Review: ICOM IC-A14 Handheld Radio

[ContestID67[_2_]]

My club purchased an ICOM IC-A14 to supplement our existing ICOM-
A4's.

The ICOM-A4 has been recently discontinued. It has a simple limited
keypad (no numbers) which is perfect for a club using only one
frequency. We keep them "locked" to prevent accidental mis-
communications from inadvertently changing to the wrong frequency.
The A4 comes with a nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) rechargeable battery. The
battery lasts for an entire (busy) day of operations. We purchased
the ICOM BC-121 six bay smart charger which makes recharging a simple
affair - though the BC-121 and BC-124 (AC power supply) is pricey at ~
$500 each plus the cost of the six charger adapter cups (AD-81) at $11
each. There is also an A4 Sport which uses separate AA cells.

The replacement ICOM-A14 is a smaller unit (about 2/3's the height),
lighter and has a lithium-ion (Lion) rechargeable battery. The price
point with the ICOM-A4 is the same, around $200. It uses a different
adapter cup (AD-106). The A14 has a full keypad setup but you can
purchase the A14s which has a simple keypad like the A4. Oddly, the
A14 and A14s are sold at the same price point.

The club likes the size and weight of the A14. However, I soon
received complaints of distorted audio from the tow plane. Oddly, the
A14's transmissions were receive just fine by the A4's. However, the
tow plane's Microaire reception was "unintelligible". We were
surprised to find that there is a microphone gain adjust on the A14 -
which we reset from High to Low. The audio was better and was
considered "OK" to "Good" especially when the speaker held the radio
5-6" away from his mouth (as the manual states). It appears that the
microphone is super sensitive or the radio is just plain defective.

I would be interested in hearing about other user's experiences with
the A14.

Thanks, John DeRosa

[Andy[_1_]]

On Oct 6, 10:43*am, ContestID67 > wrote:
>Oddly, the A14's transmissions were receive just fine by the A4's. However, the
>tow plane's Microaire reception was "unintelligible".

A little off topic but I too have noticed that the Microaire is picky
about what it receives and some transmissions are unintelligible but
are intelligible with other receivers.

I thought for a long time that the problem was that the Microaire was
designed for 8.33kHz and had a narrower IF passband than needed to
25kHz spacing. The problem could then be caused if a transmitter was
off nominal frequency. I no longer think that is the problem but
don't know what the cause is. I could perhaps be that the Microaire
is far less tolerant of overmodulation than other receivers.

I know mine will receive every tracon, ground, atis, awos, tower
frequency etc I have ever tuned with perfect clarity but some glider
radios are completely unintelligible, and it's always the same ones.

Did anyone experiencing this problem find the reason and a fix?

Andy

[Tim Mara[_2_]]

There are a number of updates and improvements to M760's since this radio
first came out. First Microair radios were real crap..no question, I in fact
refused to offer these after testing the first models but the company has as
is fairly well known changed hands also and the latest "Q" revision is
really an excellent radio, and even most earlier 2nd generation on radios
have been made to be quite good with the updates and modifications. I
recently pulled one form a glider we bought, it was essentially
non-functional, sent it in and had a total of 7 changes and updates
completed and now it is a newborn....night and day difference...Just make
sure you send yours to a shop that really knows these radios..I have seen
some really botched repairs from other shops but in the USA there is no one
better than Erie Aviation http://www.erieaviation.com/ (I in fact helped get
them set-up with Microair to be THE ONLY APPROVED US warranty center for
Micoair.)
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com


"Andy" > wrote in message
...
On Oct 6, 10:43 am, ContestID67 > wrote:
>Oddly, the A14's transmissions were receive just fine by the A4's.
>However, the
>tow plane's Microaire reception was "unintelligible".

A little off topic but I too have noticed that the Microaire is picky
about what it receives and some transmissions are unintelligible but
are intelligible with other receivers.

I thought for a long time that the problem was that the Microaire was
designed for 8.33kHz and had a narrower IF passband than needed to
25kHz spacing. The problem could then be caused if a transmitter was
off nominal frequency. I no longer think that is the problem but
don't know what the cause is. I could perhaps be that the Microaire
is far less tolerant of overmodulation than other receivers.

I know mine will receive every tracon, ground, atis, awos, tower
frequency etc I have ever tuned with perfect clarity but some glider
radios are completely unintelligible, and it's always the same ones.

Did anyone experiencing this problem find the reason and a fix?

Andy

[Andy[_1_]]

On Oct 6, 2:10*pm, "Tim Mara" > wrote:
> There are a number of updates and improvements to M760's since
> this radio first came out.

Tim can you provide a listing of each mod/rev and what it fixed or
added. That information was on the Microair website a few years ago
but I can't find it now.

Is there a modification that addressses the audio quality issue I
described?

Apart from unintelligible reception of a few specific glider radios
the only problem I have had with my M760 in over 7 years of service
was when the receiver continously scaned the whole com band without
changing the displayed frequency. That was easily fixed by following
the "reseat microcontroller" service bulletin.

thanks

Andy

[rlovinggood]

I'm still using a Microair 760 purchased from Tim back in 2000. It
went back to Oz once, or maybe twice. But for the past several years,
it's been great. One big improvement wasn't made to the radio, but to
the panel wiring. I took the glider to a local avionics shop where
they ripped out the "Radio Shack" wires and connectors that I had used
and installed the proper wiring, using the "Tefzel" (sp?) white
cables. When I bought the radio, I also bought the Microair boom mic
and the somewhat expensive PTT from Tim. Pilots say the transmissions
sound good.

I would buy another Microair, but I don't see that I'll need another
radio.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

[Tim Mara[_2_]]

I don't have the listing for the mods but if you email Microair I'm sure
they will supply a list based on your radio ser# what mods are required,
many of the repairs or mods are simply grounding components that were not
properly grounded in the early versions causing "spikes" and/or voltage
shorts between board components.
try emailing from their website page
http://www.microair.com.au/index.aspx?page=124
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com


"Andy" > wrote in message
...
On Oct 6, 2:10 pm, "Tim Mara" > wrote:
> There are a number of updates and improvements to M760's since
> this radio first came out.

Tim can you provide a listing of each mod/rev and what it fixed or
added. That information was on the Microair website a few years ago
but I can't find it now.

Is there a modification that addressses the audio quality issue I
described?

Apart from unintelligible reception of a few specific glider radios
the only problem I have had with my M760 in over 7 years of service
was when the receiver continously scaned the whole com band without
changing the displayed frequency. That was easily fixed by following
the "reseat microcontroller" service bulletin.

thanks

Andy