Comm in a bag?

A unique solution for airplanes _without_ electrical systems

After a couple of long cross countries in slow OLD airplanes,
we've come up with a novel solution for handling hand held radios.

Flying with a hand held can be a little more interesting that with
built in radios.

First, there is a lot more to a com system than just the hand held.

Power. AA batteries in a hand held radio do not last long transmitting.
Headsets are necessary.
Intercom box, Noise canceling box!,
Lots of spaghetti wiring strung all over the cockpit...

On a whim I bought a nice blue diaper bag at Wall Mart for $9.95.

A 7 amp-hr gell cell goes in first.
This battery will last for several days on a charge, depending on how
much transmitting is done. Leo's is a 12 AH version that fits the bag
width perfectly.

Then a plastic snap-closed box that fits the bottom of the bag to lock
the battery in place.

A compact 3 outlet 12 volt socket was modified by cutting off the plug
and installing terminals that fit the battery.

The radio, GPS, and one something else can be plugged in at the same
time.

The radio goes in one of the two outside (bottle?) pockets for quick
and easy access.

(The system can be upgraded to dual comms by stuffing another hand held
in the other pocket. ;^)

Small stuff goes in the bottom box. Misc. cables, AA batteries for the
radio and LED flash light (commonality), small battery charger, vom...

The Press To Talk switch sounds like a Good Thing, and really is,
but it's an inquisitive octopus that likes to crawl into everything.

A couple of velcro straps to hold it in shape, the whole wiry
mess stuffs into the baby bottle cozy and is completely contained.

Just plug it in if you want it and push the little red button to talk.

Note that EVERYTHING can pack into the diaper bag so that nothing
goes adrift on long trips. (Well everything but a flight helmet!)

Two sets of Lightspeed headsets, intercom, battery, gps, charts,
the flight plan, log books, camera, phone (turn off before take off!),
etc.

The big pocket on the back will hold several charts and still
zip shut. But not with all the charts and a knee board. Oh well.

I don't have one yet, but a plastic battery box with a power switch
would be a nice improvement. Right now, I just unplug the battery.

The whole mess weighs 8 to 12 pounds or so depending on what you pack.

Life is good, flying is sweet, flying old slow airplanes cross country.

But I wonder some times about getting stranded somewhere and having to
take a commercial airline ride home.

Any guesses as to how airport security might react to my diaper bag?


Richard

"Richard Lamb" wrote

Life is good, flying is sweet, flying old slow airplanes cross country.

But I wonder some times about getting stranded somewhere and having to
take a commercial airline ride home.

Any guesses as to how airport security might react to my diaper bag?


Richard

I went to Osh a couple years ago, (post 9-11), with just such a mess of
wires, only worse. The only difference was, I used a commercial battery in
a "jump start" arrangement, instead. I had the jump start, a three way
lighter socket, an amp-volt meter, a model charger, a handheld, a couple
radios and cameras, headsets, a couple universal voltage adapters, a 120 to
12 v charger, lots of rechargeable batteries, a 12v to 120v ac inverter, a
12v fan, a couple of flashlights, a cell phone, and TONS of misc jumpers and
aligator clips. I'm sure I left a few things out.

I checked through as a check on bag, with no problems. I "wouldn't
recomend" taking it as a carry on! g
--
Jim in NC


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"Richard Lamb" wrote in message
...
A unique solution for airplanes _without_ electrical systems

After a couple of long cross countries in slow OLD airplanes,
we've come up with a novel solution for handling hand held radios.

Flying with a hand held can be a little more interesting that with
built in radios.

First, there is a lot more to a com system than just the hand held.

Power. AA batteries in a hand held radio do not last long transmitting.
Headsets are necessary.
Intercom box, Noise canceling box!,
Lots of spaghetti wiring strung all over the cockpit...

On a whim I bought a nice blue diaper bag at Wall Mart for $9.95.

A 7 amp-hr gell cell goes in first.
This battery will last for several days on a charge, depending on how
much transmitting is done. Leo's is a 12 AH version that fits the bag
width perfectly.
snip

You didn't mention it, so I thought I would. Fuses. Fuse that battery right
at the terminals. An easy way is to put a couple of female quick-disconnects
(just like you use to connect to the battery) on the shortest piece of wire
you can manage.
Then plug that onto the battery, plug a blade-type auto fuse of the
appropriate size into the other end, and what used to go onto the battery
onto the other blade of the fuse.
Now, when something shorts, life won't be nearly so exciting. The spare
fuses also go in the bag, of course.

Tim Ward

Tim Ward wrote:

"Richard Lamb" wrote in message
...
A unique solution for airplanes _without_ electrical systems

After a couple of long cross countries in slow OLD airplanes,
we've come up with a novel solution for handling hand held radios.

Flying with a hand held can be a little more interesting that with
built in radios.

First, there is a lot more to a com system than just the hand held.

Power. AA batteries in a hand held radio do not last long transmitting.
Headsets are necessary.
Intercom box, Noise canceling box!,
Lots of spaghetti wiring strung all over the cockpit...

On a whim I bought a nice blue diaper bag at Wall Mart for $9.95.

