The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: AirGizmo PIREP, PS Engineering CD/Intercom woes, XM "service"

This is what I love about these forums...I swear, I am ready to trade in
the Garmin 340 audio panel my partner/brother and I bought a couple of years
ago, and have yet to install in our Skyhawk, for a PS Engineering unit
based, almost solely on these posts!

Mark, your representation of your company and technical knowledge of your
product is an awesome example that some companies still care.
Good on ya!

Brad Boss
Co-Owner 1967 C-172H N3916R
MH-47 Flight Engineer by night....


wrote in message
ups.com...


The pin inputs on the intercom are "Music 2" and "Auxilliary". "Music
2" feeds ONLY the back two seats, which allows my kids to listen to
music different from what Mary and are hearing. "Auxiliary" (the
avionics boys discovered only after completing the installation) only
feeds the PILOT position. Only the pilot can hear anything.

Actually, I'm not sure exactly what one is calling The Auxillary if it
is anything other than the SWITCHED Auxillary input that is activated
by the AUX front panel pushbutton.

There is a Music #1 which will be heard by the pilot and copilot while
Music #2 will be heard by the passengers.

The unit was designed before the proliferation of Ipods and MP3
players, so apparently PS Engineering made no accommodation for an
auxillary music input that feeds all four positions!

Your description of the operation is correct, but it wasn't because the
PMA7000CD was designed before many of the portable MP3 players came
out, it was because we learned a lot from our original design of the
PMA6000 where the intercom mode switch controlled who heard Music #1.
Because this function switches music inside the audio panel, it limited
the amount of flexibility of who hears what when.

This is why when we designed the PMA7000 Series we made the music
distribution simple, #1 to Crew, #2 to the passengers. With the
installation of one or two switches, the combinations of who hears what
is significant.


Additionally, the
auxiliary input does not "auto-squelch" when ATC starts talking, which
required the shop to install a "kill switch" in the panel so that I can
cut the music quickly if needed.\

This I don't understand. The Mute button on the front panel of the
PMA7000CD places Music #1 for the crew in the Mute or Karoake Mode. The
passengers can also have this feature, but a SPST switch is required to
allow them to make this change "on the fly"


The avionics boys wanted to experiment with a few things, to see how
they could effectively feed all four positions without interfering with
the unit's "Intellivox" auto-squelch -- but we ran out of time. It was
getting late, and we had to be home to meet family coming in for the
holiday, so we had to depart. Just as well, as Tony (the head of the
shop) wants time to diagram and study the circuitry in more detail
before they started running experimental patch cords all over the
place...

Please have your shop call me at PS Engineering and I'll be glad to
help them. There is actually a wiring diagram discribing this exactly
in the installation manual. You can download this manual by going to
www.ps-engineering.com/downloads.shtml

Jay, please let me know how I can help, I'll do what ever I can to make
sure that the Bad turns into AWESOME!

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.
www.ps-engineering.com

BigBadBrad wrote:

This is what I love about these forums...I swear, I am ready to trade in
the Garmin 340 audio panel my partner/brother and I bought a couple of years
ago, and have yet to install in our Skyhawk, for a PS Engineering unit
based, almost solely on these posts!

I've had both. What would make you swap them?

Jay, please let me know how I can help, I'll do what ever I can to make
sure that the Bad turns into AWESOME!

Mark, what in the heck are you doing here, answering technical
questions on Thanksgiving Day???

:-)

I'll pass along your advice to Tony, and you can expect to hear from
him in the next few days. Thanks a lot for the timely advice!

Blues skies...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

Mark, what in the heck are you doing here, answering technical
questions on Thanksgiving Day???


Oh, and just so you have an idea who Mark is, have a look at his last
name - and ask yourself what the S in PS Engineering...

As I said, outstanding customer service.


--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Sorry, didn't mean to be vague.

Music #1 goes to the Crew (Pilot and Copilot); Music #2 goes to the
passengers (up to four passengers).

Without some external switching means, it is not possible for all to
hear one source.

However, unlike our competition and our PMA6000, it is possible to
create many different music distribution combinations, thus providing
flexibility in who hears what. While this does require an external
switch, please know that the competition's unit as well as our PMA6000,
no matter how many external switches you install, you are stuck with
the fact that these audio panels switch the music inside the unit. And
that switching is linked to the intercom mode switch. What this means
is that the audio panel dictates who hears what music when.

