Compare MRX with PF Portable

_of_flubber
On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 7:15:05 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I have not actually used my chute except as a seat cushion. I wonder if it's actually a beta test version...

You cannot update a parachute with a USB stick.

That's true, however, I am pretty sure Strong knew the chute had a reasonable chance of working as advertised when they sold it. No updates necessary.

Please describe your PCAS (especially the brand). My ZAON MRX does not
alert on my own transponder. And it does a good job of alerting to other
traffic, some of which I never see.

Is this possibly a configuration issue?

wrote in message
...
On Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:40:32 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:
Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I think), a
light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737. I saw all of
them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm never made a peep
or displayed anything! This seems quite different form its performance on
gliders.



Mike

Mike, I flew today in a busy area and I would have to say the PCAS worked
Okay, not as good as MRX but I got all warnings I needed to get. If only the
thing could stop beeping on my own transponder I would be happy. It seems
the display constantly shows me my own transponder with +/- (0 to 50 feet or
so). I got used to that the only time it freaks me out is when it beeps
twice.

PowerFlarm PCAS. ZAON works perfectly!

On Monday, August 12, 2013 10:40:08 AM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
Please describe your PCAS (especially the brand). My ZAON MRX does not

alert on my own transponder. And it does a good job of alerting to other

traffic, some of which I never see.



Is this possibly a configuration issue?





On Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:40:32 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:

Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I think), a

light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737. I saw all of

them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm never made a peep

or displayed anything! This seems quite different form its performance on

gliders.







Mike



Mike, I flew today in a busy area and I would have to say the PCAS worked

Okay, not as good as MRX but I got all warnings I needed to get. If only the

thing could stop beeping on my own transponder I would be happy. It seems

the display constantly shows me my own transponder with +/- (0 to 50 feet or

so). I got used to that the only time it freaks me out is when it beeps

twice.

On Sunday, August 11, 2013 6:29:13 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:40:32 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:

Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I think), a light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737. I saw all of them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm never made a peep or displayed anything! This seems quite different form its performance on gliders.







Mike



Mike, I flew today in a busy area and I would have to say the PCAS worked Okay, not as good as MRX but I got all warnings I needed to get. If only the thing could stop beeping on my own transponder I would be happy. It seems the display constantly shows me my own transponder with +/- (0 to 50 feet or so). I got used to that the only time it freaks me out is when it beeps twice.

If I understand your post correctly and it is the MRX alerting you to your own transponder, I had that issue as well and it does freak you out. Send the MRX back to ZAON. It has a flaky altitude transducer. They replaced mine for free long after the warranty ran out. Their service is fantastic.

BV

No, let me be clear. ZAON works 100% without issues. PowerFlarm PCAS capability works well for detection of transponder equipped traffic, however it constantly shows some +/- a few feet as a target (my own transponder). That is not a problem as when a real traffic shows up PowerFlarm flips over to the new target. The only irritating thing is the two beeps from time to time to alert me to my own transponder. Let me tell you this sound was designed to alert you so it drives me crazy. Over a 4.5 hour flight I heard it maybe 20 times. It is seldom enough to alert me unnecessary and not often enough to turn it off. During a different flight it was more common.

Full disclosure. I did not upgrade to the latest version (this is one before the latest) as I was turned off by the may not alert you to traffic at the same altitude or a similar statement from Flarm folks.



On Monday, August 12, 2013 6:19:49 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sunday, August 11, 2013 6:29:13 PM UTC-7, wrote:

On Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:40:32 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:



Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I think), a light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737. I saw all of them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm never made a peep or displayed anything! This seems quite different form its performance on gliders.















Mike







Mike, I flew today in a busy area and I would have to say the PCAS worked Okay, not as good as MRX but I got all warnings I needed to get. If only the thing could stop beeping on my own transponder I would be happy. It seems the display constantly shows me my own transponder with +/- (0 to 50 feet or so). I got used to that the only time it freaks me out is when it beeps twice.



If I understand your post correctly and it is the MRX alerting you to your own transponder, I had that issue as well and it does freak you out. Send the MRX back to ZAON. It has a flaky altitude transducer. They replaced mine for free long after the warranty ran out. Their service is fantastic..



BV

On Monday, August 12, 2013 5:47:02 PM UTC-7, wrote:
No, let me be clear. ZAON works 100% without issues. PowerFlarm PCAS capability works well for detection of transponder equipped traffic, however it constantly shows some +/- a few feet as a target (my own transponder). That is not a problem as when a real traffic shows up PowerFlarm flips over to the new target. The only irritating thing is the two beeps from time to time to alert me to my own transponder. Let me tell you this sound was designed to alert you so it drives me crazy. Over a 4.5 hour flight I heard it maybe 20 times. It is seldom enough to alert me unnecessary and not often enough to turn it off. During a different flight it was more common.



Full disclosure. I did not upgrade to the latest version (this is one before the latest) as I was turned off by the may not alert you to traffic at the same altitude or a similar statement from Flarm folks.







On Monday, August 12, 2013 6:19:49 PM UTC-4, wrote:

On Sunday, August 11, 2013 6:29:13 PM UTC-7, wrote:



On Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:40:32 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:







Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I think), a light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737. I saw all of them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm never made a peep or displayed anything! This seems quite different form its performance on gliders.































