Icom A6E

[ROB. THOMASSON]

If anyone is thinking of using these in their aircraft to go 8.33 there are 2 possible snags. Firstly people can have howl round problems on TX via the PTT leads. This one is easily fixed with some ferrite beads which simply clamp on. The second snag is it will only accept 11v as an external source and still Tx. The Icom adapter is £30 but you can get battery replacement backs to take external power but these are not OE and being from China might have problems, and of course you lose the battery option. I decided to install a voltage regulator in the feed being an ex BBC engineer. However on fleabay I found a complete regulator assembly for £2.85 but bring you own wire! I'll let people know how this pans out.

[mcfadyeanda]

I've had the same issue (and solution, which isn't 100%) on the older A6 (actually an A24).
Disappointing to hear that the new 8.33 version hasn't been heavily improved, as has been suggested by Icom.
Would you bother again with this set given what you now know?

Duncan McF.

[Chris Martyr]

Hi Chaps,
I've used a handheld Icom in my aeroplane for 11 years now, not with the re-chargeable battery pack , but with ordinary dry-cell AA batteries. Works like magic, only needs new batteries at the start of the season and never had a problem when transmitting on the RT.
Only problem I did have was not covering the grill on the handset itself with insulating tape, as even though I had a headset adaptor, it still transmits through those grills when you press the PTT. Not funny in an open cockpit with the exhaust stubs of my 1834cc VW popping away just in front !
Like yourselves, I will be going to 8.33Khz sometime [about Dec31st 2017 ] and will be replacing my current Icom with a dry-cell type then also.
Sorry, I know I'm not exactly offering a solution to your specific problems, but I reckon it's the cheapest and most effective way of flying with a hand-held.

[ROB. THOMASSON]

Well the 2.85 power regulator works a treat so without having tried a Yuasu unit I have to say I'd go with this setup again. Beats a £1500 panel mount for certain

[dmcnicholl]

Interesting thread. My old Delcom is sensitive to input voltage and won't transmit if connected to an external battery and is, in any case, rather showing its age so I've been thinking about one of these Icoms as replacement. I have wondered about the dry cell/rechargeable options, the Sport versus the Pro and Chris's post makes very appealing reading, though his observation about taping over the speaker grille is disappointing. Can that really be necessary?

With the rechargeable version I had assumed that I would be able to plug in a Yuasa or similar and I wouldn't have to fly largely non-radio to conserve power for when I need it. That there is more to it than that is, to me, off-puting...unless there was an easy, and I mean easy for a non-electrical engineer, way of regulating the voltage. Would Rob care to share the specifics of his voltage regulator solution, complete with any additional components and a diagram?

[Chris Martyr]

Donald, it is probably only necessary to tape over the speaker grill if you are flying open cockpit. Rather naively, I thought that if I had my headset adaptor plugged in, then it would override the function of the speaker grill and I only found out by coincidence that it doesn't.
When I first bought my Icom, back in the late nineties, I tested it about 10 miles out from Shoreham and the guy in the tower was getting strength 5 , that was without the 'tape mod.' in a Cessna and it seems fine in an enclosed cockpit.
I do about 30-40hrs a year and one of my pre-flt. checks is to key the PTT a couple of times to see if the 'Lo-Batt' message comes up and I try and pre-empt that by having a spare pack of AA batteries.
Takes up very little space and very cost-effective. Probably not one for the steely-eyed killers, but works for me.

[dmcnicholl]

Chris, no steely-eyed killer here but my cockpit is enclosed. There's no rush for me, the Delcom still works and its about as simple as you can get with a transceiver, thumbwheels and slide switches not LCD displays and endless menus and if it will last me until the end of 2017 that'll be fine. It'll be 21 years old by then!

Anyway, I have a friend who has one of these new 8.33 Icoms so I'll put the bite on him and see if I can borrow it for appraisal. I can always drop to nordo.

[ROB. THOMASSON]

The regulator is http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171257761169? ... EBIDX%3AIT.

