Vaughn, Kirk,

The easy one first - no, there is no headset output on the MRX. I
talked with our tow pilot today, and he, too, identified this as a
drawback for power planes. The XRX does have such an output, as does
the ADT-300 and the Proxalert R5.

As for military signals X and Y, the manual is no help. After a bit of
Googling, I'll take a guess, though - I think these refer to Tacan
signals. One of the frequencies Tacan can transmit on is 1090 MHz, like
a transponder. Unknown to me is whether a Tacan signal has altitude
encoded in it, but it appears that the output power of a Tacan unit is
the same as a transponder, so the distance measurement scheme these CAS
units use would work. Again, just a guess - what I don't know about
military flying would fill large books!

I flew today with the MRX, and I can report that in my ASW-19 it works
very well. I was amazed at how much traffic it picked up that I was
unaware of until the traffic got within 2 miles or so. The real
benefit, though, was the MRX alerting me to a helicopter that was at
500 feet, a half mile away, and was vectoring in on the tow plane and I
just after takeoff. To me, the $500 cost of the MRX has already been
repaid! On another note, in my ASW-19 I wouldn't want anything bigger
than the MRX on the glareshield. I know the XRX wouldn't fit, and I
don't think the Proxalert R5 would either (although the ADT-300 would).

-John

Vaughn Simon wrote:
Even after reading the web site and the manual, I am not clear about the
audio alert provided by this unit. Does it lack a method to hear the alert
through your headset? If so, it would be great for glider use, but perhaps
worse than useless in an airplane because the tiny speaker would be inaudible,
thus the gadget would just give you one more reason to keep your eyes focused
inside the cockpit.

kirk.stant wrote:
WTF are military signals X and Y? Military uses IFF modes 1, 2, 3
(same as civilian mode A or 3/A), C (same as civilian mode C - gives
altitude only), 4 (secure), and S. I'm hoping "X" and "Y" are modes 1
and 4, since most military traffic have those on all the time-
especially mode 4.