Given the age of your aircraft, I think you are best to put your money into
portables unless you need IFR. The percentage of value of even the install
can get ugly.

If you need more avionics, you might as well move up in plane while you are
at it.



"JJS" jschneider@REMOVE SOCKSpldi.net wrote in message
...
I had my Cherokee in for it's vfr transponder check the other day and
asked about radio upgrades. I have an Apollo/UPS/Garmin GX 65 so I
asked about support for it in case something goes wrong. The avionics
guy looked it up on a sheet of paper and said that Garmin is still
repairing them but there was a $400 blanket charge no matter how
trivial the problem. You sure want to make sure it's broke before you
send it in, he said.

He had a used King audio panel and was going to check into a used
KX155 and glideslope for me. We're talking 4500 to $5000 to get to
IFR equipped here. I'm a vfr pilot and probably won't get my IFR
rating. Give me some guidance here group. Do I dump this kind of
money in a 1966 Cherokee 140 in slightly better than average condition
or do I invest in just a comm only to replace my fried navcom and call
it good? I've read a hundred threads in the past about this subject
and am still torn what to do. I'm reading in another thread about bad
support on the King KX-155's, too.

Joe Schneider
8437R


"Ron Rosenfeld" wrote in message
...
On 24 Aug 2004 12:15:08 -0700, (C Kingsbury)
wrote:

Googling the group yielded little so here goes...

1979 172, overall average condition with mostly original radios and
wiring (one RT-385 recently replaced by a TKM radio, M1 Loran from
a
few centuries ago)

The Cessna 300 ADF has gone flaky. The box tests fine on the bench
which suggests a wild goose chase may be in store to find the
gremlins. One of the two ILS approaches at my home field require
ADF,
and a few fields I go to are ADF/GPS-only so I need one of the two.

My idea is to find a good used Apollo GX-50/GX-60 unit and replace
the
ADF. No need to touch the Loran, it makes a good backup. I'll get
legal ADF and DME capability not to mention a moving map. Trying to
convince 4 other partners this is a good idea b/c it will make it
easier to sell shares in the future and even if they are VFR-only
the
moving map is a big plus.

The local flight school says they've been spending an average of
$6000
to do this with their birds at the local shop. Those of you who've
done this recently, any thoughts?

Bet,
-cwk.

Whether or not the Apollo units are a good idea or not is not
something I
will address. Don't forget that they are essentially "orphaned"
units.
Also, to be legal, there may be instances where you need to have the
ADF
equipment on board.

However, a recent install of my CNX80 was priced at 45 man-hours for
the
installation (@ $60/hr = $2700). In addition to that labor cost,
there was
also about $1,000 in extra equipment required not included in the
price of
the CNX80.

I believe the unit you are considering will also require remote
annunciators of some sort, which would cost in addition to the labor
and
cost of the unit itself.

$6,000 sounds about right. (My CNX80, installed, was about double
that).


--ron