You need to able to solder 2 wires on the input, 2 wires and a plug on the output which are clearly marked. Find your own box to put it in The adjuster pot works as advertised and just about any voltmeter will show the output. If you initially get it high it takes a while to come back down with just a meter on the output but give it a few seconds. Anything from 9v to just under 11 v works. The on board mic is not live when using the PTT on mine as a radio check confirmed.

[mikehallam]

An alternative 8.33 hand held runs direct off the a/c 12 volts supply if you wish (or a battery pack)

I've been using its predecessor for some years and in many ways it's as good as the original ICA 20 series 12 VDC supply Icoms - which I still use at home for Volmet etc.

Reports on the more recent ICOM models performance and interference from a/c systems and especially the incompatible volts needed has put me right off.

Mine currently is a Vertex (Yaesu) VX220, the newer FTA 550 AA is bang on the new requirements.

In the UK Transair for example supply at under £200. Imports from Greece etc. are said to cost less. In the USA (if you have a friend) they are under $200 ~ £133.

mike hallam.

[dmcnicholl]

Thank you Rob for the surprisingly straightforward info on power regulation. I had assumed it would be much more technical than that.

Interesting too Mike's heads-up on the Vertex's (Vertices?) though as a bit of a dinosaur I do long for simplicity in modern electronic devices. They're like DVD payer remotes. You get 50 buttons but all I want is Play, Next, Pause, Stop.

[G-TERN]

Hi Chris M, don't know if this is relevant to you (your insulating tape mod is probably the simplest) and I'm not an expert at all but I'm pretty sure that if you use the PTT on the wireless itself then the built in mic is still live, even if you are using a headset adaptor thus all the cockpit noise is transmitted too. If however you can use a remote PTT then the built in mic is disabled. The simplest remote PTT being the one which velcro's onto the stick and plugs into the small 3.5mm jack integral with the ICOM headset adaptor.
I've been using an ICOM handheld for years, more recently updated to the 8.33 one and they've been brilliant - better than any panel mounted radio I've flown with. Range at first was a bit limited with the rubber duck (15 NM or so) but once I'd arranged the aircraft's aerial lead to connect to it the range is as good as any panel mounted radio.

[Chris Martyr]

I'm sure you're right about the remote PTT switch Johnathan. I do have one somewhere, as I trialled it many years ago when I had just finished building G-EVPI , but because the cockpit is quite compact, it was a bit difficult articulating my hand with the PTT velcroed to the 'stick'. I found it much easier to just press the PTT on the handset itself.
Very interested to see that you have made a painless transition to 8.33 . Which model of Icom do you use ?

[Clive Richards]

Rob Can you confirm that the regulator you specify is common negative as the advert dose not say.
I say this because I would expect the radio aerial screen, mic & speaker screen to all be internally connected to the radio negative supply as per the older radios & you have not said if you have tested it with an external aerial where the remote end of screen is connected to earthed frame.

Also the adverts for the A6 show a adapter cable supplied with a DC DC converter in the cigarette lighter plug It dose not state if their is DC DC isolation.

Clive

[ROB. THOMASSON]

I've tested it with both the rubber duck and the aircraft external aerial so that will have provided an earth to the Icom when connected. The way I've wired it the neg on the regulator will earth the neg of the Icom and it all works happily.

[mcfadyeanda]

For those that have the A6 with ship's regulated power supply and plumbed in to a separate intercom system (rather than a direct connection to a headset, which was so problematic on the earlier A6s) could you confirm the earthing arrangements please.

Earthing of the set would take place through the power supply, where one of these is used. So the earthed screen of a mutlistrand intercom connecting cable would be earthed only at one end (which has to be the radio end because the screen is connected and moulded in to the plug that goes in to and connects with the radio chassis).

That leaves the mic circuit earth contained in the multistrand cable; is that connected at both ends (and shielded by the screen of the multistrand cable) or left open at one end so that earthing is only through the power supply? In the former situation I have to have a ferrite bead on the multistrand connector, but it's not 100% successful in preventing the effects of an 'earthing loop'.

Duncan McF.