I just got my XRX and i'm awaiting an auxillary power plug to be completed in the aircraft, so i've been playing with the unit in my car. My understanding from the manual is that the XRX is "calibrated at the factory" and should not need calibration. I looked at the heading/altitude indicated on the unit and it was way off (heading wise at least) i reset it to 360 and it seemed to track okay. I backed into my driveway starting by facing north and doing a 90 to face west and the compass indicated a heading of 180 instead of 270. I've re-calibrated, turned the unit off, placed it to 270 and turned the unit on and it was still off.

Am I somehow having this problem because i'm using it in a car and not an airplane?? How often would one reasonably have to recalibrate a unit that is taken in and out of the plane after each use?

Also, i may have missed it - but you may want to make it clear in the manual that the external audio alerts only occur when the traffic is getting close as opposed to when it is first picked up. I racked my brain for a while trying to figure out why a target 5 miles out didn't beep when it first was acquired, I thought the unit was broken.

The XRX suffers from the same effects as your plane's wet compass.

So, it pre-sesses on some turns and is accurate on others. Also the steel all over your car can affect it. Altitude must be compared to your altimeter when the kollsman window is set to 29.92.

Alt is accurate to + - 100 ft
Heading is accurate to + - 10 degrees

I'd leave it alone till you put it in the plane.............take a saftey pilot when you play with it in flight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RW

When it comes accuracy of the digital compass in the XRX, the unit was designed to operate in an aircraft. And the magnetic fields surrounding an aircraft are far different than those around a car. So calibrate it in your plane, while pointing due north with your wet compass. We recommend you do this on the ground, simply because while you are flying your attention should be on your flying your plane.

You should only have to calibrate the compass on the initial setup, this allows the digital compass to adjust to your aircraft. However if the unit is exposed to strong magnetic fields then a recalibration may be needed.

Thanks

Daniel