Becker AR 4201 or Microair 760 Transceiver

Anybody compared the two or had any experience with them?

Big Price Difference... I dont mind spending the money for the Becker,
just curious if the Microair is a good unit?

Thanks
Steve

I have a Microaire in my AC-5M. When the engine is running
for self launch, its a high noise, high vibration
environment. The Microaire works great and I have no
complaints whatsoever. Further, a friend just put one in his
Pilatus B-4 last month and and his works great as well.

Some guys who have reported problems have installed them
themselves. 95% of the times the problems relate to antenna
or installation connections, not the radio (Microaire or any
other.) Have a good avionics shop install it properly and
you likely will have no problems.


--

Peter D. Brown
http://home.gci.net/~pdb/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akmtnsoaring/

The AC 5M... is that the Russia self launch ship? How do you like it
regarding permormance, starting sequence, handling? Do you have many
hours in it? I have seen the design in pictures but not heard about it
or been able to see one.

Gracious for the comments on the Microaire...

Steve


Pete Brown wrote in message ...
I have a Microaire in my AC-5M. When the engine is running
for self launch, its a high noise, high vibration
environment. The Microaire works great and I have no
complaints whatsoever. Further, a friend just put one in his
Pilatus B-4 last month and and his works great as well.

Some guys who have reported problems have installed them
themselves. 95% of the times the problems relate to antenna
or installation connections, not the radio (Microaire or any
other.) Have a good avionics shop install it properly and
you likely will have no problems.

I have had the Microair, Becker, and a Dittel in my gliders over the
past 4 years. I am wholly unimpressed with the performance of the
Microair (variable quality from unit to unit). The Becker worked fine.
Dittel was by far the best, both in performance and standby power use,
though I preferred the interface on the Becker (more intuitive).

(Steve B) wrote in message . com...
Anybody compared the two or had any experience with them?

Big Price Difference... I dont mind spending the money for the Becker,
just curious if the Microair is a good unit?

Thanks
Steve

Anybody compared the two or had any experience with them?

Big Price Difference... I dont mind spending the money for the Becker,
just curious if the Microair is a good unit?

I just replaced a Terra radio with a Becker and had considered the
Microair. Decided to spend the extra bucks on the Becker due to
indications that the Microair wasn't as high quality. Having wasted
money on the Terra, I didn't want to repeat the mistake. Can't say it
would have been a mistake for sure, but thought my experience
relevant. The Becker has performed admirably.

There may be a difference depending on whether you just need a radio
for being heard within a few miles of the airport on CTAF or for
contacting FSS, Flight Watch, etc. at much greater distances. In the
latter cases, you need as good a radio as possible.

Another factor to consider is installation cost. Once you add that in,
the price difference between the two shrinks somewhat. I'm constantly
amazed at how much avionics installations cost, particularly if you're
certificated and need to get a 337. In that event, picking a radio
that is also installed as a factory option can save much headache -
and dollars.

Martin

I really like the Russia. We did have to work through some
new design problems initially with the engine and prop but
once we got the bugs worked out, its a great little ship
that thermals nearly like a 1-26 but glides at ~34-35/1.
Its very responsive in pitch and roll and a delight to fly.
It has a relatively high wing loading so it moves out when
you put the nose down. We have just just less than 40 hours
on it and had hoped to fly off our experimental phase 1
restrictions this weekend but the weather stinks.

Ground handling is easy because the thing is so light..ours
is about 420 lbs empty and I can easily push it out to the
runway myself.

When the engine has been stowed for a while, it takes quit a
bit of priming to get fuel into the carb and with our model,
the prop must be spinning quickly to get the necessary
updraft to draw the fuel into the cylinder. (This has been
changed with the new models.) Its no longer a problem but
initially it drove us a bit nuts. Now that we understand the
procedure, starting is easy. (Sometimes, something is lost
in the translation in the manual from Russian to English.)
Air starts after the engine has been running are easy.

The airfoil profile is very accurate and the glider is very
stout and well made. (Dick Our major complaint has been
with the tires that leak. We threw out the tail wheel and
replaced it with a plastic hub and Tost tail wheel from
Wings and Wheels and solved the tail wheel problem. Our main
wheel just has to be filled more often than we like. This
winter we will take it off and through some bead sealant
around the rim and see if it solves that problem.

