Used Avionics

[Jon Kraus]

Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace it with
a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does anyone have an
idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble price? Any advise
would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

[Don Tuite]

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:49 GMT, Jon Kraus >
wrote:

>Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
>will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace it with
>a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does anyone have an
>idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble price? Any advise
>would be appreciated. Thanks!!

If the cost of buying and installing a 155 seems steep, contact me.
The club has two "working when removed" 170Bs, one with tray, which
you wouldn't need. You can have your choice of either radio without
the tray for $150 and shipping.

I'm in Redwood City, Calif. , 30 miles south of San Francisco.

Don Tuite
dtuite insert commercial "at" sign penton.com

[A Lieberman]

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:49 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:

> Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
> will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace it with
> a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does anyone have an
> idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble price? Any advise
> would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Dang Jon,

Your plane talking to mine? My DG is going belly up, and rather it give up
the ghost in the clag, I am getting a new one put in. DG was original to
the plane and the avionics person said it was so old, there was no core
value to it!

Pricey little devil, that DG with header bug. While in the shop, getting
my Nav1 and Nav2 calibrated, altimeter rechecked and encoder rechecked
(last two items were adjusted on my .411 413 check, so luckily under
warrantee)

Altimeter as off by 45 feet when set against ATIS. Encoder was reporting
me 300 feet higher then the altimeter. Found this out climbing out in IMC
my last time doing approaches. I adjusted my altimeter so I wouldn't get
busted and took it in to get check out the next day.

Next up is annual, getting that done the last week of the month so it can
be signed off November 1st. October is going to be a very pricey month.

If all pans out, got a nice long XC planned to Ohio and Maryland the 2nd
week of November.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, but if my budget allows for it, I will be
looking at new radios in 6 months. Garmin 430 for sure, not sure what to
do for the second radio yet. After the radios, then a new interior.

Not planning to upgrade my plane, so I might as well go in comfort *smile*

Allen

[Jon Kraus]

Why you rich SOB!! :-) You got a lot of extra AMU's floating around
huh? We got a new DG w/ heading bug for 1 AMU when we got our STEC-30
installed in August. I think it is a Sigmatek but I could be wrong..

Good luck on your annual... I can't remember if this is your first or
second... I hope it is your second because the first one's hurt like
Polio... almost 9 AMU's for ours. Let me know how you come out. Where
in Ohio are you going to? That is close to Indianapolis. Maybe our paths
will cross...

As far as radios go I like the King KX-155 but they are salty. I saw
some TKM MX-170 that look pretty interesting. They are pretty much
Plug-and-Play for the KX-170B that crapped out. I think that Jay Honeck
used to have one in his Warrior and liked it. They are about 1/2 the
price of the King KX-155's. (1.5 AMU's vs 2.7 AMU) plus no rewiring to
do. I'll let ya know what we do and by the time you upgrade we will have
had ours for a while. You'll love the 430... It is the Bomb!! We got on
the WAAS upgrade list so whenever Garmin gets it together we will be ready.

I agree with the comfort thing too... I am looking at the sheepskin
covers for our front seats. Nice and comfy!!

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

A Lieberman wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:49 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:
>
>
>>Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
>>will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace it with
>>a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does anyone have an
>>idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble price? Any advise
>>would be appreciated. Thanks!!
>
>
> Dang Jon,
>
> Your plane talking to mine? My DG is going belly up, and rather it give up
> the ghost in the clag, I am getting a new one put in. DG was original to
> the plane and the avionics person said it was so old, there was no core
> value to it!
>
> Pricey little devil, that DG with header bug. While in the shop, getting
> my Nav1 and Nav2 calibrated, altimeter rechecked and encoder rechecked
> (last two items were adjusted on my .411 413 check, so luckily under
> warrantee)
>
> Altimeter as off by 45 feet when set against ATIS. Encoder was reporting
> me 300 feet higher then the altimeter. Found this out climbing out in IMC
> my last time doing approaches. I adjusted my altimeter so I wouldn't get
> busted and took it in to get check out the next day.
>
> Next up is annual, getting that done the last week of the month so it can
> be signed off November 1st. October is going to be a very pricey month.
>
> If all pans out, got a nice long XC planned to Ohio and Maryland the 2nd
> week of November.
>
> I am keeping my fingers crossed, but if my budget allows for it, I will be
> looking at new radios in 6 months. Garmin 430 for sure, not sure what to
> do for the second radio yet. After the radios, then a new interior.
>
> Not planning to upgrade my plane, so I might as well go in comfort *smile*
>
> Allen

[Jon Kraus]

As stated earlier we are looking to replace our KX-170B (our 2nd
NAV/COM). As I was doing some research I stumbled across the TKM MX-170
http://www.avionix.com/rev-tkm.html

On the surface this looks like a pretty good deal (1.5 AMU's new). I
talked to a gentleman at Pacific Coast Avionics and he said that the TKM
radios used to have some serious reliability issues they have cleaned up
their act and are now a good radio and would recommend them..

