Zaon Traffic systems

ScottK

ScottK

Pre-takeoff checklist
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ScottK
We bought the Zaon traffic system for our 172 last fall. Up until recently, it's been pretty useful and accurate. I found a lot of planes I wouldn't have seen. On the last couple flights however, we have been getting some odd readings. It will show a plane in the range (up to 6 miles), but then immediately jumps to 0.2 nm at 100 ft below me. Then it beeps and shows that traffic as 2-3 miles away from me.

On my flight yesterday evening, I got multiple readings like that before I shut it off. At one point, I was about 2.5 miles from the airport inside a Class D and it was showing an aircraft .2nm and 100 ft below me. I asked tower if they had any other traffic in my area and she said no.

Has anyone had this happen to them? Was there a fix for it? The club is getting in contact with the company, but I thought i'd ask here as well.

http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/9194
 
Please post the results of your inquiry. My Zaon has been a bit spooky lately, but I haven't catalogued the behavior as well as you have. After seeing your post I think the symptoms are almost identical.
 
Ours got dodgy after a couple years. On every flight it gives false alerts of traffic at zero range and same altitude. Then it goes away, then shows up at short range and same altitude, often moving from four to eight o'clock. Shutting it off and then turning back on is the only thing that makes it stop, but half an hour later it acts up again. I just leave it off. False alerts are worse than no electronic traffic information.
 
Yes, I get random ghosts at least once on every flight. It can be annoying, but on the opposite side of things, it gets my head outside the cockpit using my Mark I eyeballs. Not a bad thing.

If I am IFR, I don't need it since ATC is letting me know about that. I normally get flight following when on VFR cross country trips, and will use the Zaon as a backup. Once again, Mark I eyeballs are the key.

The Zaon has its limitations and is just another tool. You should never, ever soley rely on it for traffic avoidance. I have had times when it alerted me to a lot of different traffic that I never would have seen otherwise. Other times, it has missed traffic that I saw close by.

So to me it is a lot like that annoying seatbelt alert in my vehicle. It reminds me to pay attention.
 
I now remember taking my unit back (the repair facility is a couple blocks from my hangar) for a tune-up. Maybe it's time for another one. I think the false alarms are a big nuisance.

txshooter said:
Yes, I get random ghosts at least once on every flight. It can be annoying, but on the opposite side of things, it gets my head outside the cockpit using my Mark I eyeballs. Not a bad thing.

If I am IFR, I don't need it since ATC is letting me know about that. I normally get flight following when on VFR cross country trips, and will use the Zaon as a backup. Once again, Mark I eyeballs are the key.

The Zaon has its limitations and is just another tool. You should never, ever soley rely on it for traffic avoidance. I have had times when it alerted me to a lot of different traffic that I never would have seen otherwise. Other times, it has missed traffic that I saw close by.

So to me it is a lot like that annoying seatbelt alert in my vehicle. It reminds me to pay attention.
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I have ghost reports when flying over a small hill just 1 mile from the end of the runway, happens everytime, I just assume that the sudden decrease between the ground and my airplane is causing the xrx to pickup my own tranponder

Also if you read the manual, I think it mentions that targets can jump great distances all of a sudden, if they are turning or have a higher power transponder
 
ateamer said:
I just leave it off. False alerts are worse than no electronic traffic information.
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That's where I'm at right now. The first time it happened, I had an experienced pilot with me in the right seat. Having two sets of eyes made verifying the bad data easier. Last night I was alone and it was starting to spook me a bit. I turned it off and got rid of the distraction.
 
I think the problem is temperature related. As we get into the summer days with higher temperatures the problem gets worse. And it does not help having the unit exposed directly to the sun on a black glareshield. Try putting a white piece of cardboard on top of it. That's what my hangar neighbor did and reduced a bit the false alarms. That is one of the reasons why I decided to install the Monroy ATD-300 in the panel with a belly antenna. It works beautiful with the G530.

José
 
Fascinating. My co-owner's has had similar "bad hair days" recently. I'll see if he's had any more. (I don't fly with his unit, mainly because he keeps it at his house but he'd let me. I find the thing inaccurate and annoying most of the time.)
 
One thing top check: Is your transponder antenna completely clean? Many transponder antennas are right in the path of oil and exhaust and get coated in the crud. That can have an affect on the Zaon traffic reporting, in my experience. You need a clean transponder antenna (the company also states this, but I don't really understand the reasons why).

I'll be interested to hear what fixes or information people come up with.
 
When I see our "shadow" pop up frequently, I re-calibrate the pressure altitude on the unit. It should agree closely with the transponder mode c altitude. That generally reduces or eliminates the issue. Also is a convenient time to check/calibrate the magnetometer. We do try to keep the xponder antenna clean as well.
 
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I find the accuracy sufficient to quickly locate most of the traffic. When I followed Bock out of Gastons last week his 195 was exactly where the scope said it was supposed to be.

denverpilot said:
Fascinating. My co-owner's has had similar "bad hair days" recently. I'll see if he's had any more. (I don't fly with his unit, mainly because he keeps it at his house but he'd let me. I find the thing inaccurate and annoying most of the time.)
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I read through the troubleshooting info and it made mention of the stuff already mentioned here (dirty antenna, too close to compass, re-calibrate). Since I started this thread, I went up in that plane as a safety pilot for another member of the club. I noticed while flying that the heading was way off. So when we got back, we re-calibrated both the heading and altitude on the unit.

I've had the plane up a couple times since and I haven't seen any short distance false alarms so far. I'm planning a longer x-c on Sunday and will be testing it along the way. I'll let you know what I find.
 
ScottK said:
I've had the plane up a couple times since and I haven't seen any short distance false alarms so far. I'm planning a longer x-c on Sunday and will be testing it along the way. I'll let you know what I find.
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Let us know your results ... and remember, we're all counting on you.:rolleyes:
 
danhagan said:
Let us know your results ... and remember, we're all counting on you.:rolleyes:
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No pressure...:)

I'll be flying past a fly-in at KIDI, so there should be plenty of traffic in the area to test it with.
 
I think the manual recommends re-calibrate it every 6 months or something.

Did mine recently, it was off my 30 degrees, same position, same aircraft every time.


Do the same for the pressure alt.
 
Why you need to recalibrate the XRX, what happens if you don't do it. There is no calibration on the Traffic-Watch.
 

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