I'd rather not become an "expert", but... (PF PCAS range config)

I'd like to make my Powerflarm PCAS range about a mile.

Can anyone shed light on the issues with PCAS range configuration and the warning given here?

http://www.air-avionics.com/air/inde...e-configurator

"Range settings, especially PCAS-range, may only be changed by experts."

I have no desire for non-directional alerts unless there's some reasonable chance I can pick them up quickly visually. Any good reason not to select 2km horiz and 300m vertical?

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8

2 km provides little time to acquire and take action against a fast mover. About the only action available is to dive if a jet is coming at you; that takes time too. I wouldn't choose a 2 km setting.

Another consideration is that PCAS, being based on amplitude ranging, is very imprecise. A 2 km setting really means something like 1 km to 4 km. Thus there is a certain probability that you'd have considerably less time to react than you'd expect from the nominal calculation.

On Sunday, April 12, 2015 at 3:19:39 PM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
I'd like to make my Powerflarm PCAS range about a mile.

Can anyone shed light on the issues with PCAS range configuration and the warning given here?

http://www.air-avionics.com/air/inde...e-configurator

"Range settings, especially PCAS-range, may only be changed by experts."

I have no desire for non-directional alerts unless there's some reasonable chance I can pick them up quickly visually. Any good reason not to select 2km horiz and 300m vertical?

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8

I'm with Evan. Getting too many PCAS alarms is unnerving. We are on the edge of the Chicago B airspace with lots of light aircraft traffic going around it. The constant warnings with no good indication where to look (plus the imprecision that Steve mentions) are no fun. The longer range PCAS indications are pretty much worthless.

I also wouldn't recommend reducing the range but reducing the altitude range to 1000 feet is a good idea since the altitude is accurate. I also reduced mine (same for ADSB) . Just change it in the config file.

Ramy

I set my Zaon MRX PCAS for maximum range and altitude warnings (5 miles
and 2,000 ft, IIRC). True, there's no direction information, but it's
simple to determine if range and/or altitude difference are closing or
diverging from you. Getting a warning of 2.5 miles, +300 feet,
descending, gets me looking. It doesn't take long before seeing a
couple of alerts tells me whether I should be more or less concerned.


On 4/13/2015 7:43 AM, wrote:
On Sunday, April 12, 2015 at 3:19:39 PM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
I'd like to make my Powerflarm PCAS range about a mile.

Can anyone shed light on the issues with PCAS range configuration and the warning given here?

http://www.air-avionics.com/air/inde...e-configurator

"Range settings, especially PCAS-range, may only be changed by experts."

I have no desire for non-directional alerts unless there's some reasonable chance I can pick them up quickly visually. Any good reason not to select 2km horiz and 300m vertical?

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8
I'm with Evan. Getting too many PCAS alarms is unnerving. We are on the edge of the Chicago B airspace with lots of light aircraft traffic going around it. The constant warnings with no good indication where to look (plus the imprecision that Steve mentions) are no fun. The longer range PCAS indications are pretty much worthless.

--
Dan Marotta