GPS loss of signal explanation

Jay Honeck wrote:
I don't know why...I've never had a lick of trouble out of any of it.

Atlas has two Narco coms, a Narco DME, and two Narco GS/VORs. All work
perfectly, all the time.

I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.

They probably are good radios. The bad rap against them came because
they were the first to introduce the concept of "non-field serviceable
units". They took away the right for avionics shops to work on them,
requiring they all be returned to the factory (at a price they set).
However, today we have Garmin doing the same. Compare that to a King
radio where any just-out-of-school avionics guy can do a field strip in
an hour.

-Robert

"Jay Honeck" wrote

I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.

Perhaps 'cause they are just old, without the new bells and whistles?
--
Jim in NC

Jay Honeck wrote:

I don't know why...I've never had a lick of trouble out of any of it.


Atlas has two Narco coms, a Narco DME, and two Narco GS/VORs. All work
perfectly, all the time.

I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.

--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Jay,

It came from avionics shops that got pretty ****ed at Narco when Narco
decided to pull all service into the factory. Narco's reasons for doing
it are understandable, and I think make sense, but the avionics shops
have never forgiven them for taking away a good chunk of their repair
business.

On Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:00:46 -0400, Ray Andraka
wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:

I don't know why...I've never had a lick of trouble out of any of it.


Atlas has two Narco coms, a Narco DME, and two Narco GS/VORs. All work
perfectly, all the time.

I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.

--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Jay,

It came from avionics shops that got pretty ****ed at Narco when Narco
decided to pull all service into the factory. Narco's reasons for doing
it are understandable, and I think make sense, but the avionics shops
have never forgiven them for taking away a good chunk of their repair
business.

Jay, I can give you an indication why they have their reputation!

An aircraft owner had Narco in his aircraft and said they were 'now'
ok so we took his advice, but...

Purchased 2x MK12D+, CPM136, IDME891 approx 3 years ago.

The IDME891 (ILS/DME) does not work properly at very low frequencies
(around 108.1MHz) the ILS is ok but the DME doesn't always work. The
first flight showed a problem but since it was subsequently not used
at these frequencies for some time the fault was not discovered for a
considerable time.

Both MK12D+ NAV/COM had Transmitter audio failures. Apparently it is a
known diode failure problem. Now I know what happens when you have a
COM failure when overflying a military airfield :-(

The latest is a severe dimming of the NAV display and the first digit
has failed completely.

The CPM136 AF panel produced smoke when COM 2 button pressed.

The IDME891 saved us panel space and should be ideal but the
intermittent DME reading problem has still to be solved.

David

Jay Honeck wrote:

I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.

I've had several $300 Narco auto-dimming EL displays fail. According to
some very reputable local avionics businesses, Narco isn't easy to deal
with.

Jay, I can give you an indication why they have their reputation!

An aircraft owner had Narco in his aircraft and said they were 'now'
ok so we took his advice, but...

Awful tale of woe snipped

Okay, I'd be plenty ****ed, if that were my plane. I just haven't had
any of those problems, thankfully!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In rec.aviation.piloting Jay Honeck wrote:
I don't know why...I've never had a lick of trouble out of any of it.

You are apparently among the blessed few who have not had problems
(yet). May it ever be thus!

Atlas has two Narco coms, a Narco DME, and two Narco GS/VORs. All work
perfectly, all the time.

I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.

Actually, Jay, it is from those of us who have experienced multiple
failures of Narco equipment, and been unable to get it repaired or
replaced is a timely fashion... because Narco REFUSED to provide
schematics and parts to the local avionics shop and INSISTED that
the equipment be sent to Narco for repair, and then the equipment
would come back MONTHS later with "no problem found", and the
equipment won't even turn ON, so you can tell that they did not even
attempt to fix the problem. It is those of us who have had BAD
experience with Narco "customer service" (read SEVERE lack thereof),
who will NEVER purchase Narco equipment again. It is us who had
Terra equipment that needed service (and Narco bought Terra) and put
it out of business. It is US who tell our FRIENDS to stay away from
Narco, and tell our non-friends to purchase Narco.

For the few of you with Narco equipment that have not had problems,
may it always be well for you. You are the blessed few.

Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction and mountain flying are my vocations!"
--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jeratfrii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 240 Young Eagles!

B A R R Y wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:


I've not quite figured out where the anti-Narco sentiment come from,
but it's almost as insidious as the anti-Microsoft attitudes out there.


I've had several $300 Narco auto-dimming EL displays fail. According to
some very reputable local avionics businesses, Narco isn't easy to deal
with.

"Not easy to deal with" because Narco won't supply them parts or
approved repair manuals. For the owner though, it is a pretty good deal
except you aren't going to drop into a shop and have them fix it while
you wait.

Units sent to Narco for factory repair are brought up to the latest mod
level and are 100% checked before they are returned to you. After the
repair, the whole unit is warrantied for 90 days. If anything breaks on
it during the warranty period (anything, not just the repair), they fix
it at no additional cost. As an owner, you can take comfort in knowing
it is fixed correctly, completely calibrated to factory spec, and
brought up to the latest revision. The shop rate is, I believe,
$105/hr, which is a little higher than most avionics shops, but they
also generally fix it in fewer hours. You can also get the unit
evaluated before it is repaired for a flat fee of (IIRC) $105, then if
you decide to repair it, that evaluation fee is applied toward the
repair. You also have the option of trading it in for another radio,
although the trade-in terms are not all that generous. I haven't found
the factory service to be hard to deal with at all as an owner.

On the other hand, I've got some horrendous stories dealing with
avionics shops that applied bandaid fixes to radios, and the warranty
most shops I've dealt with offer covers only the repair that they did,
and expires more or less as soon as your wheels leave the ground. From
the avionics shop's perspective, yeah, Narco gave them a raw deal and is
hard to deal with because they won't let the avionics shops service the
radios. The Narco radios are not any worse than other radios of the
same vintage. Face it, aircraft panels are a harsh environment for
avionics, and after being in there for 20 years you are bound to have
problems. Buying 20-30 year old used equipment, even if the seller
tells you it is like "now" is a crap shoot. You can't blame the
manufacturer for that.

Ray Andraka wrote:

On the other hand, I've got some horrendous stories dealing with
avionics shops that applied bandaid fixes to radios, and the warranty
most shops I've dealt with offer covers only the repair that they did,
and expires more or less as soon as your wheels leave the ground. From
the avionics shop's perspective, yeah, Narco gave them a raw deal and is
hard to deal with because they won't let the avionics shops service the
radios.

FWIW, one of the avionics shops I mention is good enough to have a
popular "Flying" columnist 1300+ miles for a GPS installation. They
don't do band-aids... G

Every one of our failed EL displays was replaced by Narco's "factory
service". We also had audio output issues were Narco returned the
radios and blamed the panel and wiring. On both occasions, the radios
WERE screwed up, and we paid Narco AGAIN to fix them.