What's with the old radios?

T

trackersocha

Pre-Flight
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
58
Display Name
Display name:
trackersocha
I have been looking at some airplanes lately, And most of them have a king radio derivative, and a very nice garmin stack. I have seen a Cherokee 6 with a garmin touchscreen, and a kx170 or 175 or 155. If a person goes through the trouble to re panel an aging aircraft, why would he keep the old MAC1700? they are great radios, but with two garmin nav/com/awesome gps, why would an old radio?
 
Garmin used to charge a really unreasonable price for the SL30. I believe that that their pricing is the main reason why most just upgrade to one GPS/nav/com and leave one KX155 in place. Those King radios have lasted a long time, once in a while they need a new display, but compared with repairing 430s, keeping them going is downright cheap.
 
trackersocha said:
I have been looking at some airplanes lately, And most of them have a king radio derivative, and a very nice garmin stack. I have seen a Cherokee 6 with a garmin touchscreen, and a kx170 or 175 or 155. If a person goes through the trouble to re panel an aging aircraft, why would he keep the old MAC1700? they are great radios, but with two garmin nav/com/awesome gps, why would an old radio?
Click to expand...

Guilty as charged. Answer is Cost. If you put in a 750, you are looking at $15k and another $10k for a 650. A lot of money for redundancy. And a considerable portion of the value of an older airplane. The second Nav/com in my plane is fully capable of driving a glideslope. With the savings, I was able to buy an Aspen that gave me HSI capability that I never had.
 
Last edited:
Not only are they reliable, but when they do die, you can buy a serviceable replacement and plug-n-play without paying for installation. Another advantage I have seen with a KX155 vs. a Garmin 430W is that the Nav radio on the KX155 will pick up the VOR long before the 430W does. Garmin makes a great GPS, but the radios, not so much. I have a KMA-24 audio panel, a 430W, a KX155 and a KT76A. The audio panel is bullet-proof and easily replaced, the 155 as above, and the KT76 has two plug-n-play paths (KT74 and the Trig TT-31) to ADS-B compatibility that is nearly half that of going Garmin and a much lower install cost (just get the WAAS GPS output from the Garmin and input to the transponder).
 
The cost is the major factor,also plenty of availability of parts and replacement king radios. My last plane I upgraded with a 430 non wass ,and a new audio panel,and kept the kx 155 nav / com.saved a bundle and never had a problem.
 
SbestCFII said:
[snip] Another advantage I have seen with a KX155 vs. a Garmin 430W is that the Nav radio on the KX155 will pick up the VOR long before the 430W does. Garmin makes a great GPS, but the radios, not so much. [/snip]
Click to expand...

Yeah, that. The plane I flew most in the couple of years after my checkride and for both of my long solo cross countries had a 430 and an MX-175 (I think. It was a digital flip-flop where a KX-170 had been). I noticed on my long cross countries and re-verified a number of times after that the regular Nav radio would pick up the VORs 10-20 miles further out than the 430. This was flying in the 4-6K altitude range. I wondered at the time if it was an installation thing and I never got to try it in another aircraft.

John
 
> I wondered at the time if it was an installation thing and I never got to
> try it in another aircraft.

It's a Garmin thing.
 
weilke said:
Garmin used to charge a really unreasonable price for the SL30. I believe that that their pricing is the main reason why most just upgrade to one GPS/nav/com and leave one KX155 in place. Those King radios have lasted a long time, once in a while they need a new display, but compared with repairing 430s, keeping them going is downright cheap.
Click to expand...

+1 Guilty as charged.:D
 
Don't feel bad. I've seen a lot of $1m+ corporate jets come in, we remove the boxes and the racks, remove the circuit breakers and plug the hole, but they won't pay to remove the antennas which aren't connected to ANYTHING.
 
