Xcom VHF Transceiver.

[farmer jim]

New with original box, harness ( and an extra harness) DVD.

New price with harness $1670 - per website!

Asking $1250 (OBO)

Installed in Tiggy-B a year ago..... won't work with our engine.... removed!

[Michael Coates]

Farmer Jim, One of the reasons it may not have worked for you is cause your NOT using the proper wiring. A computer cable is not shown as suitable anywhere in the manual. Fit using the recommended wiring harness and your problems are solved. XCOM Avionics

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE MANUAL OR ON THE WEBSITE PLEASE

[Mike484]

A real men don't use instructions, they use a bigger hammer and more duct tape.

[Michael Coates]

Originally Posted by Mike484

A real men don't use instructions, they use a bigger hammer and more duct tape.

Yes... this is the problem! Happy 4th all.

[GyrOZprey]

20 months ago when Jim was working on completing Tiggy-B with Larry......
He KNEW that chosing,installing & wiring radio/intercom was way out of his skill set - SO HE PAID "AN EXPERT"??? to buy the necessary radio & helmets.
and another - so called..... to install the radio & intercom.

Helmets & radio were bought from Stark Aviation.

Larry installed & wired it in! Supposedly tested too!

May 2012 when we went to finally tried to use them so Desmon could give Jim some rotor management,ground handling instruction when we FINALLY had an engine that would run for more than a few hours before self destructing ----
NO COMMS!!!!!! WTH!!!

Desmon is our witness of the mess we found behind the panel!

In the picture there are TWO harnessess - one is the partial remains of Larry's job with proper(???) radio wiring ---- the other was in the box with the DVD & instruction manual & YES on closer inspection it is obviously a "ring-in" - not radio related - as you note some kind of computer cable!!!

THIS CABLE WAS NEVER USED IN THE FAILED INSTALLATION OF THIS RADIO!!!

We left the Tiggy-B @ Stark aviation for a week to have Bob make the radio he sold us work. When we picked it up he said he couldn't get it to work in our application! He didn't want to buy the radio back as he said that they (Xcom) were out of business! ( ??????? - apparently NOT)

YOWSER - hit a nerve did we!

So we had two shots at getting TWO PAID "professionals" to get us radio comms - both failed miserably!!

We now have a comtronics ultracom intercom with cable to handheld radio to try out !

........... NOW YOU ARE INFORMED!!!

[RotorTom]

I had an XCOM in my Xenon and it NEVER worked properly. I tried everything.

[gyromike]

I have one in my 140 and it works fine.

[bones]

Originally Posted by GyrOZprey

20 months ago when Jim was working on completing Tiggy-B with Larry......
He KNEW that chosing,installing & wiring radio/intercom was way out of his skill set - SO HE PAID "AN EXPERT"??? to buy the necessary radio & helmets.
and another - so called..... to install the radio & intercom.

Helmets & radio were bought from Stark Aviation.

Larry installed & wired it in! Supposedly tested too!

May 2012 when we went to finally tried to use them so Desmon could give Jim some rotor management,ground handling instruction when we FINALLY had an engine that would run for more than a few hours before self destructing ----
NO COMMS!!!!!! WTH!!!

Desmon is our witness of the mess we found behind the panel!

In the picture there are TWO harnessess - one is the partial remains of Larry's job with proper(???) radio wiring ---- the other was in the box with the DVD & instruction manual & YES on closer inspection it is obviously a "ring-in" - not radio related - as you note some kind of computer cable!!!

THIS CABLE WAS NEVER USED IN THE FAILED INSTALLATION OF THIS RADIO!!!

We left the Tiggy-B @ Stark aviation for a week to have Bob make the radio he sold us work. When we picked it up he said he couldn't get it to work in our application! He didn't want to buy the radio back as he said that they (Xcom) were out of business! ( ??????? - apparently NOT)

YOWSER - hit a nerve did we!

So we had two shots at getting TWO PAID "professionals" to get us radio comms - both failed miserably!!

We now have a comtronics ultracom intercom with cable to handheld radio to try out !

........... NOW YOU ARE INFORMED!!!

