RadarBox as in-flight traffic spotter?

[SkeptisFromTexas]

In the United States, is there any reason why I couldn't take a RadarBox and a laptop onboard my small plane and use it to see where all the traffic is around me?  A sort of TCAS but with a full display of everything?  Or will I only see the aircraft that have ADS-B? (which are few and far between in the US)

[pilot_ngb]

You will only see a small percentage of aircraft. Hardly any GA aircraft are sending out full ADS-B.

[Allocator]

In the United States, is there any reason why I couldn't take a RadarBox and a laptop onboard my small plane and use it to see where all the traffic is around me?  A sort of TCAS but with a full display of everything?  Or will I only see the aircraft that have ADS-B? (which are few and far between in the US)

Just remember, it's always the one that you don't see that gets you!

[DaveReid]

In the United States, is there any reason why I couldn't take a RadarBox and a laptop onboard my small plane and use it to see where all the traffic is around me?  A sort of TCAS but with a full display of everything?  Or will I only see the aircraft that have ADS-B? (which are few and far between in the US)

If don't know if it's the case for RadarBox, but SBS certainly picks up TCAS acquisition squitters.

Having said that, those squitters don't contain any navigational data, so all you would know is that a given hex code is somewhere within range.