Yes Randy is correct and a heads up to all who purchase the Zaon to make sure you get the model from the fctory that is wired to "ON" so that it will power up when you turn on your avionics otherwise you will have to send it back to the factory as Bob is doing. I installed mine where Rich's is as high as I could actually touching the skylight with a felt patch on top of the antenna to keep from scratching the sky light and it works well. I used a ram mount and velcroed the unit to the base so I can remove it if need be easily and use the 12v connector and set it on a dash for ferry work in another airplane. I use the high wing setting and tried them all with not much difference so cant really recommend any one in particular. The only bug in the system and confirmed by ZAOn is if you fly low over any water you will get a warning of an aircraft thats right next to you which can be startling but its actually you and is I am told a refection off the water. Regards Gary
Been flying the Zaon XRX in the CC for a year now. About all I can say is it that having is better than nothing.
I have tried many locations in the cockpit but none really works very well because of reflections off the metal in the cockpit. Placing it under the overhead acrylic above your head is probably the worst place because the unit is shielded on the right and left by the metal in the wing.
I am now testing the Zaon inserted into the hole used by pilot overhead vent. When you remove the vent the Zaon fits perfectly into the hole which allows antenna to have a 360 degree view around the CC without any metal in the way in the horizontal plane.
I have only made a few flights in this configuration but so far the unit works much better. It is now seeing traffic more reliably. Zaon says the unit can only resolve the traffic azimuth to about +/- 22 degrees of actual position. I am not sure it is that good, but with the antenna poking above the overhead skylight I am now seeing traffic in front of me when previously I would often see traffic in front depicted to be in back of the aircraft because of internal reflection.
The Zaon does seem to resolve altitude of nearby traffic (ie +/- above or below) very well which is helpful. So the Zaon unit with a good view will reliably tell you that traffic is nearby and above or below your altitude but it seems the best it can do with good antenna position is tell you whether traffic is in front or behind you.
The Zaon antenna enclosure is sealed but there are small vents a the base of the antenna which needs to be clear. It looks like the antenna could be "potted" into the vent hole with some RTV for a semi permanent installation while keeping the holes open. Right now I have it held in place with some double sided tape.
It looks like the best solution would be to install the Zaon in the vent hole above the pilot head, then cut a second hole in the acrylic for the pilot vent. With this solution you could always convert the Zaon hole back to a vent and have two vents for the pilot.
Anyone have an idea about how to cut a second 3 1/4" round hole in the acrylic without removing the sky light?
Bob Anderson, CC11-00435, N94RA
The safest way is to use a fine-tooth hole saw (looks like a hack-saw blade). Drill about 3/4 through the material from the top and finish the last quarter of cut from the inside. Go slow! Not in drill rpm but in drilling through the material. Have a wire brush handy to clean the saw teeth periodically if you have drilled too quickly and developed heat. Just go slow and be patient with the cut. This method works much better than a router which tends to grab and crack both acrylic and lexan. I owned a sign company when younger and have experience with both materials.
One other thing - the pilot hole for the hole saw should be started with an 1/8 bit and then drilled with a 3/16 and then 1/4 using the same technique of finishing the cut from the inside - until the pilot hole matches the pilot drill of the hole-saw (usually 1/4 inch.)
When you are done - you can flame the edge with a propane torch or heat gun. Or sand it to the exact final dimension.
Last edited by RanRan; 05-22-2011 at 09:30 AM.
That's great info about the Zaon and a clever solution.
You are correct about a remote antenna, that would work much better than a cockpit installation.
The problem with direction resolution is that the Zaon uses only four directional antennas (I think) and compares the signal strength from them to obtain a direction to display. I doubt that the direction resolution is as good as advertised unless the unit is perfectly located on the aircraft.
Altitude is very accurate because it reads the transmitted altitude code from the target aircraft transponder.
Way back, in the 1970's, I designed the first device similar to the current crop of traffic warning systems based on detecting transponder returns. It was way ahead of it's time.
I called it a Proximity Warning Indicator or PWI.
All it did was detect the signal from a nearby aircraft and warn the pilot. I put a switch on it to reduce the sensitivity (range) so that you could tell if the aircraft was getting closer.
No direction was provided.
All it did was tell you when to look.
Zaon improved on my idea by adding directional antennas and using them to get an indication of direction
We sold thousands of PWI's.
The company I founded was General Aviation Electronics (GENAVE)
Here is a link to some more Information---
http://avsport.org/publicat/nonfict/pwi.htm
Bill
Last edited by seastar; 06-29-2011 at 06:18 AM.
Bob Anderson, CC11-00435, N94RA
Bob
Thanks for remembering, not many people do .LOL
The Zaon device is a good buy in todays dollars and does a good job within the limitations of the technology.
I wonder if there would be a market today for a simple "PWI" at less than $400.
If there were, I might design and market one.
Bill