radio problems

[phintz]

Hello all!, After the first flight we noticed that we didn't have any radio communications to or from my series 6, I called garmin, ( I have the new gtr 200) and we went through the settings which were all normal. When I purchased the radio through Aircraft spruce I opted for a pre wired harness that included the headset jacks. Of course you put the male jack into the female radio jack all the way . Tonight I toyed with it alittle and pulled the larger headset jack out about 1/4 " and It worked perfect!! I was talking to someone 15 miles out and he could here me fine!
We also didn't have intercom also,so I pulled the co-pilot larger headset jack out the same and wala!!! Anyone ever have this happen and what is the fix??? Other than that its running great I have 2.8 hrs on the engine now!

Thanks
Patrick
series 6 , 3 blade warp drive
flying

[neville]

What brand headsets are you using? Sounds as if the connector on the
headset is not compatible with the aircraft jacks. Some noise canceling
units use brand specific plugs and jacks.

[Slyfox]

you can take and look at the headset jack and slowly insert the jack and watch the connections to make sure they don't end up shorting out within itself when plugged in all the way. I had one of mine do that once. I bent the arms in the plug in just slightly and fixed it. worth a look. this is the part on the plane that excepts the headset plug. remove a panel or whatever to look at it work. make sure the connections make contact to your headset proper.

[phintz]

What brand headsets are you using? Sounds as if the connector on the
headset is not compatible with the aircraft jacks. Some noise canceling
units use brand specific plugs and jacks.

I'm using brand new David Clark and a older flight com headsets

[Dave Holl]

I have had this issue a while ago and the problem was the female connector contacts shorting out when the jack was pushed fully home. The clearances are very small a slight bend to one of the connections fixed the problem, hopefully yours will be the same!

[phintz]

Hello all!, After the first flight we noticed that we didn't have any radio communications to or from my series 6, I called garmin, ( I have the new gtr 200) and we went through the settings which were all normal. When I purchased the radio through Aircraft spruce I opted for a pre wired harness that included the headset jacks. Of course you put the male jack into the female radio jack all the way . Tonight I toyed with it alittle and pulled the larger headset jack out about 1/4 " and It worked perfect!! I was talking to someone 15 miles out and he could here me fine!
We also didn't have intercom also,so I pulled the co-pilot larger headset jack out the same and wala!!! Anyone ever have this happen and what is the fix??? Other than that its running great I have 2.8 hrs on the engine now!

Thanks
Patrick
series 6 , 3 blade warp drive
flying
Hey everyone! Wanted to get back and let everyone know what I found! Turns out one of the pins were touching a screw for the panel mount , this shorted the radio out completely when pushed all the way home! Thanks to garmin tech support for pointing me in the right direction for troubleshooting!

Thanks Patrick
Series 6 , phase 1 testing

[phintz]

I would love to tell everyone that the radio is working perfect , but I'm not quite there yet. I still have radio noise. It starts when you start it and it comes and goes. At worst it's when ya throttle up to around 5000 rpm and then sticks around. It seems to get faster with higher RPM's. Ok now here is when it gets tricky. If you pull out the pilot mic jack the noise stops completely. I have switched headsets and finally soldered on different jacks. Same thing! This is on the new Garmin gtr200 . I purchased this from Aircraft spruce along with a prewired radio harness. I am at wits end and have to clue what next to do! I switched the wire from the ignition mags to the key ingnition to shielded wire ( I grounded only the one end). It only being in one jack seems funny to me and am starting to wonder if it's in the harness, or the radio! Please someone help!!! The head electronics man and ACS is back from OSkosh tomorrow he's the one I've been dealing with so we'll see how the customer service is.
Just curious but I know the Radio noise suppessor (capacitor) is wired correctly but how do I know it's working????????

Thanks all
Patrick
series 6 - trigear
phase I testing (17.3 hrs)

[Dave S]

Patrick,

Is the noise present at all times (transmitt and just listening) or is one or the other?

Dave S

[jiott]

Real obvious and I hesitate to even ask, but have you adjusted the squelch?

[phintz]

Patrick,

Is the noise present at all times (transmitt and just listening) or is one or the other?

Dave S

Yes it's present at all times! It's so bad it's like I can't transmit. During noise only the copilot can transmit. I've tried the squelch at no luck either!

[neville]

Perhaps the body of the pilot jacks are not insulated from their mounting holes. The insulating washers shoulder must not be thicker than the material the jacks are mounted in. Some washer sets come with one washer with a shoulder and one without for use in thin material while others come with both having shoulders. The sets having two with shoulders are used in thicker mounting material where the shoulders will not tough each other, but will keep the jack from rocking in the hole and
shorting to the mounting plate. However, in the event the jacks are mounted in non conductive material none of this matters.

[Dave S]

Patrick,

Since the noise is there all the time when the radio is running, I think you can rule out the Mic gain adjustment for now. Not likely a sidetone adjustment issue either.

I'd agree with Jiott that the squelch is a possibility. What you have for manual adjustment depends on the radio - many have automatic squelch plus some have a manual adjustment on the case which can be found after pulling the radio from the stack - it is a delicate little device (usually a small phillips screw adjusted potentiometer) so a person has to likewise be deliacte in adjusting it. Good idea to discuss the issue with your AS tech guy when you can get in contact with him.

Sincerely,

Dave S

[Av8r_Sed]

It sounds to me like it's either a ground loop issue or an unconnected shield (both ends ungrounded instead of just one). Can you try unmounting the jack from the panel and plugging in the mic connector the the floating jack? Also, you should be able the measure a very low shield resistance to ground with a meter to try to eliminate the unconnected shield possibility.

[phintz]

It sounds to me like it's either a ground loop issue or an unconnected shield (both ends ungrounded instead of just one). Can you try unmounting the jack from the panel and plugging in the mic connector the the floating jack? Also, you should be able the measure a very low shield resistance to ground with a meter to try to eliminate the unconnected shield possibility.

I floated the jacks with no luck ! Aircraft spruce is working with garmin to swap radios to see if that helps!

[SkyPirate]

I don't know the radio your using, but mine has a 4 place setting or 2 place setting and a left mic main or right side main, if I set it on 4 place it isn't a clean connection

[phintz]

Hello everyone!, just to let everyone know what's happening with my radio noise! I should be getting my new replacement Garmin gtr 200, with wiring harness tomorrow! I'll try one at a time to see if it helps , I'll keep everyone up to date! I've been missing out on some nice nights to go flying!

Patrick series 6, Phase I testing

[phintz]

Hello everyone!, just to let everyone know what's happening with my radio noise! I should be getting my new replacement Garmin gtr 200, with wiring harness tomorrow! I'll try one at a time to see if it helps , I'll keep everyone up to date! I've been missing out on some nice nights to go flying!

Patrick series 6, Phase I testing

I received my new Garmin GTR 200 and wiring harness today! I installed the new radio and I have NO static at all , and the Jacks are all the way plugged in!! I ran the engine up to 3000, and again NO static!! Will need a final test flight to make me a true believer but I'm leaning that way! Thanks to all who had input on my problem!

Patrick