Radio suggestions? Currently available models only.

[danny_galaga]

If you are using a currently available model of radio, what is it, and are you happy with it?

 

I have an MGL. It seems to have gone downhill fast. I have time off next two weeks so I can have a really good at the wiring, aerial etc. but the radio started off well, and the plane only has about 6 hours total flight time, so I feel it probably is the radio. When I told an avionics guy what brand, he asked how much I paid. When I told him it was free, he said that's about the right price 😄. My guy helping with the test flying and another guy at the hangar didn't think much of MGL either. The other guy actually threw his away 😲 They are very happy with Trig TY91, so that's on my radar. My only concern there is it's one of those 'head unit and base unit ' jobbies, which will make installation in my case a bit of a bother, depending on whether I can just join them.into one unit or not...

Edited Wednesday at 01:25 AM by danny_galaga

[Blueadventures]

Trig is working great in mine. Head is remote from the unit. They will supply wiring harness to your measurement needs.  Or you can do yourself.  If you get a trig and do your own harness I’ll loan you a crimper (4 way) for the connector crimping.

[Thruster88]

Put a trig ty96 in the musketeer about 5 years ago. Works perfectly. The intercom is in the radio and is excellent. 

[skippydiesel]

I have a Trig - Works well BUT I don't like;

 

• Volume control is way too "light" - very easy to inadvertently turn down below audible. Just a finger brush, in turbulence, will do it.
• Selecting a new frequency automatically takes it out of monitor mode - need to press Monitor again for each change of frequency.

😈

[BurnieM]

Can we start off with price ?

What is the price of a new MGL, new Trig and for comparison, new Icom and new Garmin.

 

[danny_galaga]

8 hours ago, BurnieM said:

Can we start off with price ?

What is the price of a new MGL, new Trig and for comparison, new Icom and new Garmin.

 

Trig TY91 is about $2800 in Australia. From memory, my MGL was about $1200 USD 

[Blueadventures]

25 minutes ago, danny_galaga said:

Trig TY91 is about $2800 in Australia. From memory, my MGL was about $1200 USD 

A good transmitting and receiving clarity is essential for enjoyable flying; trigs will provide this performance.  I rarely alter the volume on my trig, the radio is switched on via a separate panel mounted beside the radio head unit toggle switch (after start and before shut down of the rotax.)  They are worth the cost.

[Underwood]

I bought a TY91 transceiver and TT21 transponder about 10 years ago, since then i've changed aircraft twice and both times removed the trig units from the aircraft before sale, so i could fit them to my next aircraft (I now have a spare of each as the Nynja I have now already had trig units fitted when I bought it)
They just work, the head units could be improved in the area of usability perhaps but they are reliable and the built in intercom functions well.
Customer service has been first class, though I've had no faults I did send the radio back to trig for a firmware update and this was done free of charge with the units being returned in new original packaging as I had thrown the originals away years back.

[Blueadventures]

Flew today and can confirm that the Trig with two freq entered and with dual watch activated it retains being on dual watch when flipping between the freqs  (eg 132.05 and 126.7 and flipping between a number of times).  Don't know why skips doesn't do that, maybe an earlier model of trig.

Edited 15 hours ago by Blueadventures

[BrendAn]

13 minutes ago, Blueadventures said:

Flew today and can confirm that the Trig with two freq entered and with dual watch activated it retains being on dual watch when flipping between the freqs  (eg 132.05 and 126.7 and flipping between a number of times).  Don't know why skips doesn't do that, maybe an earlier model of trig.

have you had anything to do with funke radios. only $2000 ,

[Blueadventures]

1 minute ago, BrendAn said:

have you had anything to do with funke radios. only $2000 ,

I don't they seem popular.

[BrendAn]

4 minutes ago, Blueadventures said:

I don't they seem popular.

i was looking at whats available after reading this thread.  seeing what people think of mgl i guess i will have to replace that soon. funke have model that fits the same hole .

 

[Red]

I've only had experience with one funke in a friend's aircraft and it was a pita to get adsb out working on it, it had some non standard stuff going on in its firmware and had to be shipped back twice this was some 5 years ago so maybe they sorted that

 

P.S. I can echo the positive earlier comments about Trig Radios. 

I,ve fitted a few to my own and others aircraft and all have worked well

Edited 13 hours ago by Red

[Blueadventures]

1 hour ago, Red said:

I've only had experience with one funke in a friend's aircraft and it was a pita to get adsb out working on it, it had some non standard stuff going on in its firmware and had to be shipped back twice this was some 5 years ago so maybe they sorted that

 

P.S. I can echo the positive earlier comments about Trig Radios. 

I,ve fitted a few to my own and others aircraft and all have worked well

Did you solder or crimp the connector pins and sockets to the wire harness?  I soldered mine but have a crimp tool now should I have to fix any of redo harness.  Cheers.

Edited 12 hours ago by Blueadventures

[skippydiesel]

2 hours ago, Blueadventures said:

Flew today and can confirm that the Trig with two freq entered and with dual watch activated it retains being on dual watch when flipping between the freqs  (eg 132.05 and 126.7 and flipping between a number of times).  Don't know why skips doesn't do that, maybe an earlier model of trig.

Trig TY91VHF Transceiver  - I can confirm that when entering a new frequency, the monitoring function goes off automatically, when entering in the lower "window" display. The monitor button must be pressed again to monitor the second frequency . This about entering a new frequency, not doing a" flip" between active & monitored.😈

Edited 12 hours ago by skippydiesel

[dlegg]

I have a Mgl V6 radio, been perfect for 10 years. It replaced a Microair, wasn't very old but just died. Stay away from them.

[Jabiru7252]

3 hours ago, dlegg said:

I have a Mgl V6 radio, been perfect for 10 years. It replaced a Microair, wasn't very old but just died. Stay away from them.

As a radio/electronics tech from way back - the easiest faults to locate is usually when the equipment is "dead". The Microair in my jab never faulted in the 12 years I owned it. As for paying $2800 for a radio, that's is just so wrong. An aircraft radio is just an AM transceiver, like the old AM CB radios apart from one being on VHF (the aircraft radio) and one on HF (the CB radio). Nothing, not quality control, not operating frequency, not bells and whistles, nothing justifies those sorts of prices.

[Kyle Communications]

Aircraft produce the worst radio problems which can be very specific and hard to find. Just recently I was asked to look at a brand new Trig installation. I had a quick look and it sounded to me that the VCO was microphonic but I also said it could be the earthing or the wiring as it was done I believe at the factory. I didnt want to go any further as I have had enough of hanging upside down under dashes. It was sent to another place and I believe was basically rewired again and now the microphonics has gone. The V16 is a different design radio it is partially a digital radio a very different design. I have tested one on the bench...as I bought one and tried it as a bench receiver for about 6 months and it didnt miss a beat BUT some have had issues in setting them up correctly. There is a thread on the MGL forum that the designer explains how to actually setup the levels of the radio. You need to find it and then do what is said. This was not in the manual I got but I have told a few that I know who have them and they did the setup and apparently the radios are working fine

 

[Red]

7 hours ago, Blueadventures said:

Did you solder or crimp the connector pins and sockets to the wire harness?  I soldered mine but have a crimp tool now should I have to fix any of redo harness.  Cheers.

Soldered Mine using alternative dsub connectors, been fine. Couldnt justify £300 for a crimp tool to suit the supplied pins