One word to potential owners...motorgliders require a lot
more maintenance than you ever thought about on a regular
sailplane. Cables and drive belts stretch and require
adjustment, prop hubs require retorqueing, the vibration of
a single cylinder engine shakes things loose, etc, etc. Its
endemic to the species regardless of the model and you need
to be committed to keep them maintained. They are not fly
and forget.

Also, the appeal of self launching is self evident but it
can lead to a trap. Just like with 4 wheel drive on a car,
you can be tempted to go places you wouldn't go in a regular
vehicle, but when you get a 4X4 stuck off the road, you
really have a problem. The accident rate in self launchers
is pretty high, in part because guys wait too long to
restart and once the engine is out, handling and performance
can change radically. Discretion is the better part of valor.

Pete Brown


Steve B wrote:
The AC 5M... is that the Russia self launch ship? How do you like it
regarding permormance, starting sequence, handling? Do you have many
hours in it? I have seen the design in pictures but not heard about it
or been able to see one.

Peter D. Brown
http://home.gci.net/~pdb/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akmtnsoaring/

"Steve B" wrote in message om...
Anybody compared the two or had any experience with them?

Big Price Difference... I dont mind spending the money for the Becker,
just curious if the Microair is a good unit?


Just had a Microair die after about two years in a club ship. No
warranty stations in the US, has to be shipped back to Australia
for failures covered by warranty. Radio has excellent transmit
and receive quality when it's working, if you have the right mike.
Controls are tiny, not very intuitive to use, and are time-sensitive.
Not a great choice for a club environment, but a private owner
would get used to the limitations. Becker is definitely a better
radio if you want to spend the cash.

Dave Kinsell

What I was getting at is that the Microair is more
sensitive to a very slightly low battery voltage than
most glider instruments. When I press the PTT the LX160
does not complain about low battery voltage which means
it's not going below 10V.

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. 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.

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.

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.

At 14:54 01 September 2003, Cdubya wrote:
Here's a simple test for you. Put a voltmeter across
the battery terminals
of the fin battery and record the voltage when you
key the radio. Then do
the same on your main battery which you said works
fine. You will most
likely see a lower reading on the fin battery. If
the battery no longer has
the capacity to trade current for voltage than this
test will show that.
The radios have voltage regulators in them but they
need something to
regulate. Usually a volt or two above the desired
output. I am betting a
new battery is all you need. Craig



Andrew Warbrick wrote in message
...
My Microair seems to be very sensitive to low battery
voltage and to noise on its power supply. It receives
fine connected to either battery but I can only transmit
successfully when it's connected to my fin battery
and the main battery is running everything else. I'm
considering a 12 to 15V DC to DC converter to keep
it happy but at about 50 pounds it will be a pricey
fix (though not as pricey as buying a Becker).

At 19:06 30 August 2003, Dfkroesch wrote:
I traded in a Microair that I was unhappy with for
a Becker that I have been
very happy with...That was the expensive way to buy
a Becker.

Some people seem to have good luck with their Microairs
and a lot of others do
not.

Here's a simple test for you. Put a voltmeter across the battery terminals
of the fin battery and record the voltage when you key the radio. Then do
the same on your main battery which you said works fine. You will most
likely see a lower reading on the fin battery. If the battery no longer has
the capacity to trade current for voltage than this test will show that.
The radios have voltage regulators in them but they need something to
regulate. Usually a volt or two above the desired output. I am betting a
new battery is all you need. Craig



Andrew Warbrick wrote in message
...
My Microair seems to be very sensitive to low battery
voltage and to noise on its power supply. It receives
fine connected to either battery but I can only transmit
successfully when it's connected to my fin battery
and the main battery is running everything else. I'm
considering a 12 to 15V DC to DC converter to keep
it happy but at about 50 pounds it will be a pricey
fix (though not as pricey as buying a Becker).

At 19:06 30 August 2003, Dfkroesch wrote:
I traded in a Microair that I was unhappy with for
a Becker that I have been
very happy with...That was the expensive way to buy
a Becker.

Some people seem to have good luck with their Microairs
and a lot of others do
not.

(Steve B) wrote in message . com...
Anybody compared the two or had any experience with them?

Big Price Difference... I dont mind spending the money for the Becker,
just curious if the Microair is a good unit?

Thanks
Steve

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)