A 7 amp-hr gell cell goes in first.
This battery will last for several days on a charge, depending on how
much transmitting is done. Leo's is a 12 AH version that fits the bag
width perfectly.
snip

You didn't mention it, so I thought I would. Fuses. Fuse that battery right
at the terminals. An easy way is to put a couple of female quick-disconnects
(just like you use to connect to the battery) on the shortest piece of wire
you can manage.
Then plug that onto the battery, plug a blade-type auto fuse of the
appropriate size into the other end, and what used to go onto the battery
onto the other blade of the fuse.
Now, when something shorts, life won't be nearly so exciting. The spare
fuses also go in the bag, of course.

Tim Ward

We've talked about it, but didn't think of the blade types...
Hmmm...

"Richard Lamb" wrote in message
...
Tim Ward wrote:

"Richard Lamb" wrote in message
...
A unique solution for airplanes _without_ electrical systems

After a couple of long cross countries in slow OLD airplanes,
we've come up with a novel solution for handling hand held radios.

Flying with a hand held can be a little more interesting that with
built in radios.

First, there is a lot more to a com system than just the hand held.

Power. AA batteries in a hand held radio do not last long
transmitting.
Headsets are necessary.
Intercom box, Noise canceling box!,
Lots of spaghetti wiring strung all over the cockpit...

On a whim I bought a nice blue diaper bag at Wall Mart for $9.95.

A 7 amp-hr gell cell goes in first.
This battery will last for several days on a charge, depending on how
much transmitting is done. Leo's is a 12 AH version that fits the bag
width perfectly.
snip

You didn't mention it, so I thought I would. Fuses. Fuse that battery
right
at the terminals. An easy way is to put a couple of female
quick-disconnects
(just like you use to connect to the battery) on the shortest piece of
wire
you can manage.
Then plug that onto the battery, plug a blade-type auto fuse of the
appropriate size into the other end, and what used to go onto the
battery
onto the other blade of the fuse.
Now, when something shorts, life won't be nearly so exciting. The spare
fuses also go in the bag, of course.

Tim Ward

We've talked about it, but didn't think of the blade types...
Hmmm...

Well, give it a try. If you made up the bag, you probably already have the
disconnects and the wire. If you don't like it for some reason, it's easy
to undo.

Tim Ward

Tim Ward wrote:

"Richard Lamb" wrote in message
...
Tim Ward wrote:

"Richard Lamb" wrote in message
...
A unique solution for airplanes _without_ electrical systems

After a couple of long cross countries in slow OLD airplanes,
we've come up with a novel solution for handling hand held radios.

Flying with a hand held can be a little more interesting that with
built in radios.

First, there is a lot more to a com system than just the hand held.

Power. AA batteries in a hand held radio do not last long
transmitting.
Headsets are necessary.
Intercom box, Noise canceling box!,
Lots of spaghetti wiring strung all over the cockpit...

On a whim I bought a nice blue diaper bag at Wall Mart for $9.95.

A 7 amp-hr gell cell goes in first.
This battery will last for several days on a charge, depending on how
much transmitting is done. Leo's is a 12 AH version that fits the bag
width perfectly.
snip

You didn't mention it, so I thought I would. Fuses. Fuse that battery
right
at the terminals. An easy way is to put a couple of female
quick-disconnects
(just like you use to connect to the battery) on the shortest piece of
wire
you can manage.
Then plug that onto the battery, plug a blade-type auto fuse of the
appropriate size into the other end, and what used to go onto the
battery
onto the other blade of the fuse.
Now, when something shorts, life won't be nearly so exciting. The spare
fuses also go in the bag, of course.

Tim Ward

We've talked about it, but didn't think of the blade types...
Hmmm...

Well, give it a try. If you made up the bag, you probably already have the
disconnects and the wire. If you don't like it for some reason, it's easy
to undo.

Tim Ward

Done.

Richard

(See? this design by committee stuff ain't so bad!)

I literally WEAR my nav-comm gear.

Old fishing vest is my foundation garment Nicads for power. Only external
lead is for a whip antenna (if needed).

Lots of airplanes needing to be ferried have had their avionics removed, if any
were even installed. But if installed, the antennas are usually still there,
may still be usable.

A lot of ferry or recovery flights are a two-plane evolution -- two of you go
there, bring the bird home in loose formation. But if you have to fly
commerical either coming or going your flight vest can cause problems if it
includes survival gear, in which case I've found FedEx or UPS to be a better
solution than checked baggage.

(For those of you who haven't done this sort of thing, see the Canadian regs
for required survival gear.)

-R.S.Hoover

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 04:20:43 GMT, Richard Lamb
wrote:

Then plug that onto the battery, plug a blade-type auto fuse of the
appropriate size into the other end, and what used to go onto the battery
onto the other blade of the fuse.
Now, when something shorts, life won't be nearly so exciting. The spare
fuses also go in the bag, of course.

We've talked about it, but didn't think of the blade types...
Hmmm...

Used the mini-blade fuse holder when I reworked my electrical system for
the new transponder. I really like them; I have always had trouble with
the conventional plastic in-line fuse holders getting brittle with age.
These are really nothing more than a couple of quick-disconnect type
connectors molded inside a plastic shell. Cost about $2.

The only drawback is that it's hard to pull a fuse out. I never can get a
good enough grip; I always have to use a pliers. But then, if you blow a
fuse, you generally are going to need some tools to fix the underlying
problem, anyway....

Ron Wanttaja