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#11
September 3rd 03, 11:12 AM
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#12
September 4th 03, 03:41 AM
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Andy,
I have the same situation that you described with my Microair. Just about every glider sounds different and I sure appreciate those with "tight" radios. I agree with Mike Borgelt's reply that the other radios are not up to par. Overall the Microair has performed well (except for the excessive sensitivity) but I would rate the quality of finish and external components (judged by the feel of the pots, etc.) as only average. My old Dittel was really nice... Steve LS-3a AM snip I am happy with mine except that I still have not resolved a problem that a few gliders that I fly with are very distorted and unreadable, while most are clear even when very close. Andy (GY)
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#13
September 4th 03, 01:29 PM
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I have a Microair in my glider and there are a couple
of gliders in our club that I can't understand transmissions coming from their radios. One is equipped with an (identical?) Microair and the other is equipped with either a Dittel or a Becker. Other gliders hear them fine. All I hear is a garbled message. I can usually determine who is speaking by the sound of their voice, but I can't distinguish the words. I do plan on taking the glider to a radio shop and have them check it out, including the antenna. Is it my radio or the others? I suspect it is my radio since others here the 'garblers' clearly. They all say my transmissions are clear. Ray Lovinggood Carrboro, North Carolina, USA LS-1d (In need of a snorkle this year...) At 12:36 04 September 2003, Andy Durbin wrote: Mike Borgelt wrote in message I have a Microair in my ASW-28. It has a front panel squelch control that can be very useful for shutting out chatter from distant sites while still leaving the volume high enough to hear safety calls from proximate gliders. Other 'top of the line' glider radios have no pilot adjustable squelch. I am happy with mine except that I still have not resolved a problem that a few gliders that I fly with are very distorted and unreadable, while most are clear even when very close. Andy (GY) I think your problem is actually in the other gliders. The MicroAir receiver is narrow band. Other transmitters may meet the older specifications but may have a problem talking to a MicroAir receiver. I think that was what the MicroAir designer was talking about at Kingaroy a few months ago. Mike Borgelt Mike, I suspect you are right nut I have not yet been able to confirm with frequency measurements. Is the MicroAir designed with a narrow IF passband to support 12.5kHz channel spacing? It only allows selection of 25kHz channels. If that is the case perhaps they would consider a design change to widen the IF passband. Has Australia changed to 12.5kHz spacing? Andy (GY)
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#14
September 4th 03, 02:58 PM
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X-no-archive: yes
In article , Mike Borgelt writes I think your problem is actually in the other gliders. The MicroAir receiver is narrow band. Other transmitters may meet the older specifications but may have a problem talking to a MicroAir receiver. I think that was what the MicroAir designer was talking about at Kingaroy a few months ago. Mike Borgelt Mike, what exactly are you saying by narrow band? Is the Microair 8.33Khz spacing (which we are threatened with)? Tim Newport-Peace "May you be cursed with a chronic anxiety about the weather." John Burroughs (1837-1921).
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#15
September 5th 03, 12:20 AM
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On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 14:58:44 +0100, Tim Newport-Peace ]
wrote: X-no-archive: yes In article , Mike Borgelt writes I think your problem is actually in the other gliders. The MicroAir receiver is narrow band. Other transmitters may meet the older specifications but may have a problem talking to a MicroAir receiver. I think that was what the MicroAir designer was talking about at Kingaroy a few months ago. Mike Borgelt Mike, what exactly are you saying by narrow band? Is the Microair 8.33Khz spacing (which we are threatened with)? Tim Newport-Peace "May you be cursed with a chronic anxiety about the weather." John Burroughs (1837-1921). I'm not sure of the exact details but the implication was that the MicroAir was tighter than required for 25Khz spacing. I'll ask. Mike Borgelt
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#16
September 5th 03, 12:27 AM
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#17
September 5th 03, 11:55 AM
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Mike Borgelt wrote in message We have not changed to 12.5Khz spacing.
