So any of you have certified aircraft with “round hole radios” installed? Like the MGL’s etc that fit in the 2 1/4” or 3-1/8” holes? I’m trying to keep my dash build light for my VFR Cessna. Do you need to use an intercom remote system with them etc? Just looking for a useful and light little VFR radio.

Technically for Part 91 VFR operations, you don't need a TSO'd radio. So those little radios will be fine. I believe they have a two-place intercom. So if you don't plan on having more than a single passenger you won't need an extra intercom. Although in theory you could wire the back seat pax in with the co-pilot jacks and use the same built in intercom. However I'm not sure if that would produce any weird audio issues/feedback.

I met a guy in Texas with a Champ. He had just installed an MGL round dial radio in his panel. Not only was he stoked at the audio performance he was getting, he was even happier that it had a built in 4 place intercom.
I had just bought and installed a Valcom 2000 in my Citabria and wish I had seen his radio sooner

Thank You guys for the replies.

A buddy of mine installed a small round Becker radio in a Luscombe he was rebuilding,
dunno why but but he also installed a separate Sigtronics intercom.
He sold that airplane when he finished it, but has another Luscombe project going.
Guess he liked that Becker radio cuz he bought another one for this airplane.

I’ve used a few Becker radios, and they work fine. Their intercom system is not great, however, so we installed separate intercom.

MTV

hotrod180 wrote:A buddy of mine installed a small round Becker radio in a Luscombe he was rebuilding,
dunno why but but he also installed a separate Sigtronics intercom.
He sold that airplane when he finished it, but has another Luscombe project going.
Guess he liked that Becker radio cuz he bought another one for this airplane.

There's a couple outfits that seem to be selling a number of Becker radios on Barnstormers.
My buddy bought his newest one (and maybe both) from Santosha Aeronautic in Palm Springs for around $500.

I have an MGL V6 radio in my experimental and have been very pleased with it in the 4+ years I have had it. The intercom is quite good in my opinion (compared to the Sigtronics intercom I had previously), and if you have an EFIS (I have a Dynon Skyview) it is easy to load comm frequencies to the V6 from the EFIS.

The newer MGL V16 radio is more sophisticated and can be operated from either a 3 1/8" or 2 1/4" control head. see http://www.mglavionics.com/html/radios.html


Warren
Minneapolis KMIC