XCOM radio

[jphoenix]

Anybody have comments positive or negative regarding the XCOM radio?
I'm trying to decide on a replacement for the Filser I pulled and I
like the Becker and Dittel, but the features of the XCOM are very
interesting, monitor two channels, receive 108 to 118 range
frequencies, etc.

Do they sound as good as the Becker? Any reliability problems?

Rgds,

Jim

[Dan'l]

The December 2005 "Kitplanes" magazine (mine arrived today,
conveniently) Aero 'Lectrics column has a review of the radio (3 pages,
starting on p.83); they say if you use an intercom and a music source,
with occasional use of ham or wx bands, it's good; if you're just
looking for a primary radio, you'll be spending money of features you
may never use. Also, there's a lack of specs in the manual and on
their website. I'd pick up the magazine and have a look. They are
complementary on construction and build quality.
DD
jphoenix wrote:
> Anybody have comments positive or negative regarding the XCOM radio?
> I'm trying to decide on a replacement for the Filser I pulled and I
> like the Becker and Dittel, but the features of the XCOM are very
> interesting, monitor two channels, receive 108 to 118 range
> frequencies, etc.
>
> Do they sound as good as the Becker? Any reliability problems?
>
> Rgds,
>
> Jim

[Dan'l]

The December 2005 "Kitplanes" magazine (mine arrived today,
conveniently) Aero 'Lectrics column has a review of the radio (3 pages,
starting on p.83); they say if you use an intercom and a music source,
with occasional use of ham or wx bands, it's good; if you're just
looking for a primary radio, you'll be spending money of features you
may never use. Also, there's a lack of specs in the manual and on
their website. I'd pick up the magazine and have a look. They are
complementary on construction and build quality.
DD
jphoenix wrote:
> Anybody have comments positive or negative regarding the XCOM radio?
> I'm trying to decide on a replacement for the Filser I pulled and I
> like the Becker and Dittel, but the features of the XCOM are very
> interesting, monitor two channels, receive 108 to 118 range
> frequencies, etc.
>
> Do they sound as good as the Becker? Any reliability problems?
>
> Rgds,
>
> Jim

[Paul Remde]

Hi Jim,

I sell the XCOM radio so I'm probably biased, but I do my best to give
completely honest advice.

I have played with the XCOM radios in my office quite a lot. I like the
ease of use. It is easy to configure and change settings. It is easy to
use "in flight" (although I haven't flown with one yet). It does have some
very cool features as you mentioned. I also like that it can transmit 0.75
W output with only 9V power input. That is an impressive spec. Most radios
won't transmit at all at 9V. Of course, it transmits with much, much more
power at 12V or more.

My testing was plagued by an issue with a particular batch of XCOM
microphones. They received a bad batch of microphones and I received most
of them. It was tough to track down since the units they had in their stock
worked fine. Thankfully they recently solved the problem and they are
sending me more microphones to test. It was a vendor component swap issue
that was tough to isolate. I've been impressed with their professional
communications with me on the issue.

I've sold several of the radios so far. The microphone issue made us
question the radio for a time but now that that we know it is a microphone
issue and it has been solved, I think we'll be on track. I haven't had any
radios returned to me so far.

If you want a radio with a track record, buy the excellent Walter Dittel or
Becker radios. If you want something new with new features it may be worth
trying the XCOM.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"jphoenix" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Anybody have comments positive or negative regarding the XCOM radio?
> I'm trying to decide on a replacement for the Filser I pulled and I
> like the Becker and Dittel, but the features of the XCOM are very
> interesting, monitor two channels, receive 108 to 118 range
> frequencies, etc.
>
> Do they sound as good as the Becker? Any reliability problems?
>
> Rgds,
>
> Jim
>

[Ian McPhee]

I make the microphones but not the preamp that goes inside - I think all is
well with the preamp now as been much activity over last 2 weeks

