Best settings to reduce clutter

[JDevoy]

Was wondering what people have found to be best settings for an average 110knot GA aircraft. (Sportcruiser )  rarely fly above 5000' bimble around at around 90-100knots.

Don't want or need to see airliners , especially thousands of feet above me.  Really just looking for other GA aircraft that are in my vicinity or will be soon.  I know PAWs not a TCAS but that's what I think most of us want it there for. To let folks know, and to be informed there is a threat.

Attached is current settings. Would be interested in comments from fellows who have had there's a while and have a happy balance.

Cheers
James

[steveu]

Attached is current settings. Would be interested in comments from fellows who have had there's a while and have a happy balance.

Couldn't see an attachment. If I go to the strip today I'll post some settings. I use the PAW settings to reduce audio alerts.

[exfirepro]

Hi James,

I agree likewise - actually posting your settings would be helpful - and when you are talking 'clutter' do you mean visual or audio? Also what are you displaying the 'traffic' on? (by which I mean tablet, phone or other - such as Dynon display) and if a phone or tablet, which software are you using? (presumably something like SkyDemon or EasyVFR - or are you using something else?)

As a general principle when setting up PAW, we usually recommend leaving the settings in PAW 'wide open' (i.e. at maximum vertical and horizontal range) and using the display system filters to control what is or isn't displayed. In SkyDemon, for example, this is set in 'Settings/Navigation Options/Show Within Vertically'. This setting allows you to choose the relative (vertical) altitude range you want to be warned about. Most will set it to somewhere around +/- 1000 or +/- 2000 feet. That should exclude most of the stuff you don't want to see (and aren't likely to collide with unless one of you is climbing or descending steeply), while ensuring you get sufficient warning of anyone climbing or descending rapidly towards you. Remember of course that within your chosen relative altitude band all traffic is automatically displayed within the range limits of your display screen. If this is showing too far out for you, you need to adjust the display range scale setting. I normally fly with SkyDemon on the 500K (1:500,000) scale, which seems about right. If you set yours to a smaller scale - e.g. 250K (1:250,000) - your display will of course only cover a smaller area, with correspondingly less aircraft, but at the same time less advanced warning of any potential conflict.

The exception to the above is the display of 'Bearingless' target aircraft (which are becoming less and less as people fit modern EC devices and the coverage areas of ATOM and iGRID expand). With 'Bearingless' targets, you have to choose an appropriate 'Range' in the Bearingless targets section of PilotAware / Configure. I normally advise using the 'Medium Range' setting, unless you are happy to only get warnings (without a directional bearing) at relatively close range, when the 'Short Range' setting should be selected.

Hope this helps.

Peter

[JDevoy]

Thanks for the info. hadn't though the settings we're 'display' specific specific. . I have two potentials. One is SkyDemon which I knew how to adjust. 

Other is Dynon SkyView which in its menu has the range/height settings. 

Was more wondering what settings people had tweaked theirs too. What seems optimum for an average 100-110 knot aircraft. Not aerobatic, not speed racing, staying down beneath 5000 most of the time. Was just thinking king to learn from those who have gone before. Save many flights tweaking from a standard staring point.

Cheers

[exfirepro]

Hi James,

I have been using PAW extensively both for development testing and normal flying since 2015.

My settings depend on whether I'm testing (when I want to see the 'bigger picture' - so will run PAW Bearingless on 'Long Range' and +/- 4000ft  or even +/- 50,000ft to get maximum reports) or merely out for a local flight or transiting the UK (when I'd normally run Bearingless on 'Medium Range' and +/- 2000ft, or in busy areas - like the Midlands or South-east - on 'Short Range' and +/- 1000ft, with audio alerts ON - and be prepared to take avoiding action at shorter notice). Longer range and wider relative altitude generates more Bearingless alerts, which can be annoying especially in the vicinity of busy airfields, though I have a mechanical volume control fitted to allow me to turn the volume down easily if it gets too distracting.

Known position targets are much less of a problem, as they simply appear on screen based on the current zoom range of your tablet - so you don't set horizontal display limits in PAW (the settings options in PAW/Config for 'known-position' targets are only intended for use with display systems that don't have their own inbuilt settings). The vertical limits for known-position display are dependent on your SD (or SV) settings and audio alerts for known-position targets are preset as the aircraft crosses any of 3 defined horizontal/vertical boundaries, starting at 10Km and +/- 2000ft, and you can select whether you want to be alerted at all 3 boundaries or just the closer ones in PAW/Config.

See here for further information... https://www.pilotaware.com/knowledgebase/configuration

Hope this helps...

Best Regards

Peter