Mike















Mike, I flew today in a busy area and I would have to say the PCAS worked Okay, not as good as MRX but I got all warnings I needed to get. If only the thing could stop beeping on my own transponder I would be happy. It seems the display constantly shows me my own transponder with +/- (0 to 50 feet or so). I got used to that the only time it freaks me out is when it beeps twice.







If I understand your post correctly and it is the MRX alerting you to your own transponder, I had that issue as well and it does freak you out. Send the MRX back to ZAON. It has a flaky altitude transducer. They replaced mine for free long after the warranty ran out. Their service is fantastic.







BV

I assume you configured it correctly and indicated that you have transponder on board, correct?
Will be good to get some feedback from Flarm folks but I wouldn't worry too much about the same altitude warning. As I said I didnt notice this issue and suspect it may be only a theoretical situation where both aircrafts altitude remains exactly the same and does not drift relatively to each other. Our altitude changes all the time so this may not be a real issue. This is just my guess though.

Ramy

On Monday, August 12, 2013 6:17:53 PM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
On Monday, August 12, 2013 5:47:02 PM UTC-7, wrote:

No, let me be clear. ZAON works 100% without issues. PowerFlarm PCAS capability works well for detection of transponder equipped traffic, however it constantly shows some +/- a few feet as a target (my own transponder). That is not a problem as when a real traffic shows up PowerFlarm flips over to the new target. The only irritating thing is the two beeps from time to time to alert me to my own transponder. Let me tell you this sound was designed to alert you so it drives me crazy. Over a 4.5 hour flight I heard it maybe 20 times. It is seldom enough to alert me unnecessary and not often enough to turn it off. During a different flight it was more common.







Full disclosure. I did not upgrade to the latest version (this is one before the latest) as I was turned off by the may not alert you to traffic at the same altitude or a similar statement from Flarm folks.















On Monday, August 12, 2013 6:19:49 PM UTC-4, wrote:



On Sunday, August 11, 2013 6:29:13 PM UTC-7, wrote:







On Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:40:32 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:















Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I think), a light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737. I saw all of them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm never made a peep or displayed anything! This seems quite different form its performance on gliders.































































Mike































Mike, I flew today in a busy area and I would have to say the PCAS worked Okay, not as good as MRX but I got all warnings I needed to get. If only the thing could stop beeping on my own transponder I would be happy. It seems the display constantly shows me my own transponder with +/- (0 to 50 feet or so). I got used to that the only time it freaks me out is when it beeps twice.















If I understand your post correctly and it is the MRX alerting you to your own transponder, I had that issue as well and it does freak you out. Send the MRX back to ZAON. It has a flaky altitude transducer. They replaced mine for free long after the warranty ran out. Their service is fantastic.















BV



I assume you configured it correctly and indicated that you have transponder on board, correct?

Will be good to get some feedback from Flarm folks but I wouldn't worry too much about the same altitude warning. As I said I didnt notice this issue and suspect it may be only a theoretical situation where both aircrafts altitude remains exactly the same and does not drift relatively to each other. Our altitude changes all the time so this may not be a real issue. This is just my guess though.



Ramy

Oops, just re-read your post and noticed you stated it is configured correctly, so please ignore the first sentence :-)

Ramy

On Monday, August 12, 2013 8:47:02 PM UTC-4, wrote:

Full disclosure. I did not upgrade to the latest version (this is one before the latest)

In the future it would be helpful to mention this fact at the top of your first post that mentions a problem that you're having.

Mike the Strike wrote, On 8/9/2013 9:40 PM:
Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I
think), a light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737.
I saw all of them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm
never made a peep or displayed anything! This seems quite different
form its performance on gliders.

What are your PF settings for distance and relative altitude detection?
Are they the same as you use with your MRX?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 10:35:51 AM UTC-4, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Mike the Strike wrote, On 8/9/2013 9:40 PM:

Had a number of aircraft fly near me today - a military KC135 (I

think), a light twin, a Boeing 767 inbound for Tucson and a SWA 737.

I saw all of them pass by me within a couple of miles and PowerFlarm

never made a peep or displayed anything! This seems quite different

form its performance on gliders.



What are your PF settings for distance and relative altitude detection?

Are they the same as you use with your MRX?



--

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to

email me)

- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

The PowerFlarm distances were all maximum allowed. I don't remember what they were. I find the PCAS function of PowerFlarm (Brick) works as well as ZAON. The only issue I have is the annoyance of false alarms. I have to say that position of the PF PCAS antenna is important. Until I put it on the glare shield my experience was not good. I actually did some testing and move antenna around to see impact of the antenna position and I got to a conclusion that it needs to be mounted on the glare shield for proper service. That is also where my ZAON antenna was mounted. If someone has an issue with PCAS the first thing I would suggest would be to put an antenna on top of the glare shield and see if it improves warnings.

If I could only get these annoyances out of the cockpit I would be satisfied. Yes, my transponder mod S is properly configured in the file. From time to time the false warnings disappear for some time but not for long. I get messages in a log file "Failed to detect own transponder" or something like that. The log file is polluted with these messages.

AK