The cool thing about this radio is that it just slides right into our
now vacant slot where the 170B used to reside and you are finished. Plug
and Play baby...

Has anyone had any experience with these radios? Any feedback is much
appreciated. Thanks!!

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

[Jon Kraus]

Thanks for the offer Don.... I'll keep it in mind...

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

Don Tuite wrote:

> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:49 GMT, Jon Kraus >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
>>will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace it with
>>a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does anyone have an
>>idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble price? Any advise
>>would be appreciated. Thanks!!
>
>
> If the cost of buying and installing a 155 seems steep, contact me.
> The club has two "working when removed" 170Bs, one with tray, which
> you wouldn't need. You can have your choice of either radio without
> the tray for $150 and shipping.
>
> I'm in Redwood City, Calif. , 30 miles south of San Francisco.
>
> Don Tuite
> dtuite insert commercial "at" sign penton.com
>

[A Lieberman]

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 02:11:08 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:

> Why you rich SOB!! :-) You got a lot of extra AMU's floating around
> huh?

I need some auxillary pumps for my power source of my AMU's :-))

>We got a new DG w/ heading bug for 1 AMU when we got our STEC-30
> installed in August. I think it is a Sigmatek but I could be wrong..

1.1 here installed. In this case, I figured to bite the bullet and get
new. That's one instrument I don't want any doubts of operation :-) I am
figuring on some serious IMC time up north this time of the year. I keep
my fingers crossed that icing isn't a factor or it's a scrub for me.

> Good luck on your annual... I can't remember if this is your first or
> second... I hope it is your second because the first one's hurt like
> Polio... almost 9 AMU's for ours.

This will be (hard to believe) my third annual. First one was 4.5 AMU,
last one was 2.2 AMU and I hope this one will be less!

> Let me know how you come out. Where
> in Ohio are you going to? That is close to Indianapolis. Maybe our paths
> will cross...

11/12 thru 11/19. Will go from MBO to OWB to 2G2 (Owensboro). Day trips
to Mansfield and Athens OH. Day trip to Westminister MD as well.

> do. I'll let ya know what we do and by the time you upgrade we will have
> had ours for a while. You'll love the 430... It is the Bomb!! We got on
> the WAAS upgrade list so whenever Garmin gets it together we will be ready.

That's what my avionics man said, and who am I to question experience!

> I agree with the comfort thing too... I am looking at the sheepskin
> covers for our front seats. Nice and comfy!!

Sounds like a winner for those cold days and hot days. No freezing or
burning your rear end off.

Allen

[Don Tuite]

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 02:12:32 GMT, Jon Kraus >
wrote:

>Has anyone had any experience with these radios? Any feedback is much
>appreciated. Thanks!!
>
About $1500 and it slips into the existing tray. The only complaints
we had were that the frequency-memory feature is complicated to use
and it's hard to remember the sequence of buttons. Twice, it froze
until whoever was flying it at the time recycled the avionics power
bus. This was a unit bought in, I think, 2001. We never contacted
Michel because they don't have a Web presence. (They do have a phone.
They're down around Phoenix -- Chandler, I think.)

We eventually redid the panel, replacing the MX170 with a KX125
because that gave us room for an old Apollo GPS that would work with
the STEC autopilot we were installing at the same time. We moved the
Michel to our 1961 C172, which we were selling, figuring the new radio
was a deal sweetner.

Don

[John_F]

I used to have an aircraft with a TKM radio in it. It quit receiving
and I took it to an avionics shop. TKM would not provide any
documentation to the repair shop and said that the radio must be sent
to TKM. TKM did not fix it the first time nor the second time but
finally after three tries with me paying the shipping and three months
down time it FINALLY came back from TKM working. It was not
intermittent it was dead. This is my experience yours may be
different.