Ian McPhee (skype macca304)
Box 657
Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia
Tel +61(0)2 66847642 mob +61(0)428847642
(remove all except .au)
www.mrsoaring.com
"Paul Remde" > wrote in message
news:vGL6f.466858$_o.281583@attbi_s71...
> Hi Jim,
>
> I sell the XCOM radio so I'm probably biased, but I do my best to give
> completely honest advice.
>
> I have played with the XCOM radios in my office quite a lot. I like the
> ease of use. It is easy to configure and change settings. It is easy to
> use "in flight" (although I haven't flown with one yet). It does have
> some very cool features as you mentioned. I also like that it can
> transmit 0.75 W output with only 9V power input. That is an impressive
> spec. Most radios won't transmit at all at 9V. Of course, it transmits
> with much, much more power at 12V or more.
>
> My testing was plagued by an issue with a particular batch of XCOM
> microphones. They received a bad batch of microphones and I received most
> of them. It was tough to track down since the units they had in their
> stock worked fine. Thankfully they recently solved the problem and they
> are sending me more microphones to test. It was a vendor component swap
> issue that was tough to isolate. I've been impressed with their
> professional communications with me on the issue.
>
> I've sold several of the radios so far. The microphone issue made us
> question the radio for a time but now that that we know it is a microphone
> issue and it has been solved, I think we'll be on track. I haven't had
> any radios returned to me so far.
>
> If you want a radio with a track record, buy the excellent Walter Dittel
> or Becker radios. If you want something new with new features it may be
> worth trying the XCOM.
>
> Good Soaring,
>
> Paul Remde
> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
> http://www.cumulus-soaring.com
>
> "jphoenix" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Anybody have comments positive or negative regarding the XCOM radio?
>> I'm trying to decide on a replacement for the Filser I pulled and I
>> like the Becker and Dittel, but the features of the XCOM are very
>> interesting, monitor two channels, receive 108 to 118 range
>> frequencies, etc.
>>
>> Do they sound as good as the Becker? Any reliability problems?
>>
>> Rgds,
>>
>> Jim
>>
>
>

[Ian McPhee]

basically the whistle in my mic is caused by the boom being almost 1/4 wave
(50cm approx) so fix for most will be an earth at base of boom from the
coax. The mic has grown over the years and the power or xcom is more than
microair etc. Thats about the story
--
Ian McPhee (skype macca304)
Box 657
Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia
Tel +61(0)2 66847642 mob +61(0)428847642
(remove stralia)
www.mrsoaring.com

[jphoenix]

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like a good unit.

Jim

[David Kinsell]

Paul Remde wrote:
> Hi Jim,
>
> I sell the XCOM radio so I'm probably biased, but I do my best to give
> completely honest advice.
>
> I have played with the XCOM radios in my office quite a lot. I like the
> ease of use. It is easy to configure and change settings. It is easy to
> use "in flight" (although I haven't flown with one yet). It does have some
> very cool features as you mentioned. I also like that it can transmit 0.75
> W output with only 9V power input. That is an impressive spec. Most radios
> won't transmit at all at 9V. Of course, it transmits with much, much more
> power at 12V or more.

???? It'll have somewhat more power at 12 volts, but to get the 6 watts it's
rated for, you need the nominal input voltage, which of course is 13.8 volts.

Their web site says 10 volts minimum voltage, emergency use only. Perhaps they
actually mean it?

-Dave

[Paul Remde]

Hi David,

You crack me up.

XCOM told me that the radio is unique because it can transmit with 0.75 W of
power at only 9 V. That is an impressive specification in my opinion. They
seemed quite excited about that feature. Of course it will work better at
13.8 volts but only marginally better than it will work at 12V. XCOM feels
the radio will work great on a 12V battery.

