MicroAir Radio problems...

A couple of years ago I purchased a brand new MicroAir 760 tranceiver. I
kept it in the box, planning on exchanging it, as my trusty old Dittel
FSG60m was starting to make funny noises and not quite act right...When the
Dittel finally gave up the ghost one day, I set to installing the MicroAir.
My first flight with the new radio was great other pilots said it was very
clear and easy to hear and be heard. And the next day...nothing. It just
quit allowing transmission. I can hear others, but can't reply.

Of course now it's out of factory warranty, and the factory simply says send
it back and they'll fix it and charge me...but I have spoken to several
other radio shops and they all either roll their eyes, or make a similar
grimace and then direct me to spend the money on replacing it entirely and
chalk it up to a $750 mistake.

I guess what I'm looking for is A: Has anyone out there had decent
experiences with this radio..? And B: Is it generally the consensus that
it's really not a worthy piece of equipment to have in the cockpit?

When I consider the investment of a few hundred bucks in comparison to the
investment in the rest of the sailplane I'm not really worried about the
money as much as just being duped...and I don't want to see others head down
the same path.

Any comments...?


Steve Hill
(DG-400)

We installed a brand new Microair 760 about 6 years ago. It has never worked
properly, no bugs could be found in the installation. It has been "repaired"
twice with no apparent improvement.

Cheers anyhow, Charles

I believe there was a problem with a component(s) in some of the early ones
manf
I believe they fix it and the problem goes away ,from scuttlebutt, the radio
works well
but but transmits very tightly on its band and some older radios don't seem
to receive
that type of signal very well and distort the audio. Newer radio's don't
seem to have
that issue.I am not a radio man so I am only repeating what I have heard.
gary
"Steve Hill" wrote in message
...
A couple of years ago I purchased a brand new MicroAir 760 tranceiver. I
kept it in the box, planning on exchanging it, as my trusty old Dittel
FSG60m was starting to make funny noises and not quite act right...When
the
Dittel finally gave up the ghost one day, I set to installing the
MicroAir.
My first flight with the new radio was great other pilots said it was very
clear and easy to hear and be heard. And the next day...nothing. It just
quit allowing transmission. I can hear others, but can't reply.

Of course now it's out of factory warranty, and the factory simply says
send
it back and they'll fix it and charge me...but I have spoken to several
other radio shops and they all either roll their eyes, or make a similar
grimace and then direct me to spend the money on replacing it entirely and
chalk it up to a $750 mistake.

I guess what I'm looking for is A: Has anyone out there had decent
experiences with this radio..? And B: Is it generally the consensus that
it's really not a worthy piece of equipment to have in the cockpit?

When I consider the investment of a few hundred bucks in comparison to the
investment in the rest of the sailplane I'm not really worried about the
money as much as just being duped...and I don't want to see others head
down
the same path.

Any comments...?


Steve Hill
(DG-400)

Generally Microair radios are OK....there is a late revision to the M760
(Revision N) that came out earlier this year, apparently addressing some
problems of earlier versions.
In my own personal opinion, there is nothing available yet that is as good
as the Walter Dittel radios, these are just terrific and have always been
so.we have some gliders still sporting FSG40's from the 1970's. There are
other radios that are also "good" and work well in gliders, I just would
rate none of these alternatives as being "AS good". Almost any of the
current radios, once they have made it beyond the warranty period rarely
have problems for a very long time afterwards since most problems with
avionics will show up early on.
Microair is quite good with warranty and repairs and we are working
currently at setting up a repair and warranty facility here in the
USA....though it is not in place yet.
My suggestion, since you already have the radio and the investment would be
to send it in and get it repaired and updated to the current version and
give it a second chance, the shipping and repair costs will be relatively
minor...I think you'll find it will be an OK radio...or call me and I'll be
happy to offer you a good trade-in towards any other radio I can offer
(Becker, Walter Dittel, Microair, Filser, Icom ect)
Tim
www.wingsandwheels.com



"Steve Hill" wrote in message
...
A couple of years ago I purchased a brand new MicroAir 760 tranceiver. I
kept it in the box, planning on exchanging it, as my trusty old Dittel
FSG60m was starting to make funny noises and not quite act right...When
the
Dittel finally gave up the ghost one day, I set to installing the
MicroAir.
My first flight with the new radio was great other pilots said it was very
clear and easy to hear and be heard. And the next day...nothing. It just
quit allowing transmission. I can hear others, but can't reply.

