12 posts in this topic

Posted (edited)

I have Icom A6 that I’ve had a few years. I took it out last week  and used it most of the day. I have a battery pack that takes standard AA batteries. I got it out today and it’s almost dead.  $6.00 worth of good Duracell Batteries gone in one day. 

Ive has a few Icom radios. I’ve never had one that would hold a charge worth a crap. 

What are you guys using for radios. I’m tired of playing this dead battery game. 

:wacko:

Edited by rvsimons
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Posted (edited)

Sporty's 300 or new 400 - cant be beat IMO.  8 AA Batteries.  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted (edited)

I have a yaesu ft 310 in mine . I have the option of rechargeable battery or using AA batteries. I also have the cigarette lighter charger too . It seems to work great , I can hear my home airport 35 miles away using just the rubber ducky antenna. Here's the link , I only use the radio feature I haven't figured out the vor or nav stuff yet.

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=204&encProdID=927B36CBFD3D43A47096EC06CD910A48&DivisionID=2&isArchived=0

Edited by chopndrag

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Posted

If you like the radio otherwise, get a 12 volt charger.  I'm sure Icom sells them.  Maybe one of these from ebay will work as well.  I have a Sporty's SP 200 in my Kitfox 1 that I run off of ship's power, and a Vertex Standard doing the same in my Avid MK IV.  I like a Vertex Standard Pro V VXA-220.  They are a good price and work good as well.  JImChuk

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=icom+12v+charger

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Posted

get the 12V adapter.  You can get the rechargeable batter pack as well.

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Posted

Surprised you're having problems. I had an A6 I used in my cub (no electrical system) and flew across the country with it. I would recharge it at night and be good for the day.

 

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Posted

Gotta run an Icom off 12V in the plane. I’ve had the same issue with A3-6.

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Posted

Joey are you using an external antenna? I'm getting a lot of "noise" through the headset. Have you had this issue and if so what have you done to lessen it?

Vance

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Posted

My old ICOM handheld ran off 12VDC as well as batteries. I built my own "adapter" by finding an old charger plug from something I had laying around the house that matched the external 12vdc input jack on the handheld, put a small fuse in the line for electrical safety and hooked it up to the plane's 12v electrical system. I removed the battery pack from the radio because the plane powered the radio fine without batteries. 

Regarding noise in the headset, how are you hooking your headset to the handheld? Icom had a little adapter that I used that included a PTT functionality and that worked pretty well.

Sometimes RF from the antenna can get back into a handheld radio when hooked up to an external headset and external antenna. This can be tricky especially if some part of the headset wiring happens to resonate at the wavelength the radio is operating. Increasing distance between headset and antenna can help if that is possible to do, or changing length of the headset and headset adapter wiring. 

If the noise is conducted as opposed to radiated, a small filter choke in between the radio and plane's wiring can help immensely.

All this can get pretty hard to sort through tho.

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Posted

I just run the standard handheld antenna and a ptt off that . It works way better then my external antenna. When I was hooked up to my external it was always noisy . With the rubber handheld antenna it's really quiet and I can still hear about 35 miles away. 

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Posted

I have a really old Icom A22.  Alkaline batteries only last about a day, less if you transmit much, and mine takes 10 AA batteries.  I used Lithium AA for a couple of times, they last a lot longer, but too much $$$.  I bought 30 nimh AA rechargeable batteries, and 2 8 battery charges from Amazon.  I also have an extra battery 'pack', so I can take two fully charged sets with me for an easy change if needed.  The nimh batteries last as long as the alkalines did, and they've been going strong for a couple of years now.  I think the cost of all of it was about 2 sets of Lithium batteries.

Mark

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Posted

Update: I installed a two hole 12 volt (cigarette lighter) outlet mounted to the center section. Just under the passenger side seat. I wired it directly into the battery on a fuse. I purchased one of the battery packs with the 12 volt plugs for $10.00. Now I can run my intercom and radio off ship power. I have to say that today's flight was the first time I had not had an issue with my radio in a long time. It was great to not get halfway through a flight and the battery stop working or the radio stop transmitting. I still carry my battery pack for when I'm out of the plane to monitor local traffic. 

Thank you for all the suggestions. Much appreciated 

Vance

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