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 02:12:32 GMT, Jon Kraus >
wrote:

>As stated earlier we are looking to replace our KX-170B (our 2nd
>NAV/COM). As I was doing some research I stumbled across the TKM MX-170
> http://www.avionix.com/rev-tkm.html
>
>On the surface this looks like a pretty good deal (1.5 AMU's new). I
>talked to a gentleman at Pacific Coast Avionics and he said that the TKM
>radios used to have some serious reliability issues they have cleaned up
>their act and are now a good radio and would recommend them..
>
>The cool thing about this radio is that it just slides right into our
>now vacant slot where the 170B used to reside and you are finished. Plug
>and Play baby...
>
>Has anyone had any experience with these radios? Any feedback is much
>appreciated. Thanks!!
>
>Jon Kraus
>'79 Mooney 201
>4443H @ TYQ

[Mike Adams]

Don Tuite > wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 02:12:32 GMT, Jon Kraus >
> wrote:
>
>>Has anyone had any experience with these radios? Any feedback is much
>>appreciated. Thanks!!
>>
> About $1500 and it slips into the existing tray. The only complaints
> we had were that the frequency-memory feature is complicated to use
> and it's hard to remember the sequence of buttons. Twice, it froze
> until whoever was flying it at the time recycled the avionics power
> bus. This was a unit bought in, I think, 2001. We never contacted
> Michel because they don't have a Web presence. (They do have a phone.
> They're down around Phoenix -- Chandler, I think.)
>

My previous airplane had two MX-300's (the slide in replacement for the Cessna radio), and they worked
fine. I did have a problem with one of them once, and took it to their shop (I'm here in the Phoenix area
and their facility is at SDL) and they took care of it very quickly. This has been a few years, but at the
time, they had a flat rate for repairs - around $75 if I recall. But this would definitely be less convenient if
you have to ship it to them and wait for turnaround.

Mike

[[email protected]]

John_F > wrote:
: I used to have an aircraft with a TKM radio in it. It quit receiving
: and I took it to an avionics shop. TKM would not provide any
: documentation to the repair shop and said that the radio must be sent
: to TKM. TKM did not fix it the first time nor the second time but
: finally after three tries with me paying the shipping and three months
: down time it FINALLY came back from TKM working. It was not
: intermittent it was dead. This is my experience yours may be
: different.

My buddy had a similar experience, only a bit worse. Basically, bought a
mostly-working MX-170 off ebay. It had some issues with the front panel brightness
and a weak receive audio IIRC. Sent it to them. After getting the run-around for
many weeks, and repair estimates that kept getting higher, they basically quoted him
an estimate to repair equal to buying a refurbished unit (1.5 AMU). He said no
thanks, but he'd still have to pay a substantial amount of troubleshooting labor to
get it back. They kept the radio.


-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

[Steve]

About 2 years ago I installed 2 TKM MX300 radios to replace my old ARC
models. Absoulutely no problems so far.
No wiring changes or installation changes was nice. Just slid them in, they
worked.

-Steve

"Jon Kraus" > wrote in message
...
> As stated earlier we are looking to replace our KX-170B (our 2nd
> NAV/COM). As I was doing some research I stumbled across the TKM MX-170
> http://www.avionix.com/rev-tkm.html
>
> On the surface this looks like a pretty good deal (1.5 AMU's new). I
> talked to a gentleman at Pacific Coast Avionics and he said that the TKM
> radios used to have some serious reliability issues they have cleaned up
> their act and are now a good radio and would recommend them..
>
> The cool thing about this radio is that it just slides right into our
> now vacant slot where the 170B used to reside and you are finished. Plug
> and Play baby...
>
> Has anyone had any experience with these radios? Any feedback is much
> appreciated. Thanks!!
>
> Jon Kraus
> '79 Mooney 201
> 4443H @ TYQ
>

[john smith]

> Day trips to Mansfield and Athens OH.

Take pictures of the gate guards in Mansfield.
The Air Guard unit there is slated for decommissioning due to BRAC.

[Tom Nery]

I just (within the last 2 months) replaced a KX170B with an MX-170C. The
upgrade was as expected a slide in. After the install I flew an approach
(visual) to check it all out - and it was perfect.

The only problem I had was on my first IFR flight, my squelch refused to cut
out and the radio was useless - had to cancel the flight. After reseating
it in the tray everything was fine. It was at this point I decided toh have
the installation certified and my VOR, localizer and glideslope (KI214) are
all as good as can be expected.

