Yeah whatever regarding the radio... I like the gauge on the right hand side
of your panel Ron. Nice to see that even sitting in the hangar it's pegged
at the redline ;-)


"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
On 28 Oct 2005 16:13:51 -0700, wrote:

Hello everyone - my first posting here.

I'm in the process of equipping my Earthstar thundergull with avionics.
This is a very light tandem 2 seater.
I was wondering what type of navcom to go with...handheld or panel
mounted.

Well...it's not exactly an "either/or" situation. Check out the panel
mounting
of an ICOM IC-A5 in my Fly Baby:

http://www.wanttaja.com/hhrad2.JPG

The radio is wired to conventional panel jacks, and is powered by the
aircraft
12V bus by a "Battery Eliminator" purchased from Batteries America. No
modifications to the radio were needed...I just built a cage from 1.25"
aluminum
channel (actually square tubing with one side cut away) and purchased the
four-conductor plug that fits into the headset adaptor jack for about $7.

The radio assembly is essentially self-contained...the headset jacks
mounted
onto the side rails of the aluminum channel. The only wiring on the
airplane
was a 4-conductor plug for power and PTT switch (plus the antenna, of
course).

http://www.wanttaja.com/hhrad.JPG

The potentiometer is used to adjust the volume without being able to
access the
knob on top. Everyone seems to understand me (quite unlike RAH :-), I can
receive stations 75 miles away, and whole installation weighs less than a
pound
and cost less than $300.

I made a couple of postings about it to the Fly Baby mailing list:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flybabylist/message/5006

Ron Wanttaja