I really want to believe a radio can have an intercom built in. In my S7 i've got a plain-Jane Icom 200, using a FlightCom intercom and they work great.
Of course that's boring and I want the tiniest, cheapest, best radio that is easy to install in the next plane.
I know of a fella building one with the MGL-V10 and a Sigtronics Icom--he's done his homework, so i could just do that but I hate pressing buttons like on a microwave instead of spinning a knob. Ergonomics are everything--well besides actually communicating.
So, i couldn't help but find a bunch of bad reviews on the XCOM radio. It supposedly does everything in a 2.25" panel hole. It seems like they haven't gotten bad reviews lately. Does anyone have experience with them? How would it compare to my ICom 200?

Also, is there a low end radio that will talk with a low end Garmin GPS unit to send the radio channel over to the radio just by pressing on the airport on the map? I know the expensive setups used to do it. Is that technology open source or just a Garmin to Garmin deal?

Thanks,
Greg

Have you checked into this one?
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/a ... eFL760.php

Good luck

Look into the Dittel and Walter Dittel brand small radios for sailplanes. If I am remembering it correctly, there is a 2 1/4" round radio that has an intercom feature. I would expect good quality from this company, BTW. I had a Dittel radio in a Taylorcraft and it was wonderful.

Go to www.wingsandwheels.com and look up the panel mount radios. There will be several choices, one of which may have your intercom feature. Tim Mara at Wings & Wheels is a pleasure to do business with.

I had a MicroAir 760 in my RV-4. It was a pretty good little unit, a little hard to adjust accurately in turbulence and the display was a bit small for my tastes. Also, early models had a bug where the display would show Japanese characters rather than English at time. The fix was to pop out an IC chip on the display driver board, expand the legs on the chip a bit, and then plug the chip back in. Other than that it was a good radio, very clear and plenty of boradcast power.

Check out this one.......lots of folks have recommended it.
http://www.lightflying.com.au/Stratomas ... Radios.htm

Greg,

I can't say enough good things about my Becker 4201, fits nicely in a 2 1/4" hole. maybe a little more cash than the others but well worth it. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/becker_ar420.php

Thanks boyzies,
Caddy, are you using the Becker without an intercom?
Now that I've sat here scouring the web I see you can send nearest airport info over to the radio equipped with SL-40 (or maybe i'm saying that wrong). That little MGL-V10 has that capability, so maybe that could keep microwave button pushing to a minimum?
Any not-so-bright homebuilders have any luck with this SL-40 technology?

I have the SL-30 that is wired to my 530 and 496. Nice feature in the go to mode. Sets all the freqs in standby, just move through them all the way from Take off airport to destination. When doing the point a to b work IFR I wish ATC could send a signal to my xm or mode s transponder that would just set the next freq in stanby or even switch it for me as I move from one controler to the next without all the mistaken freq replys, busy controler step ons, and handshaking.

I've had two Xcom radios in the two Highlanders I've owned and have had no trouble with them at all. The internal intercom is a true voice activated intercom and another nice feature is the dual monitoring. http://www.airplanegear.com/xcom.htm


Steve D

Greg,

I have a separate intercom from the Becker 4201.

More clean up:

My MGL V6 radio is now awesome. I was complaining about it a couple years ago. MGL sent me a new one, I believe with different firmware. They have always come through for me on customer service or answering dumb questions.
It's really nice and clear.
I had heard the only way to make them work well is to couple them with an external intercom, but I didn't and it's great.


Factory Harness
Fancy ANR Bose or cheap headsets work mixed or matched.
Rotax 912 ULS

I Love my V6! Just sucks you can't use the VOGAD feature with the Bose, but no big deal as their mic's are awesome

Put the Becker AR6201 in the 180 a while back. I have been VERY impressed with it. Voice activated intercom is great, size is great. Saved 23 Lbs over the old 24 V com radio setup.

Also had an xCom in an airplane I used to own, Really liked it too. Intercom was excellent in it as well.

It is Tiny. Pic for size comparison.