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Any MICROAIR experience?

J

Jetj01

Well Known Member
I am building my new RV-4 panel and want to know if anyone has any MICROAIR avionics experience? I would like to use smaller/less weight radios and have been looking at both the Microair and Becker radios. I need both the comm and transponder. Obvioulsy MICROAIR is considerably cheaper than Becker but also has less power output, according to the advertising. Any good advice out there? Was considering TERRA also but maintenance seems to be an issue with them. Looking to buy either/or soon so please send info ASAP!

Jetj01
Soon N234JJ
RV-4
Currently RV-6
YAK 50
 
Microair

I put a Microair in my -9A but did not like it. I never became used to the user interface. Its clumsy. The docs are poor also.

In my -4 I will put either Filser, Becker of Garmin. I have had good experience with the first two. Certainly NOT Microair.

Not everyone will agree.

By the way, I think they all have enough power in practice, if set up right.
 
Jetj01 said:
I am building my new RV-4 panel and want to know if anyone has any MICROAIR avionics experience?
Jetj01
Soon N234JJ
RV-4
Currently RV-6
YAK 50
Click to expand...
Hi Jj
I have had a Microair in my RV-4 for the last several years. It works ok and I like the small size for my panel. My only complaint is its hard to change frequencies in turbulence because of the small size of the controls and how easy they turn. I have been thinking of getting another one so I can have two radios in the plane.
 
Do you have to

Here is my advice, avoid all the small little round radios. Becker is too much money as you point out, so its Microair or XCOM. I know you have a RV-4, but you can make room for a radio without too much problem. You pay a premium for small and sacrifice some performance. I was interested in these small radios and read a lot and researched it. The size is attractive but everything else was tipped towards standard sized radios. I think of it like a lap-top computer to PC computer. The lap-top is cool and smaller, but cost more for the same or less capability of a desk PC. You can get standard size radios new or used often for less money, and they do same or more.

I suggest a ICOM 200A. It's cheaper and has lots of TX power. I remember calling one of the big avionics dealers like Gulf Coast, they carried Microair, but don't anymore. They had too many problems and they did not like having to send units off to Australia for repair. The Com's (either Microair or XCOM) are probably OK, but stay away from the transponders, they seem to be more problematic from what I read. To be fair I followed the Microair, especially the transponders issues when they first came out. I think they have worked out most of the bugs? Still I am leery of them just from everything I have heard and read. We will not know for may be 10 years how they perform, but I want to know my radiio will last 10 years or more. They just don't have enough history yet.

With that said I think Microair tries to give good customer service and does their best. If you have your heart set on 2.25" round radios than the Microair or XCOM are your choices. They're both from Australia. Which one is better I don't know because XCOM is even more of a unknown but seems comparable.

To me I hate nagging little avionics problems because the design is finicky. Not saying these 2/25" radios or flaky but I know more about the standard size radios. There are more of them and they have a proven service history. I want to just install a ICOM A200 in with a basic transponder in (Collins, King, Narco), go fly year in and year out with out problem and forget about it. If I need to get work done on them, I can ship it lower 48 US or get a local radio shop to fix it. That's my opinion. You have to live with it no matter how small it is. The worse case scenerio is you hate it and want to take it out. Rewiring is a huge pain.
 
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Microair is fine

I had a Microair in my VW powered Sonex and it was flawless. Memory feature was fine with 25 available, although you had to scroll through them all to get to the one you wanted. Ran it with no intercom, just a switch to turn the internal hot mic intercom on and off. Simple, light, and cheap! Now my friend with a Jabiru 3300 powered Sonex had lots of trouble with his Microair and switched to the Becker. I didn't like the Becker due to the automatic squelch. My -6 has a Icom A-200 mostly because the exchange rate made the Microair more expensive.
Ron Voss
RV-6 N642R (reserved)
Almost ready for paint
 
Don't know anything about the coms, but my "transponder guy" will not even try to get a Microair transponder to check out. He's had nothing but problems with them. He says if you need the small package, go with the Becker. He's had no troubles with them at all.
 
