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Good handheld for in flight communications

R

Rick of Austin

Well Known Member
Are any of them particularly useful and powerful enough to use effectively enroute? Assuming its connected to an external antenna and power source.
I notice the new Dynon is 1.5 watts while some are almost 5 watts of transmit power.
Thanks for any input
 
I have had a handheld for years, and even used it as primary com radio at times. I always chose the most powerful, ICOM was always the winner there. I never used an external antenna even, always found the rubber ducky deal plenty for my use.
That said, it is easy to have a T in the antenna wire for connection to the handheld, I cannot report on how well that works or don't work though. In my current RV12 project, I will have such a connector for backup use of my handheld if ever needed.
 
Antenna Wire "T"

Be careful here. If you "tee" into your antenna wire, and hook two radios up to the same antenna, you will feed RF power from one radio into the other. This very likely could end up destroying the non-transmitting radio, and the reflected power could also conceivably destroy the transmitting radio as well.

For those that want the ability to tie a handheld into an external antenna in an emergency, you can place a disconnect under the panel. Remove the BNC connector coming from the panel-mounted radio, and plug in the connector going to your handheld. Please don't feed high power RF from one radio straight into another.
 
Rick of Austin said:
Are any of them particularly useful and powerful enough to use effectively enroute? Assuming its connected to an external antenna and power source.
I notice the new Dynon is 1.5 watts while some are almost 5 watts of transmit power.
Thanks for any input
Click to expand...

You have to be carefull with decyphering wattage ratings....

A 5 watt rating in a handheld is most likely peak to peak.

A 1.5 watt rating in a handheld is most likely nominal or RMS.

That is marketing hype for the same thing...the conservative marketing folks will use the RMS value. The ones that want to hype their product will use the Peak to Peak rating.

Most people that make handhelds produce the max power allowed by law.

I second the fact that you should be careful just putting a "T" inline and connecting a handheld. You could easily damage either the primary radio or the handheld when you transmit....these things are not designed to have that much raw power dumped directly into their RF sections....
 
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Interesting point about feedback of RF. Pacific Coast Avionics sells a $75.00 antenna splitter just for this purpose, and calls it an ICOM switchbox. I would assume they would not be selling such an accessory unless it prevented such feedback. Comments anyone? Not much info on the website, but this is what I had intended to use.
I found it is actually an ICOM product, part nr IC-ANTSB. Apprarently they have solved the RF feedback problem.
 
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I used a switchbox

DonFromTX said:
Interesting point about feedback of RF. Pacific Coast Avionics sells a $75.00 antenna splitter just for this purpose, and calls it an ICOM switchbox. I would assume they would not be selling such an accessory unless it prevented such feedback. Comments anyone? Not much info on the website, but this is what I had intended to use.
Click to expand...

I installed an Icom switchbox in the Pazmany for the use of our Icom handhelds as backups. Once you plug in the adaptor its "disconnects" the ant from the panel radio and "redirects" it to the handheld. No feedback. I used it with my dad's A23 and my A6 handhelds and they worked very well. Reception distance also increased with the use of the external ant.

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Their description is vague. You are then saying that when you plug in the handheld to the box, the panel comm radio is no longer capable of use? That would be fine with me.
(Sorry, did not see the schematic, that explains it all, thanks)
 
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DonFromTX said:
Their description is vague. You are then saying that when you plug in the handheld to the box, the panel comm radio is no longer capable of use? That would be fine with me.
Click to expand...

That is correct. Spruce has them for $63 and change. Easy install too.
 
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I got the Dynon handheld and happy to report it was the best $150 ever spent! good clear crisp comm from ground up and from the air as well.
 
Hopefully the unit places a dummy load om the primary side when the handheld is plugged in. Transmitting on the primary with no antenna load is also bad.
 
I have a Dynon handheld, we have one other club member that has an Icom and one that has a vertex. I personally think mine is better than either of the others but everyone agrees that it certainly isn't any worse.
 
I have the Vertex Standard 710. I love the size, and the included headset adapter. However I find the frequency selector/volume knob to be frustrating. It cannot be disabled, or locked (that I can tell). If you clip it to your belt it can be inadvertently rotated and change freq, or volume easily.

I also find switching between frequency bands to be much less than intuitive.

Just a pirep for ya.

Mark
 
pazmanyflyer said:
I installed an Icom switchbox in the Pazmany for the use of our Icom handhelds as backups. Once you plug in the adaptor its "disconnects" the ant from the panel radio and "redirects" it to the handheld. No feedback. I used it with my dad's A23 and my A6 handhelds and they worked very well. Reception distance also increased with the use of the external ant.

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Click to expand...

Each time the cable is disrupted between the antenna and the radio, the signal is compromised.
 
Look for one that has an on off switch that also controls the volume. That way if you power it from the A/C (recommended) when you flip on the avionics switch, you won't need to turn the radio on as a stand alone. It will come on and be at the right volume.

Also, check the spec's for sidetone.......... ability to hear yourself in the headphones.
 
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