You know the thing about VHF radios is it is like a black art to get them to work, i had stuffed around with a radio set up for about 14 months, in that time i had an "ex spert" look at the radio, all he did was wave the aerial around and said well i think you need a better ground plane, fair dink he was there no more than 5 mins, then in the mail i gets a $300 odd bill, WTF, cause he couldnt find the problem he didnt care. In the end i found an aerial that "just works" with the last 8 instals no mike feedback no problem with transmit distance great reception ect. 99% of problems i have had with VHF's is the aerial/headset combo, the one i just sorted out yesterday it turned out to be the headsets not compatable with the setup, put my old DC headset in and my spare $100 headset and works fine.
I have never used Xcom, but i would ecpect it would be the same, if you have the wiring harness from the factory use it as directed, make sure the soldering is good, and it should work fine as long as the aerial and headset/helmets match up.

[Gyro1]

I have a Xcom in my Xenon, works great. I got the factory wiring harness with it.

[WHY]

Noise has 2 sources, it comes thru the wiring or thru the air (or both !!) If it's both it will be a BI**H to cure but that's what you have to first find out. Thru the air is probably the hardest to find, because it can absolutely "swamp" a reciever till it is unable to recieve anything. If it is thru the air then the only way to cure it is AT THE SOURCE and that is not usually easy, especially if it is from the engine.

Tony

[WHY]

Probably the "weirdest" noise problem I have delt with on a auto gyro was a older Aircommand, It had a digital rotor tach, and the radio was a handheld in a bracket mounted near the tach. The noise was from the engine ignition but it was being picked up by the rotor tach wiring that was close to the ignition system which carried it like a antenna right down next to the radio. Most radio repairmen are either bald or white haired from stuff just like this.

Tony

[PW_Plack]

The word "expert" gets tossed around pretty loosely when it comes to radio installations in experimental aircraft. Someone who's a good welder, aircraft salesman or CFI is certainly an expert, but not the kind of expert you need.

Most radios get blamed for problems caused by improper grounding or impedance mismatches between the radio and the antenna and/or headset. If you put the wrong pitch prop on an engine and got lousy thrust numbers, you wouldn't blame the engine, but the equivalent thing happens in radios all the time.

[Michael Coates]

We have a WEALTH of information from the last 9 years about solving problems just like this.... all you need to do is ask for help or go through our website.

At your service..... XCOM Avionics

[GyroCFI]

Originally Posted by Michael Coates

We have a WEALTH of information from the last 9 years about solving problems just like this.... all you need to do is ask for help or go through our website.

At your service..... XCOM Avionics

My friend/student had an XCOM installed in his Xenon and sent it back several times... It kept failing and as far as I know it keeps failing, he's had to resort to a handheld unit. Something is not right when the factory says that they sent him back a new unit and he got the exact same one back with the same symptoms...

He tried everything that he was told to do and still no luck.

[Michael Coates]

this seems to be a typical complaint and problem with this particular aircraft. With nowhere to put the aerial some people resort to putting it right next to the instrument panel in the front nosecone, in this location you can expect some major problems with the aerial transmitting back into the radio, the aircraft wiring harness and all your instruments as well. This is basically known as RF feedback and will damage a radio after a period of time. You must have a proper aerial fitted for it to work properly, bad aerial and you will damage the radio and in fact any radio which is fitted. The higher the power output of the radio normally means the quicker it will get damaged by a faulty aerial. If you look at aircraft like a Cessna you will see they have usually a white rod aerial in an almost vertical orientation with a good ground plane (the back of the aircraft) this is an ideal installation and you can expect your radio to work for years and years. Unfortunately don't have these luxuries in a gyro and it is always a compromise. Fortunately, we do have customers who have managed to sort through the problems and have them fitted and working correctly in gyros. The biggest problem we see with gyrocopters is aerials in the wrong location, being horizontal instead of vertical, being too close to the radio and instrumentation etc etc. I can remember one customer who put the rubber ducky aerial off a handheld on the back of his XCOM radio and then complained that it didn't work because every time he pushed the PTT button all of the instruments went crazy....... please don't use rubber ducky aerials because they are only designed for handhelds