XCOM

The XCOM has two interesting features..

1. It can monitor the standby-by frequency... this might remove the need for a Comm 2 radio.

2. For you tandem guys, a remote head is available allowing the back seat guy/gal to use their own set of radio dials... :)

gil in Tucson

PS George, my little 2 1/4 inch Walter Dittel german toy radio has performed well in my sailplane for 16 years, with it being left in the trailer in the Mojave desert each summer... the inside temperature was high enough to distort (pretzel?) the plastic case to my vertical card compass.... but the radio was unaffected.
 
I have both a MicroAir radio and transponde in my RV-4. Initially I had trouble with a display microchip in the radio. They had a bad batch and made me an offer to either fix the radio for free or give me the instructions to fix it myself. It was an easy fix and I haven't had any further problems with either the radio or the transponder.
 
XCOM user

I have the first XCOM Stein ever sold and really like it. What made up my mind was the built in intercom and listening to the standby freq. Send and receive both seem very good and I don't have any problems with the interface. I do leave the backlight on all the time as I think it could use a brighter screen. The intercom has absolutely no clipping and is very clear. I would like the aux in to be stereo, but then again. . .

See it at XCOM760.com and run the demo.

Bob Kelly
 
I originally had a Terra xpndr, it went belly up and I got a MicroAir. BIG mistake. It had to go back to Australia once for service (warrant service cost huge buck due to it having to be "re-imported" etc) Also took much longer to get it back than expected. It is still having problems, there are service advisories out from MicroAir, but finding a shop to work them is a really big hassle. So I've been limping along. Seriously thinking of scrapping it and getting a real xpndr. I would NOT go the MicroAir route again.

My .02, YMMV etc.

Jeff
RV4
 
Microair alternatives

Hi guys,

I intend to fit an XCOM in my next aircraft due to panel space, rather than the Microair.
Microair used to be part of Jabiru, and I guess were inflicted with the same lack of R & D prior to releasing a problem-free product onto the market. I have had an Icom A200 in my last two aircraft, and have proved flawless in operation for over 12 years.

FWIW

Martin in Oz
 
Thanks Everyone!

Thanks everyone. Looks like Microair takes a pretty good beating overall. I currently have a Narco Mk12D+ com/nav and narco 150 transponder, both work great but want to save weight and space. As someone posted, these radios would probably work day in and day out but I'll be posting them on ebay here shortly and hopefully get enough money for either the XCOM or Becker, comm only! Ha!

Thanks for info on the XCOM by the way, i had never heard of it.

Jj
 
I have a Microair as a second VHF to back up a Garmin 430.

It performs well in the secondary role (ATIS, air-to-air, Clearance delivery, FSS, etc.).

I would not want it as my only radio or primary radio.
 
Microair Transponder

I have had a microair transponder in my sailplane for over five years and have had no problems with it.
 
ATC reports

JVolkober said:
I have had a microair transponder in my sailplane for over five years and have had no problems with it.
Click to expand...
How do you know? Do you talk to ATC and confirm its working. Just saying.
 
I can confirm my microair transponder is working. Have talked to ATC. Their readout and my display on the transponder are within a 100' of each other.

I guess I have that one transponder that works. :)
 
Microair Intercom Help?

I need some help for a friend with a Microair 760 (SN 3026). He is having difficulty getting the unit to enter the setup mode to cancel the intercom feature. He is wiring it to a dedicated intercom and has to cancel the intercom mode on the unit so he can wire it in to a dedicated intercom.

I searched the forums and could not find anything that could help.

He has a manual for a Microair M760 and the radio is a Microair 760 (No "M", and the faceplate is different on the radio than the one on the front page of the manual) He has followed the instructions in the manual and the unit is not responding as described.

Question 1. Is there any difference in the Microair 760 and the Microair M760?