Marauder said:
Guilty as charged. Answer is Cost. If you put in a 750, you are looking at $15k and another $10k for a 650. A lot of money for redundancy. And a consider portion of the value of an older airplane. The second Nav/com in my plane is fully capable of driving a glideslope. With the savings, I was able to buy an Aspen that gave me HSI capability that I never had.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, that is just criminal. :yes:
 
bnt83 said:
Don't feel bad. I've seen a lot of $1m+ corporate jets come in, we remove the boxes and the racks, remove the circuit breakers and plug the hole, but they won't pay to remove the antennas which aren't connected to ANYTHING.
Click to expand...

"Antenni" look cool. The more the better, kinda like a Mexican taxi with decals. :lol: :eek:
 
Last edited:
Why replace the radio just because it's old? Shouldn't you also replace the airplane? it's older than the radio.
 
well cool. I have some very good answers here. and makes sense
 
Yeah what everyone else said.

My Archer has a Garmin 430 as com/nav1 and a K170 for com2/nav2.

I'd like to have something newer but for the money spent what am I getting? Well a radio that does the same thing but looks more modern and has a standby frequency/flip-flop button? Just isn't worth it.
 
bnt83 said:
Says "antennas" all over this STC I'm looking at...
Click to expand...

Roman walks into a bar, "I'd like a dry Martinus." Bar tender looks at him, "You mean a Martini?" To which the Roman replies, "If I wanted a double I would have asked for one." :D
 
For me it was strictly cost, I had 2 KX 155's and an inop KLN 90B, I had to replace an indicator on the Number 1 nav/comm, so I asked for one that was compatible with Garmin, in case I upgraded. Well, the shop made me a deal on a new 430W. :D But no way was I spending another $10K on my 182 at that time! Really, you'll find that even with dual GPS's, most films use one 90% of the time. ;) I have a 650/750 combo in the Conquest and I use the 750 for almost everything, the 650 is used for tuning the XM radio, listening to ATIS, etc.
 
I just got 1 430w because I don't really like the 430/530 architecture and they hadn't come out with the 750 yet but I needed something to drive the G-500.
 
so for you guys that have a king that has knobs, what is keeping you from switching to a TKM?
 
trackersocha said:
so for you guys that have a king that has knobs, what is keeping you from switching to a TKM?
Click to expand...

Masochism?:rofl: They aren't bad, they're reliable and work, they're just ugly and kinda a PITA if you only have one. I did my IR in a 172 that had a single KX-170B and an ADF. After a 40 hr week in that plane I could spin knobs with the best lol. The DE got in the plane, looked at the panel and said "You've got balls! You know I'm gonna give you an intersection hold right?" "Bring it on, you're not gonna throw anything at me Satan didn't beat me up with all week."
 
There are only few features an SL30 offers above what a KX155 can do, I believe they allow you to monitor two frequencies and they can channel frequencies from an attached GPS navigator. Most people use their com2 to do things like checking an ATIS or calling for fuel, not much to be gained from the added capabilities of a SL30.

Has anyone here used the new Garmin radios that replaced the SL30/SL40 ?
 
The other reason for keeping the King unit is...

...I've never had a King radio's buttons and knobs get all sticky and nasty like both of the Garmins I've owned have in 8 years or less. Defective, cheap azz plastic that starts to decompose in short time even in a plane that's always hangared.

Of course, Garmin's never heard of the problem but they'll fix it...for an outrageous sum.
 
timwinters said:
Of course, Garmin's never heard of the problem but they'll fix it...for an outrageous sum.
Click to expand...

My dad ran the warranty department for a manufacturer of HVAC controls back in the 60s. He was taught that the first answer to any warranty claim was: 'You are the first one to have that problem' ;)
 
weilke said:
My dad ran the warranty department for a manufacturer of HVAC controls back in the 60s. He was taught that the first answer to any warranty claim was: 'You are the first one to have that problem' ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, can't pull that off anymore, first thing people do is google a problem now and a forum full of complaints shows up.:lol:
 
I wouldn't pull out radios based on age but I would pull them based on weight, size and ugliness.

I'm happy with any digital nav/com.

I'm not sure I would put up with Rnav/OBS, old clucky nav/coms.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top