While I know external switches adds costs to the installation, the good
news is that the PMA7000 doesn't require any other external switches,
other than the ones discussed above, where our competition requires at
least two. One for changing the music gain level and one to allow the
music NOT to mute during intercom activity. The PMA7000 doesn't require
a gain switch and the muting is on the front panel. (for the crew only,
and external switch is required if the passengers want the Karaoke
mode).

With our recent introduction of the PMA8000B, NO EXTERNAL SWITCHES are
required at all. Thanks to the front panel user selectable audio panel
configuration control, you can send music from Music #1, Music #2, and
the front panel utility jack, where you want it to go just be selecting
what you want the audio panel to do, from the front panel!

Someone asked, "Why would you exchange a GMA340 for a PS Engineering
audio panel? Excellent question! Here's a link that will give you some
very good reasons, IMHO, that should be considered when making that
decision. Go to www.ps-engineering.com/pma8000b.shtml and then click on
the word INCOMPARABLE. There you will see information that really isn't
available anywhere else.

I didn't have the intention to turn this reply into a sales pitch, so I
apologize if this offends anyone, but the question was raised and I
felt compelled to answer.

And thank you to those who have been so supportive of us over the
years. This business is one my passions (my family is the other) and I
just get the biggest kick when we win business from a competitor who
can be described as nothing short of awesome. Thank goodness they
haven't focused on this audio stuff like we have over the last 21
years. And Innovation will continue to drive the direction of PS
Engineering; it's what separates us from the rest of the pack.


Again, thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Mark


Newps wrote:

You're a little vague here. Are you saying there's no single input so
all four positions get the same music feed from a single music in jack?

Oh, and just so you have an idea who Mark is, have a look at his last
name - and ask yourself what the S in PS Engineering...

I know. I've purchased two PS Engineering intercom/CD players (one for
each of the planes I've owned), and loved them both -- largely due to
Mark's timely commentary and expert advice here on the 'groups.

Incidentally, lest someone think otherwise, I certainly don't blame PS
Engineering for my shop's ignorance of how to hook up XM radio to my
intercom. They were the ones who cavalierly said "Sure, we can do it!"
without apparently having the vaguest notion of how to make it actually
*work* -- which (BTW) fits 100% into my experience with every avionics
upgrade I've ever done.

In fact, when I first arrived at the airport I joked with the head tech
about "Should I make a follow-up appointment right now, or shall we
wait until the end?" At the time we all laughed heartily, but -- in my
limited experience with three different avionics shops -- there has
never yet been an installation that didn't either (a) need to be
tweaked, or (b) caused something else in the panel to become
non-functional.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Without some external switching means, it is not possible for all to
hear one source.

Hey Mark, one last question, if you're still monitoring this thread:

Using the auxiliary input, the XM radio connection to the pilot's
position is working okay -- but I noticed a pronounced alternator
whine. I'm assuming it's alternator whine because the pitch goes up
and down in synch with engine RPM.

Obviously I'm going to have the shop try to eliminate that during next
week's follow-up visit. Any advice on how they should proceed? (The
whine is NOT there when listening to the intercom or music from the
CD.)

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

They were the ones who cavalierly said "Sure, we can do it!"
without apparently having the vaguest notion of how to make it actually
*work*


My experience with avionics shops here in Germany is similar. What I
don't get is: Why don't they simply call the manufacturer and ask?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

wrote:

Music #1 goes to the Crew (Pilot and Copilot); Music #2 goes to the
passengers (up to four passengers).

Without some external switching means, it is not possible for all to
hear one source.


When I had my panel installed, I decided I didn't really need the
flexibility for two separate music sources for the front and back seats, so
just had the two inputs wired together, and connected to an input jack on
the panel. I can just plug in the iPod or CD player and it's available to
all 4 positions with no external switching required.

I have a B/K KMA-28, which is a re-branded PMA7000. It works absolutely
perfectly. I am very pleased with it.

Mike

When I had my panel installed, I decided I didn't really need the
flexibility for two separate music sources for the front and back seats, so
just had the two inputs wired together, and connected to an input jack on
the panel. I can just plug in the iPod or CD player and it's available to
all 4 positions with no external switching required.

That's one solution we talked about, but I would hate to lose that
flexibility.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"