Pushbutton

[Stormswift]

So I totally don't know what I am talking about. My son was flying his Aerobat ( 150 engine, extended gas tanks. He noticed couple of days ago that radio was acting wonky. Next flight everything was OK. Today again but this time tower could not hear him and hand radio was not that helpful. He could hear the tower loud and clear. He says he thinks its the pushbutton. Because he either had to push it with all his strength or very light barely touching for it to work. Not normal press. So we need some collective wisdom here. My son believes it's the push button that is the culprit. If he is right what are we looking at here both repair time and cost-wise? He will not be able to fly meanwhile . He is time building. So this sucks. This is not like cracking motorcycle intercom open and soldering some wires. I don't know whats involved in this. My son is making appointment with the avio mecahnics 1st thing tomorrow .

 

[GeorgeC]

Try a portable ptt in the interim? Does the copilot side have a ptt?

 

[Stormswift]

Try a portable ptt in the interim? Does the copilot side have a ptt?

Not sure: he says it has a button but he has not tried it. Where can he get a portable PTT?

 

[Stormswift]

...found the Ptt portable button. Actually got 2 to make sure there is a backup until the main one gets fixed. Thank you for the suggestion. Hopefully this is what we think this is and problem solved

 

[Pinecone]

Switch is a few dollars from DigiKey.

Maybe 1 hour labor or see if your A&P will allow you to do the work and them sign it off.

Or maybe the hangar fairies will fix it.

 

[brcase]

Try a portable ptt in the interim? Does the copilot side have a ptt?

Usually to use the co-pilot side PTT you also have to be plugged into the co-pilot headset plugs. Most airplanes when you push the PTT switch it cuts off all the other microphones in the cockpit, so only the person pushing the PTT is heard and it reduces background noise from other microphones in the transmission.

Often when you hear someone key a mike but can just barely hear them this is caused by them being plugged into the wrong headset plugs. So for example what is happening is the pilot keys the mike and speaks but the voice you barely hear or don't hear is being picked up by the co-pilots headset.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

 

[RussR]

Switch is a few dollars from DigiKey.

Maybe 1 hour labor or see if your A&P will allow you to do the work and them sign it off.

Or maybe the hangar fairies will fix it.

Agreed. This is (most likely) a really quick and easy DIY fix (with an appropriate sign-off, of course!)

 

[Stormswift]

While we are waiting for mechanic to take a look at the problem, we got pirtable PTT button. Thank you very much for suggested solution We strapped it on and it works perfectly

 

[Llewtrah381]

Sorta similar symptoms in my Warrior a few years back. Turned out the 45ish year old wiring from the PTT had gotten chafed where it came out of the yoke at the bottom. Easy fix. You may want to check there as well.

 

[Stormswift]

Mechanic sprayed the contacts. Button is back to working fine.yhe passanger side will need to be fixed