Of course now it's out of factory warranty, and the factory simply says
send
it back and they'll fix it and charge me...but I have spoken to several
other radio shops and they all either roll their eyes, or make a similar
grimace and then direct me to spend the money on replacing it entirely and
chalk it up to a $750 mistake.

I guess what I'm looking for is A: Has anyone out there had decent
experiences with this radio..? And B: Is it generally the consensus that
it's really not a worthy piece of equipment to have in the cockpit?

When I consider the investment of a few hundred bucks in comparison to the
investment in the rest of the sailplane I'm not really worried about the
money as much as just being duped...and I don't want to see others head
down
the same path.

Any comments...?


Steve Hill
(DG-400)

Our went back once for minor, perhaps similar, repair. Has worked fine
since.

Frank Whiteley
Colorado

I owned a MicroAir Radio that I installed in my Gensis II. It is a
fantastic radio. I had comments from pilots saying it was one of the
clearest radios they have heard. I never had problems with it. Most of
the MicroAir radio complaints can be traced back to poor installations.
Having said that, our club has several MicoAir radios and one has
actually had a real problem that had to do with a fading display.
MicroAir lists all their service bulletins on their web site and one
dealt with this issue (about a 6 month range of serial numbers). A 28
cent capacitor resolved the problem that I repair myself. All issues
that we have dealt with since have been installation issues (mikes,
wiring etc.). I would not hesitate to purchase another. If you are
worried about failures, you can buy 2 for the price of a Dittel and have
a spare.

Vorsanger1 wrote:
We installed a brand new Microair 760 about 6 years ago. It has never worked
properly, no bugs could be found in the installation. It has been "repaired"
twice with no apparent improvement.

Cheers anyhow, Charles

Ours has been fantastic since day 1.

The Microair service department is VERY reasonable. I would try my luck. At
least send it back for a quote!


"Sf760" wrote in message
...
Ours has been fantastic since day 1.

At 17:36 07 October 2004, Steve Hill wrote:
A couple of years ago I purchased a brand new MicroAir
760 tranceiver.

Steve,

I've got mixed feelings about my MicroAir. I've had
it installed for about, oh, 4 or 5 years. It sat in
its box under my bed for about a year before one of
my flying buds got fed up with trying to listen to
my transmissions via my hand-held radio. He was so
fed up that he installed the radio for me.

After installation, it worked great for a couple of
years and then, it wouldn't transmit. It would receive,
but not transmit. So, I sent it back to Australia
for repair. Since getting it back, it works fine,
again. There was also one other peculiarity about
it before sending it to Oz: I coudn't understand the
transmission from one particular MicroAir. Other pilots
understood that pilot fine, but not me. I heard the
transmission as a garbled mess. Well, I hear that
MicroAir fine now.

Shipping to Australia from North Carolina, USA: It
can be expensive via UPS or FEDEX. UPS quoted me $180
EACH WAY!!! And that was their cheapest rate, he said.
I got a similar price via FEDEX. The U.S. Postal
Service ended up with my business and their fee was
something between $20 and $30 each way, including insurance.
The repair bill, not including shipping, was something
like $60 (US$). I just included my credit card number
on my transmittal letter.

In our club, two ships have Microairs and both have
been back to Australia for repairs. One radio went
twice. So, we aren't too happy with them, but they
are currently working. We did hear after sending them
to Australia that there is a place somewhere in Florida
that will now repair them. At least, there was a place
before the current hurricane season started. I don't
know about now...

I do like the features of the radio. I use the Memory
function most of the time, but will use the 'flip-flop'
function from time to time.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, NC, USA
DG(LS)1-d

I have been more than pleased with my Microaire which i have used for more than
4 years without problems . I frequently talk to glider buddies 200 miles away
each weekend .