Search found 93 matches

by dmcnicholl
Wed May 10, 2017 8:42 am
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

Regarding aerial material... The dipole antenna link given by Ian Law near the start of this tread mentions 2mm wire, brass rod or coat hangers! I have no idea if a tube would be a good idea or not but for preference I'd stick with wire. And the only advantage I can imagine for using brass is the e...
by dmcnicholl
Tue May 09, 2017 10:28 am
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

Both Icom and Yaesu handhelds fall under the CAA 'LA3' approval.
See here: http://www.caa.co.uk/General-aviation/A ... Hz-radios/ under 'LA3 approved equipment'.
by dmcnicholl
Tue May 09, 2017 7:24 am
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

..." and there is also a section covering hand-held radios:- "For equipment with a CAA ‘LA3’ approval number, a placard must be fitted adjacent stating ‘Not to be used in notified airspace’." What a load of bull! Next they'll require a placard beside the PTT stating " Press to transmit ". Supposing...
by dmcnicholl
Mon May 08, 2017 8:03 pm
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

Be careful with the MOD7 form for the new radio. Why would you need a form for this? It's a handheld radio, not an installed radio. You may have clipped it onto something so you don't have to hold it in your hand, and you may have plugged in a headset but it's still a handheld radio. Even the CAA i...
by dmcnicholl
Tue May 02, 2017 5:10 pm
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

Trevor, I cannot help you. Mobile phone through the headset? Sorry, way beyond my comprehension. I have no smart phone of any flavour. Perhaps the plug you are using is similar to the iPhone repair jack I mentioned before, and I called it a repair jack simply because that's how I had seen it describ...
by dmcnicholl
Mon May 01, 2017 9:18 pm
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

Is it all fixed? cos any 4 pole 3.5mm plug would do, except it won't have the screws that the Yaesu one has. Is it all fixed? I can't yet say. It works on the ground, readabilty 5 both out and in, but I have not yet had the chance to test it mounted in the aircraft with the engine running. Any 4 po...
by dmcnicholl
Mon May 01, 2017 8:05 am
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

I got Harry Mendellson to chop the plug off the Yaesu headset adaptor and splice it onto a two place intercom, which has a PTT socket. Well this is the LAA so homebuilding is allowed. :wink: Chopping the plug off the Yaesu lead was an option but I wanted to keep that as a plan B if I cocked it up. ...
by dmcnicholl
Sun Apr 30, 2017 7:45 am
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Hand held radio.
Replies: 39
Views: 32850

Re: Hand held radio.

Most interesting, Mike. I have just bought a FTA-550L to replace my old Delcom AIR 960, and this is of interest to me. I had already seen some reference to the 550's need for 8 VDC but the the manual doesn't really go into detail. Your home-brew recipe has been saved for future reference, next proje...
by dmcnicholl
Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:43 am
Forum: Hangar Chat
Topic: RV10 or Sling4 or BearHawk or ???
Replies: 7
Views: 8871

Re: RV10 or Sling4 or BearHawk or ???

I recall having read in the EAA magazine, many years ago, of a serial RV builder in the States who reckoned on putting together an RV in under a year, but I'd say thats not normal. With the modern glass avionics folks now like to install it'd probably be ambitious to do just the electrical fit in un...
by dmcnicholl
Sun Apr 09, 2017 9:21 am
Forum: Hangar Chat
Topic: What happened to all the Freds?
Replies: 12
Views: 14774

Re: What happened to all the Freds?

I suspect that FRED is out of date for a permit at present as the owner is a prolific builder, and one of the best there is.
Wrong there Bill. I believe it's current and it flies from time to time. It's hangared not far form my own machine.
by dmcnicholl
Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:47 am
Forum: Hangar Chat
Topic: What happened to all the Freds?
Replies: 12
Views: 14774

Re: What happened to all the Freds?

Old wood and fabric machines are eminently repairable/restorable though sometimes getting hold of the materials can be a bit of a hunt but Aerodux is also still available though with a new name, 'Prefere'. As to the FRED. I know of two that were built nearby. One was advertised for sale quite recent...
by dmcnicholl
Mon Sep 26, 2016 7:31 pm
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Tachometer reading erratic
Replies: 9
Views: 11878

Re: Tachometer reading erratic

Thanks Rob but my mag was overhauled a couple of years back. Note 'mag' singular. It's an RF3 and there is only one. I got to try it in the air yesterday and I'm not quite there yet. Much improved but, as on ground runs, I'm still seeing some hunting. Wetsach instructions say that for stability on s...
by dmcnicholl
Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:39 pm
Forum: SSDR
Topic: Luciole, FIXED LEADING EDGE SLAT, reduce stall speed ?
Replies: 8
Views: 11550

Re: Luciole, FIXED LEADING EDGE SLAT, reduce stall speed ?

What would be the weight penalty of that modification? There's not a lot to play with if you still want to get into it and fly. You might say, "so what?" "It gets it under SSDR which allows a max take off mass of 300kg, so there's loads of scope and I can do what I want" but that still wouldn't rais...
by dmcnicholl
Tue Sep 20, 2016 3:53 pm
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Tachometer reading erratic
Replies: 9
Views: 11878

Re: Tachometer reading erratic

Haven't flown it yet but ground runs are encouraging. I'm still seeing a little hunting, no more than a hundred RPM, but much better that the huge swings I was seeing before.
by dmcnicholl
Mon Sep 19, 2016 4:02 pm
Forum: Aircraft Construction & Maintenance
Topic: Tachometer reading erratic
Replies: 9
Views: 11878

Re: Tachometer reading erratic

Thanks again, Colin, but I think I may have discovered the cause. Disconnected and removed my P-lead today. Continuity seems fine for both the core and the screen connections but the little jumpers from the switch to the tacho look highly suspect. Being a smarty-pants, when I fitted that tacho, repl...