On Aug 15, 5:40*pm, GK wrote:
On Aug 15, 8:18*pm, Dixie Sierra wrote:





I've decided to give up on my Avionic Dittel and buy new. It's been a
good radio and has given many years of service, but I'd like some new
functionality.

Functionality is really at the heart of my dilemna. I've kind of
narrowed things down to Becker vs Microair (I've ruled out Walter
Dittel on price... everyone has a limit independent of reason). There
seems to be a broad consensus that the Becker is a more reliable
choice. However, the Microair seems to offer a number of superior
features.

1) Remote operation from a stick mounted toggle.
2) Dual scan beteween the active and standby freqs with the ability to
transmit on the active. (Becker also offers a scan option but it seems
to be cover far more freqs and the freqs covered can only be changed
by turning the radio off and on at least twice. Dual scan seems very
nice when flying XC in the vicinity of an active airport.)
3 Alpha descriptions of saved freqs.
4) Variable squelch (Becker has this, but not without turning the
radio off and on at least twice to make changes.)

So here I am... The Microair costs less and has "better" features. But
who cares if it doesn't work?

What to do? What to do?.. I think I'll fly with the handheld!

What am I missing? I'm sure there are many cosniderations that escape
me.

Doug

*- Statistically speaking I know *of THREE cases of Micro air radio
having problems with transmitting once the radio gets warm - usually
an hour into flight. The two Becker’s (one being mine) on the other
hand seem to work flawlessly.
So, save yourself the arse pain, spend little more and have a product
that has a solid dependability record; it’s not like you buy one every
year. Besides there is nothing more frustrating than your equipment
not operative on that good day.
Good luck.

GK- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

... OTOH, just buying a Becker doesn't mean it will be trouble free.
Our club has purchased two Becker transceivers in the last 3 years.
Both have required return for repair in short order. Another club
member had to send his Becker Transponder back twice to get it to work
(turned out to be a cold solder joint). I went (for me) big bucks and
bought a Dittel FSG2T, which was also bad out of the box (Dittel
repaired it for free, of course). The Becker transceivers seem okay
after they come back from the factory, but IMO we should be able to
expect these high dollar bits of electronics to work reliably. In my
limited experience, 100% of the Becker and Dittel electronics were
defective (granted, I have a sample size of only four).