Icom A210e problem

[Dusty]

I have a radio problem. It may be the radio or install or both?
Occasionally in flight I would get a full static roar,I turned the radio on in my hanger and that's all I get now(the rx icon shows).
Our local avionics guy has spent some time on site trying to sort it,even substituting another radio which he said shows the same problem.
The original radio was reinstalled (problem still there).
I went flying yesterday and when I got out the doors the radio was fine for a days flying other than some of the settings went off.
As soon as the plane was in the hanger the noise was back!
There is nothing turned on in the hanger other than the smart meter which has been there for over a year.
Any ideas where to look,keep it simple as with electrics I only really understand on or off:rolleyes:

[mr bill]

If you have halogen lights in the hangar, try turning them off.

[Dusty]

Just fluresent lights,and they are off.
I plan to get out later this evening and flip the main circuit breaker.
I will also try my other fox and Seeif it has the same issue.

[jrevens]

This is probably not your problem, Dusty, but I experienced a similar problem with another airplane recently. The radio was almost unintelligible... it sounded like the squelch was on (or off?) all the time. Changing headsets didn’t help. Switching to the other set of jacks was the same. We pulled the radio and took it to the radio shop to be bench tested. It was fine. Started looking at wiring, etc. and finally noticed that there was a little portable Lithium Ion battery pack in the airplane that was used for charging or powering other devices, and it was connected to a portable Garmin ADS-B unit to power it. Turns out that battery pack/power supply was like a miniature radio station, and it was broadcasting an unbelievable amount of noise. I unplugged it from the Garmin unit and the noise instantly stopped. Further testing with another battery power supply created no noise... it was just that particular unit.

[efwd]

Awe Man, if all electrical gremlins were that easy John. Maybe I would be done with this project.

[BobRS]

Had a similar problem with my iCOM A210. Applied several (lower cost) fixes before considering another radio. John McBean was a great source of information which helped in exploring solutions. We have an Advanced Flight Systems EFIS and installed filters on all the DB connectors (purchased from AFS). Replaced all my radio coax with new RG-400. Although the KF frame is an adequate ground plane, John mentioned I can get a bit more range with a 1/4-wave ground plane...so I installed that on my main antenna just behind the turtle deck (inside of course). One of our EAA Chapter members also mentioned that if you have a USB power outlet converter, it can be noisy. I put it on a circuit breaker and added a filter capacitor to the input leads behind the panel. Bottom line, the noise and squelch problem are gone! Not sure which of these fixes solved the problem, but I now have great noise and squelch control.
BobRS
N104Y, SS7. Rotax 914, Flying
Albuquerque, NM USA

[Dusty]

The radio was good again this weekend once out of the hanger but replacing the coax is one idea we will consider ,one plug was replaced initially. I have tried with the usb disconnected but with no difference,also the voltage regulator was unplugged(without running)
I just can't understand what has changed.My main concern is this problem may be the start of a later reliability issue.
My panel and aircraft are very basic so there shouldn't be to many sources of interference.
Thanks
Dusty

[P Morel]

For what's it worth......If you have any LED lights operating either in the hangar or unshielded wired LED lights in your plane, you may very well experience either static or squelch interference in you radio. The location of your aircraft in relation to these lights may be part of your gremlin problem.