NMAC BTWN A BEECH A36; BONANZA; IN CRUISE FLT AT 7500 FT AND A C310 IN CRUISE FLT AT THE SAME ALT. RPTR IN THE A36 MADE A CLBING TURN TO THE R AND THE C310 TURNED TO THE L.

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I TOOK OFF FROM AAP IN HOUSTON AND WAS CLRED VFR THROUGH THE CLASS B AIRSPACE AND INSTRUCTED TO FLY THE VFR CORRIDOR EBOUND (ALONG I-10) AT OR BELOW 2500 FT. WITHIN 5 MINS I WAS CLRED TO 7500 FT FOR MY TRIP TO OR3. UPON DEPARTING CLASS B AIRSPACE; ATC GAVE ME A FREQ CHANGE AND VFR SQUAWK. I BEGAN TO LOOK UP BEAUMONT'S APCH CTL TO RESUME FLT FOLLOWING AND TUNED THE BPT VOR. (I WAS NAVING GPS DIRECT OR3.) MY PLANE IS EQUIPPED WITH RYAN TCAD WHICH ALERTS THE USER TO TFC IN THE AREA. TCAD SHOWS DISTANCE BTWN YOU AND TARGET; AND ALT OF TARGET IN REF TO YOU. TCAD USES COMPARATIVE DATA BTWN YOUR XPONDER AND OTHER ACFT'S XPONDER. WITHIN A MIN OF TUNING BPT APCH; TCAD GAVE ME A WARNING OF AN ACFT AT SAME ALT AND 5 MI. I COULDN'T PICK UP TFC VISUALLY SO I SPOKE WITH BPT AND PICKED UP A SQUAWK CODE. WHEN I WAS PUTTING IN THE SQUAWK CODE TCAD GAVE ME A SECOND WARNING OF TFC SAME ALT .7 MI. ALMOST INSTANTANEOUSLY TCAD WARNED OF TFC .3 MI; SAME ALT. I IMMEDIATELY BEGAN A SHALLOW L CLBING +300 FT TURN TO THE L LOOKING BEHIND ME FOR TFC. BPT COULD NOT RADAR IDENT ME BECAUSE THE OTHER PLANE SQUAWKING 1200 WAS SO CLOSE THAT HE WAS CONFLICTING WITH MY XPONDER. I FINALLY SAW A C310 AT MY 5:30 O'CLOCK POS APPROX 100 FT BELOW ME AND 500 FT HORIZLY. I BROKE R AND CLBED TO AVOID TFC. AFTER I TURNED R HE SAW ME AND TURNED L. IT WAS THEN THAT THE BPT APCH CTLR IDENTED ME AS WELL AS THE OTHER VFR TFC. LESSONS LEARNED: 1) BELIEVE YOUR INSTS. WHEN SOMEONE IS AT SAME ALT WITHIN 5 MI AND YOU DO NOT HAVE A VISUAL; CHANGE ALTS. I SIMPLY WAITED TOO LONG. THE TCAD DID HOWEVER PREVENT A MIDAIR. BY CLBING 300 FT I WAS ABOVE THE TFC. 2) FLY IFR. I ALMOST NEVER FLY VFR AND NEVER WILL TAKE A TRIP WITHOUT BEING IN THE SYS AGAIN. 3) THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE NOT LOOKING. I DO MY BEST TO KEEP UP A GOOD SCAN; BUT NO ONE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF THEIR 6 O'CLOCK POS. FLY WITH TCAD!