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