Anybody halfway intelligent blocks the details that would otherwise be available with ADS-B, so the best you can do is see they exist, not identify the aircraft. This is often the case with corporate jets.
No, you can identify it on adsb-exchange. Sounds like you've been using flightaware/rb24/flightradar24 - they block aircrafts. https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/
You can buy a Dotcom call sign subscription and fly your flights (including ADS-B ID) under a randomly assigned Dotcom callsign.
So, instead of being trackable N123AB, I could fly as DCM965. You could still potentially trace approximately where the aircraft flew (because there aren’t quite enough DCM flights for real anonymity), but it’s more work.
But in the case of the PIA program, the hex address that's broadcast in the ADS-B packet is unpublished, not associated with the tail number of the plane anywhere except in the FAA's internal database. It can be a very effective way of obscuring aircraft identity (though see the DEFCON youtube link I posted for potential vulnerabilities).
Yes, but the hex address transmitted is that of DCM965, not N123AB. On the next leg out, they could be assigned to fly as DCM398, etc.
I can enter a new aircraft ID into the box for each flight. That data is then transmitted in bits 9-32 of the ADS-B downlink message (where the N-number is typically transmitted for private aircraft).
Yes, you can change the hex code your aircraft is broadcasting, but the FAA probably won't like that - they will want you to join the PIA program. https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/equipadsb/privacy/
All of which is clearly explained in under a page in Dotcom ID program I linked to. If you sign up for that program (which provides a third-party callsign assignment) and sign up for PIA and change the flight ID in your transponder, then you don't get tracking by N-number.
If you don't do all three of those things and keep transmitting your N-number via ADS-B, then you are trackable by N-number. That DCM2790 is using the same flight number for multiple legs and transmitting their N-number is evidence that they aren't maximizing privacy, not that privacy isn't possible.
