Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Transceivers

Does anyone have any information on what transceiver to buy?? Need general info and what to look for what to stay away from. I see them priced from $200 AND UP AND WAY UP! - TIM

Are you asking about handheld transceivers or panel mount?

Tim,

I have a JHP-520 handheld nav/com. I think it is the cat's meow. However, there are a lot of newer ones out there now that are considerably smaller that may be comparable price wise, but are easier to keep in a flight bag.

If I may share a couple of ideas on accessories...

I have a lapel mic that plugs into the top of the radio and the mic clips on my shirt just under my ear. I use one like that on my radio as a Paramedic, and when I'm walking around at a fly-in or airshow, I can hear everything that comes across while leaving the radio clipped to my belt.

I also have an adapter that will allow me to plug my headset into the radio. An additional feature of the adapter is that it has provisions for a separate push-to-talk switch. The PTT that I have also plugs into the adapter and, when it's velcro-strapped to the yoke, works just like the installed radio. That setup saved my butt on my trip from California to Texas with Silverlining, as well as on my trip up to Clinton last month when my voltage regulator took a ciesta.

The last item that is very nice to have is an alkaline battery pack. That let's you use the radio at a moment's notice regardless of the health of your Ni-Cad battery pack. Invariably, you'll find yourself wanting to use the radio and the batteries will be dead.

I can think of no other more useful backup equipment for your plane than a handheld radio. Sometimes, the handheld GPS is used for backup, but it's my primary means of navigation now. I'm really spoiled.

Ditto ... I have an Icom A23 and all the assesories that Gary mentions except for the lapel mic, and I'll be looking for one of those.

One thing I'll add, is to hook everything up in the comfort of your home and test it, then leave the headset adapter and PTT plugged in, in your flight bag. I had to connect everything once on short notice (not short final thankfully) and it is a bit cumbersome. The way I store mine now I can pull it out of the bag, hook in my headset plugs and its good to go.

I also recommend the alkaline battery pack that Gary recommended because once the recharagable battery is dead, you're toast. You can bring along the battery pack and spare batteries. I flew a J3 cub for a few years with this radio as my only communication and it worked like a charm, but I am also very familar with the recharagble batteries and strongly recommend the pack with spares.

Terry

I have an ICOM A-4 Sport which uses 8 AA-batteries. I put rechargeable NiMH batteries in there. My digital camera, GPS (backup battery pack), and transceiver all use the same type of batteries. In a pinch, I can swap among them.

Ditto on the recommendation for a headset setup. In a noisy cockpit, it's difficult to hear sounds from the handheld. I leave the headset adapters plugged into the handheld unit. If my main radio quits, I just retrieve the handheld from behind the passenger's seat and plug my headset into it.

Another quick note about batteries ? the radio uses a lot more power to transmit than to receive. Once, while flying through a pass in my J3 with 2 other planes I transmitted and the radio went dead. Since this was my last battery (I had drained the first recharageable battery already, and I didn?t have the alkaline battery pack yet) I thought I was going to be NORDO for the rest of the flight.

For some reason I tried the power switch again after several minutes and the radio came back on. I realized that I could monitor the radio in receive only, as long as I didn?t try to transmit. The ?dead? battery lasted another hour and let me at least listen to what the other guys were saying about the weather in the pass and their progress ?. better than nothing!

Terry

I also have the JHP-520 and am happy with it. I read somewhere that it was the only one in a comparison to survive it's turn on a shaker table. The additional alkaline battery pack (or two) is almost not an option as the ni-cad battery slowly discharges as it sits dormant, at least mine always has. Anyways, I think it's now being marketed as the RHP-520, but you still see new JHPs out there. If money's an issue, the JHP-500 is almost the same, but no nav feature. They should come with the headset adaptor.

Tim,
I was in your boat last year...then I came across the October 05 issue of The Aviation Consumer. The article compared transceivers from Vertex (3), Sporty's, and Icom. As a result of comparing features, etc I decided upon the ICOM A6 ($350 w/ spare AA battery pack). I use it mainly for backup and on the ramp to get an idea of the traffic flow, AWOS, etc. If you can't find the article on line, PM a fax number.
Mark

Stay with ICOM.

I bought the Icom IC-24A.

Nav/com... all adaptors (headset, charger, etc).

Good radio.