Question 2. How do you disable the intercom function on the Microair 760 if it is different than the Microair M760? He is having a hard time getting it to go into the setup mode.

I bragged on you guys and told him if anyone out there knew, somebody on VAF would. If you have some experience and can help us out, we would really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance
 
49clipper

Jetj01 said:
I am building my new RV-4 panel and want to know if anyone has any MICROAIR avionics experience?
I put a microair in a C-120 I rebuilt a couple of years ago. Nice little package, but I personnelly did not care for it. Too small of knobs, too many functions per knob, etc. Easy to wire up. Worked well, though.
Click to expand...
 
Remember that when you ask for opinions about just about any product, people with negative experiences are much more likely to respond than those with positive experiences.

I've got one (at least 5 years old) in my -4. As others have mentioned, the controls are small & a bit tricky in turbulence, but not terrible. I have a separate intercom so I can't address the intercom issues, but complaints about integrated intercoms in comm radios are very common.

The only issue I've had with mine is that the RF front end overloads rather easily if I'm listening to another a/c flying within a half-mile or so of me. I keep thinking about adding an RF attenuator, but it's such a rare issue I just can't get motivated.

Charlie
 
I have some problems with my MicroAir xpndr. I wish I had gone a different route. I had to send it back to Oz for repair, and the problem I sent it back for was repaired, but soon it had another problem, and it cost A LOT for warranty repair, as the shipping, re-importing fees, etcreally mounted up fast. They told me of a "local" shop in Denver that would repair, but that shop said they weren't familiar with the situation. So now, I have a xpndr that I can't turn on and off with the button, so I can't use that same button for the backlight, so I have a dark xpndr at night. Who knows what's next.

From now on, if it doesn't have a stateside repair shop, they can take a hike.

Jeff
 
Personally I don't have any experience with MicroAir transponders but I do know that my "transponder guy" has told me that he won't touch one.
 
Erie Aviation is the stateside shop that does the warrenty work for MicroAir.

http://www.erieaviation.com/

I had to send my xponder back to them. They turned my unit around on the same day.

Now for the problem. I was getting a "no comm" message and ATC was not able to see me. I had to either push the flip/flop button or turn the unit off and then on. This turned out to be a known problem that lead to 2 service bulletins. One for a software upgrade and one for a hardware change. Neither fixed my problem. Long story short MicroAir sent me a new unit. The new unit works a little better but I still get the "no comm" message at random intervals. The only improvement is that the new unit will reset itself. MicroAir wants me to send the unit back to Erie Aviation to check into this. I will pull the unit later this month.

Erie Aviation is great. MicroAir has been great. However I am disappointed in the performace of there transponder.

I had a MicroAir comm radio prior to installing my SL30. The MicroAir comm radio was fantastic. No problems and it worked great.
 
I'll have to check out ErieAviation again.

When I called them with my problem, the person I talked to was rude, and basically said "take it out and send to us, we have no idea when we will get to it, when you may get it back, and have no idea what it may cost."

I'll call them again and see if they try to be a little more precise. I don't like the idea of my xpndr collecting dust while they take care of "real" avionics customers whose money is the same color as mine.

After spending over 200 bucks on warranty repair by MicroAir, I have a bad taste from this equipment.


Jeff
 
micro air

Folks,
do any of these other (non micro air) radios happen to fit into the same panel hole as the M/A?
My Micro air is in the shop (Erie) for the 2nd time in two years. (!) I have the opportunity to buy a second used one for $450. Just wondering if I even want it after the trouble I've had with mine, and this discussion about them.
What do the others mentioned cost? (X-com, Becker etc...)
Bottom line is I do not want to be grounded ever again just because my radio is finicky.
Does Sony build airplane radios? ;-) (I wish!) My hangar boom box has worked flawlessly for years and it's even been dropped a few times!
I'm kinda frustrated, request cooler heads with experience to chime in.
Thanks
Dennis
RV-4
built by another, rebuilt by me.
 
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