Overall I'm happy with it, my only two nits are:
1. Sidetone volume could be higher (even after adjustment it's lower
than my kx170 was)
2.Squelch circuit could be better (seems to cut in an dout on borderline
levels.

Thats all I got for now.

Tom


"Jon Kraus" > wrote in message
...
> As stated earlier we are looking to replace our KX-170B (our 2nd NAV/COM).
> As I was doing some research I stumbled across the TKM MX-170
> http://www.avionix.com/rev-tkm.html
>
> On the surface this looks like a pretty good deal (1.5 AMU's new). I
> talked to a gentleman at Pacific Coast Avionics and he said that the TKM
> radios used to have some serious reliability issues they have cleaned up
> their act and are now a good radio and would recommend them..
>
> The cool thing about this radio is that it just slides right into our now
> vacant slot where the 170B used to reside and you are finished. Plug and
> Play baby...
>
> Has anyone had any experience with these radios? Any feedback is much
> appreciated. Thanks!!
>
> Jon Kraus
> '79 Mooney 201
> 4443H @ TYQ
>

[Jon Kraus]

Don,

I tried sending you an email and it bounced back no good. Please send me
an email so we can discuss your offer. Thanks!!

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

Don Tuite wrote:

> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:49 GMT, Jon Kraus >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
>>will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace it with
>>a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does anyone have an
>>idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble price? Any advise
>>would be appreciated. Thanks!!
>
>
> If the cost of buying and installing a 155 seems steep, contact me.
> The club has two "working when removed" 170Bs, one with tray, which
> you wouldn't need. You can have your choice of either radio without
> the tray for $150 and shipping.
>
> I'm in Redwood City, Calif. , 30 miles south of San Francisco.
>
> Don Tuite
> dtuite insert commercial "at" sign penton.com
>

[Dave Butler]

Hey Jon, there's also Gulf Coast Avionics http:/www.avionix.com. I bought a
couple of KX-155s from them a few years ago. Returned a couple of MX170s (I
think that's what they were) that I bought there and it was no hassle, good
customer service. The KX-155s worked out fine. That airplane is on its second
owner since me and still has those radios installed. Dave

Jon Kraus wrote:
> Don,
>
> I tried sending you an email and it bounced back no good. Please send me
> an email so we can discuss your offer. Thanks!!
>
> Jon Kraus
> '79 Mooney 201
> 4443H @ TYQ
>
> Don Tuite wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:49 GMT, Jon Kraus >
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz
>>> and will cost .7 AMU's to repair. We were looking to maybe replace
>>> it with a KX155 (14 volt), preferably w/o the glidescope. Does
>>> anyone have an idea on where we might find one for a reasonalble
>>> price? Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks!!
>>
>>
>>
>> If the cost of buying and installing a 155 seems steep, contact me.
>> The club has two "working when removed" 170Bs, one with tray, which
>> you wouldn't need. You can have your choice of either radio without
>> the tray for $150 and shipping.
>> I'm in Redwood City, Calif. , 30 miles south of San Francisco.
>>
>> Don Tuite
>> dtuite insert commercial "at" sign penton.com
>>
>


--
Dave Butler, software engineer 919-392-4367

[Paul kgyy]

I've heard opinions that the tkms don't have the robust construction of
the 155, but don't have personal experience.

I have a KX125 and find it excellent as a low-cost navcom - even
includes a built-in CDI with direct radial readout as an option.

[Richard Kaplan]

"Jon Kraus" > wrote in message
...

> Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and


Perhaps you can get your KX170B fixed economically here:

http://www.kx170b.com/

--------------------
Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com

[Bob Chilcoat]

We have a KX170B as Nav/Com 2. Damn thing is bullet proof! Picks up VOR's
25 miles farther out than our Narco 12B+, and the needles swing in much
faster. Yeah, it's not a flip-flop dial, which is handy, but I like having
it there for backup. It's been used several times when the Narco went TU.
The only trouble we've had was when the off/on micro switch died. The
Avionics guy didn't have a spare, so he cannibalized one from an old unit.
$35. Still is going strong.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Richard Kaplan" > wrote in message
news:1129603637.def259d25cea0d7a5cf8c415c5156f70@t eranews...
> "Jon Kraus" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> Our 2nd Nav/Com on our '79 201 is a KX170B. It has went on the fritz and
>
>
> Perhaps you can get your KX170B fixed economically here:
>
> http://www.kx170b.com/
>
> --------------------
> Richard Kaplan
>
> www.flyimc.com
>
>
>