"Tom Nery" wrote in message
news:bfElb.540$9E1.5435@attbi_s52...
My '66 Cherokee 180C currently has a T12C ADF. Even though it has analog
tuning, the previous owner installed a Davitron digital frequency
read out so it's not as bad to tune as you'd think.

Anyway, it now longer points to the NDB (actually the needle never moves)
but can successfully tune am radio stations. So my choices a 1 Fix it,
2 Replace it, 3 Remove it.

My plane is currently certified for instrument operation (and I plan
on starting my IFR training shortly). I also have a Garmin 196 (primary)
and a Garmin 195 (backup - came with the plane).

Given the fact that ADF is (someday) being phased up (maybe), what is
the collective wisdom of the group? Which of the three choices
should I pursue?


Those GPS receivers won't count for much in your IFR training, but, for the
ADF, I'd dump it.

ADF approaches and transmitters are being decommissioned around the country
wholesale, and replaced by GPS approaches which are more accurate than ADF
anyway.

I noticed the price of a new Garmin 155XL IFR-certified GPS is now down to
just over $2,000.

As soon as I can I plan to get rid of both my ADF and my DME now that GPS
can substitute legally for DME. They're just taking up useful load.

If you need a solution to the loss of capability to listen to AM radio, I
just read an interesting article on AvWeb about satellite radio, which
eliminates the need to keep tuning new stations on the ADF when you fly out
of range of the stations. You have to pay $10/month for the service, but
that's pretty cheap for an elegant solution to the problem, and cheaper than
most anything else in aviation, that's for sure.