Microair Radio & Transponder

I'm building another Model IV. This one I'll probably fly off the 40 hours and sell. Since I'm not building for myself, I've decided not to over do the panel with a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles but still want to have a nice complete panel. I've been researching radio and transponders that fill 2.25 inch cutouts and found Microair makes a nice combination. Are there any Kitfox builders and flyers that have this combination? I'd like to hear any comments either positive or negative regarding them. I think the price is rather attractive too.

http://www.mcp.com.au/xair/online/category19_1.htm

Paul,

Not in a kitfox; but, I have a friend with a Luscomb who installed the Microair combo you speak of.

He is very satisfied with it and chose the combo primarily because it is physically compact and fit the panel arrangement well. He was redoing an old panel - cleaning it up and setting a better layout. He has had nothing negative to report with the unit's operation. The small 2.25" cutout gives you a lot of options for location on the panel.

I think the Microair units are a little less expensive than they were a few years ago. I was considering the Microair but settled on an Icom A200 and Garmin 320 - The Icom was less expensive and the $ were important at the time in order to get the plane done and off the ground - otherwise I probably would have gone with the Microair at the time.

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF7 Trigear
912ULS Warp

I fly with two other S7 Kitfoxes that have the microair radio. Only one of these has the corresponding microair transponder.

Both pilots liked the small size and neither has had any electrical problems with them.

I have been the passenger in one of these Kitfoxes where the pilot expressed some disatisfaction with the physical size of the control knob. Seems it is smaller and thus more difficult for him to toggle between channels or switch channels.

Both pilots have said they are happy with the range and clarity of the units.

I've flown with the Micro Air transceiver and transponder combo. for over 8 years now with no major concerns other than their intercom on the transceiver and my first transponder was bad so I had to return it to Australia for a replacement. 2nd transponder works OK but sometimes I think it's a little under powered.
I'm able to communicate with towers and air to air with decent clarity and range with the transceiver. Size, weight and price were main factors in original purchase. Micro Air's intercom was less than ideal so I've always used a separate intercom. So much for saving weight, panel space and complexity.

Today I would be considering an MGL V-6.

MGL's radios look to be smaller than the Micro Air yet transmit at a very respectable 6.5 watts of power.
The VHF-6 from MGL looks to be feature rich like the earlier V-10 but has a stereo intercom. It is a fully digital traditional VOX intercom system but also incorporates their proprietary VOGAD digital intercom system. It also has the 8.33KHz frequency tuning capability.
If you overlooked MGL's offerings in compact yet capable aircraft transceivers you might do just a little more investigating. MGL may just be the perfect fit for your Kitfox. I know I'd like to try one.
Now if we can get them to do a transponder.;)

Questions?- Contact MGL:http://www.mglavionics.com/html/contact_us.html

Hi guys,

I have a microair radio in a Mark 3 which transmits a lot of noise from the Rotax 582. More to do with the engine than the radio perhaps but it does seem sensitive. Colleagues report reasonable transmissions but do comment on the background 2-stroke noise. I did have an transmit failure last year and sent the unit back to Microair in Australia for repair. To my surprise they sent it back and stated it was beyond economic repair and tried to sell me a new one. A retired friend with an interest in electronics fixed it and it now performs perfectly. On balance if I was to buy again I think I would spend a little more and buy a more robust ICOM or Dittel radio.

Soarhead ..have you checked all of your connections on your radio? I had noise on my radio from my 582,..the lighting coil was causing the noise..I cleaned all connections..soldered instead of crimping wires..cleaned the grounds even at the antenna..then I put a ,5 capacitor inline..it knocked out almost all of the noise

I have the microair. until recently mine has worked great. now I get a response back from the tower that my transmission is noisy. explain this 5 capacitor, can you get it from radio shack. where does it go.

Yes you can get it from radio shack, it goes on the power lead to the ground .5 = 500 microfarads, that is what i used

You can put it anywhere in line from + to - , but best to put it closest to source feed for radio