I suggest if you are having problems that you email the MicroAir people direct. Ian Mugen is the manager of the MicroAir factory and he is a glider pilot from New Zealand. MicroAir is owned by the people who also own and run the Jabiru aircraft and engine factory. I know them all and I'm sure if you let them know they'll help. They can't fix what they don't know about. Mike Borgelt Thank Mike, I exchanged some email with them on this problem earlier this year. I have delayed follow-up action until the end of the soaring season. Until I participated in this thread I didn't know that others were experiencing the same problem. That's useful information. Will anyone that has a MicroAir, and has receive signal distortion on only a few specific transmitters, please contact me giving me the serial number of the MicroAir and, if possible, the make and model of the problem transmitter(s). thanks Andy (GY)
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#18
September 10th 03, 01:51 PM
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"Andrew Warbrick" wrote in message ... What I was getting at is that the Microair is more sensitive to a very slightly low battery voltage than most glider instruments. Radios in general are more sensitive to low voltage than other glider instruments. When I press the PTT the LX160 does not complain about low battery voltage which means it's not going below 10V. If you read your specs, the normal operating voltage is listed as 13.8 volts, and "emergency minimum" is listed at 10.5. Any radio you're likely to buy for a glider has serious problems transmitting below 11 volts, either distortion or total failure to transmit. If you are down at 10-11 volts, that certainly is not "very slightly" below the rated voltage of the radio. My main battery is a 12V 12Ah Yuasa, it was new in March and has only been charged about a dozen times with an appropriate battery charger. It is expected to run an Ipaq (up to 2A more likely 0.5A) an LX160s, the radio and from time to time an artificial horizon (peak current 2A, 1.6A when running) it will run all of this kit for up to eight hours (tested in flight). This probably causes the battery voltage to fall to round about 10.5-11V after about 3 hours use. This is enough to upset the Microair. You're making guesses about the battery voltage. You don't really know what the battery voltage is, and you don't really know about the losses in the other parts of the electrical system. Measuring the voltage at the radio during the failure to transmit is the only way to actually diagnose the problem. Certainly can do that on the ground after a long flight, or a simulated long flight. The fin battery is 12V 7Ah made up of two 6V 7Ah Yuasa batteries, it also was new in March but I keep it as a backup to ensure I'm never without a horizon in the event of the main battery going down, I've had to resort to using the fin battery to power the radio because that's the only way to get reliable transmission out of the Microair. There could be two possible causes for this. The voltage out of the main battery is down slightly under load and the Microair doesen't like it. Or, another device is putting electrical noise on the 12V line and the Microair doesen't like that. Or one of the cells in the main battery got damaged from being dropped. Or you have defective wiring. Or you get significant drops from diodes that people like to sprinkle into multi-battery systems. Or one of your many switches has bad contacts. Or you've got a slow-blow fuse with excessive resistance. These are just a few of the possibilities. There is absolutely no substitute for measuring the voltage, and then studying the specs in your manual. I'm not going to go for a 14V battery, strapping a mismatched 2V cell to a 12V battery is a truly awful solution to bady designed instruments that won't work properly with a 12V battery. Gosh, I've got 7 perfectly matched cells in a battery that fits in the tail fin, powers the whole panel for 6 hours no problem. I haven't seen less than 13.5 volts, during transmit, at the end of long flights. Never has glitched the flight recorder, and I don't have to be distracted with flipping switches during the flight to try to find enough juice to keep things powered. There is a certain elegance in using a proper battery in the first place. Let's see, 14 volt radio, 14 volt battery. No wonder it works so good. Starting with a battery two volts too low, then slapping on a DC-DC converter to try to compensate for undiagnosed problems in your electrical system doesn't strike me as an elegant solution. We have similar problems with the Microair 760 fitted to one of the club's Puchacz, if the battery voltage is slightly low the radio won't transmit even though the vario and turn and slip work fine. That's just the way radios work, if you have an inadequate electrical system. They're the first to fail due to low voltage. Dittels and Beckers don't work at low voltage either. Dave Kinsell
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#19
September 10th 03, 03:47 PM
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You actually can display the battery voltage on the LX160 for this pupose,
and do that while you transmitt on the radio (or, at least trying to...) -- Bert Willing ASW20 "TW" "David Kinsell" a écrit dans le message de news:_6F7b.306778$Oz4.99624@rwcrnsc54... "Andrew Warbrick" wrote in message ... You're making guesses about the battery voltage. You don't really know what the battery voltage is, and you don't really know about the losses in the other parts of the electrical system. Measuring the voltage at the radio during the failure to transmit is the only way to actually diagnose the problem. Certainly can do that on the ground after a long flight, or a simulated long flight.
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#20
September 10th 03, 04:07 PM
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