Also, I had a long phone conversation with a very knowledgeable and
experience technician at Walter Dittel yesterday. The conversation was on
another topic, but I then asked him what he thought about the need for a 14V
battery in gliders. He laughed and said their radios work great on 12V and
that building 14V batteries was never optimum for many reasons. He said
they did not feel that a 14V battery was necessary at all. By the way, the
battery box they sell uses a 12V, 7 AHr battery.

I do respect your opinion on this. Feel free to fly with 14V systems. I
prefer 12V systems for many reasons.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"David Kinsell" > wrote in message
...
> Paul Remde wrote:
>> Hi Jim,
>>
>> I sell the XCOM radio so I'm probably biased, but I do my best to give
>> completely honest advice.
>>
>> I have played with the XCOM radios in my office quite a lot. I like the
>> ease of use. It is easy to configure and change settings. It is easy to
>> use "in flight" (although I haven't flown with one yet). It does have
>> some very cool features as you mentioned. I also like that it can
>> transmit 0.75 W output with only 9V power input. That is an impressive
>> spec. Most radios won't transmit at all at 9V. Of course, it transmits
>> with much, much more power at 12V or more.
>
> ???? It'll have somewhat more power at 12 volts, but to get the 6 watts
> it's
> rated for, you need the nominal input voltage, which of course is 13.8
> volts.
>
> Their web site says 10 volts minimum voltage, emergency use only. Perhaps
> they
> actually mean it?
>
> -Dave

[Ian McPhee]

Think the 14 v batteries came from the days of Radair 360 Narcom 11A etc -
all the newer ones (last 20 years except possibly Icom A200) work OK on 12v
7ah batteries. I do suggest the big (long) 2 seaters use 16g wire from the
battery to panel exp Xcom as it is a powerful radio and you can get a power
drop. While going in Nimbus4 the aerial is in the rudder and a BNC at the
base of fin/rudder gets wet when you dump tail water. Please check each
annual and or do something as it will play up eventually!!! Ian McPhee
Australia

"Paul Remde" > wrote in message
news:N3b8f.481411$_o.346034@attbi_s71...
> Hi David,
>
> You crack me up.
>
> XCOM told me that the radio is unique because it can transmit with 0.75 W
> of power at only 9 V. That is an impressive specification in my opinion.
> They seemed quite excited about that feature. Of course it will work
> better at 13.8 volts but only marginally better than it will work at 12V.
> XCOM feels the radio will work great on a 12V battery.
>
> Also, I had a long phone conversation with a very knowledgeable and
> experience technician at Walter Dittel yesterday. The conversation was on
> another topic, but I then asked him what he thought about the need for a
> 14V battery in gliders. He laughed and said their radios work great on
> 12V and that building 14V batteries was never optimum for many reasons.
> He said they did not feel that a 14V battery was necessary at all. By the
> way, the battery box they sell uses a 12V, 7 AHr battery.
>
> I do respect your opinion on this. Feel free to fly with 14V systems. I
> prefer 12V systems for many reasons.
>
> Good Soaring,
>
> Paul Remde
> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
> http://www.cumulus-soaring.com
>
> "David Kinsell" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Paul Remde wrote:
>>> Hi Jim,
>>>
>>> I sell the XCOM radio so I'm probably biased, but I do my best to give
>>> completely honest advice.
>>>
>>> I have played with the XCOM radios in my office quite a lot. I like the
>>> ease of use. It is easy to configure and change settings. It is easy
>>> to use "in flight" (although I haven't flown with one yet). It does
>>> have some very cool features as you mentioned. I also like that it can
>>> transmit 0.75 W output with only 9V power input. That is an impressive
>>> spec. Most radios won't transmit at all at 9V. Of course, it transmits
>>> with much, much more power at 12V or more.
>>
>> ???? It'll have somewhat more power at 12 volts, but to get the 6 watts
>> it's
>> rated for, you need the nominal input voltage, which of course is 13.8
>> volts.
>>
>> Their web site says 10 volts minimum voltage, emergency use only.
>> Perhaps they
>> actually mean it?
>>
>> -Dave
>
>