW filters, both centered on 1090 MHz, but neither of them wide enough to let 978 MHz pass.
The PingRX data sheet says “pingRX receives ADS-B IN on 1090MHz and 978MHz.”, but the PingRX Pro datasheet says “pingRX Pro is the only dual-band UAS ADS-B receiver capable of receiving aircraft on both 978 MHz and 1090MHz”. Clearly, these claims can’t both be true. Given my observations, I’m inclined to believe that the PingRX does not, in fact, have the ability to receive UAT 978 MHz packets.
This is important because the FAA’s long-term plan is to migrate all aircraft with a flight ceiling below 15,000 feet to UAT transmitters, and a UAS operator could mistakenly believe that the PingRX receiver would be adequate into the future.