PS Engineering Report

Hi Jay:

Sounds as though you have our PMA7000MS series (i.e. not the new PMA7000B).

There are two (Left and Right) screwdriver volume adjustments you can make,
you'll need to refer to the installation manual (located on our web site) to
determine which holes and what direction to turn the potentiometer to
increase/decrease the passengers volume.

Our new PMA7000B has a concentric knob allowing individual volume control from
the front panel of both the crew and the passengers.

Hope this helps!

Sincerely,
Mark

Glad to see someone from PS Engineering stop in. Just took a long cross
country with the family and have a PIREP on the PMA7000B, and one suggestion
from the wife.

My installation consisted of the PMA7000B, two inputs on the left side of
the panel - one for UNSWITCHED audio (traffic device) and one for a PHONE.
ENTERTAINMENT1 was put by the cigarette lighter, and also a HOOK toggle
switch so Pilot or Copilot position can use the phone. In the back there is
an ENTERTAINMENT2 jack along with two headphone/mic jacks.

On the first couple short trips to check out the unit all was fine. At the
beginning of the long cross country COM3 (phone) upper button was active and
the mic button for COM3 was blinking. The intercom was not working properly
in ALL/CREW mode. I tried to reset the unit repeatedly but there was no
change. That's when I noticed that the HOOK switch was in the up position
(usually down) and may have gotten moved by the wife's knee. I put it down,
no change. I then, just luck and out of ideas, held in the COM3 button for
a few seconds and it cleared up. I never really got an explanation of how
the HOOK switch works and haven't used a phone with it yet. After that all
was well. (After looking at the manual I see it was doing as it was
supposed to do, it was in full duplex mode, in the Copilot position)

The wife used the audio panel more than I did it seems. And she loved it.
She often went back and forth between CREW and and ISO to talk (yell, hehe)
to the kids. This is where I'll mention her suggestion: she'd like those
little metal switches to have something rubber or plastic on the ends. Sort
of like airliners have those little condom looking things on their landing
light switches, etc. I guess the only thing I wasn't sure I liked was that
whenever she'd go into the ISO position, ENT1 would cut out for me. I had a
bunch of Phil Hendrie (www.philhendrieshow.com , best show on radio) MP3's
in my Ipaq and was listening to them and would get interrupted. Being that
I didn't read the manual much, if at all, I didn't know until messing around
with the buttons that I could hear both ATC and ENT1 just by pushing in the
ICS button. I did that during slow ATC times, and just made ATC louder but
ENT1 lower but still listenable.

Volume levels. This is hard to guage as I had an ANR headset, the wife had
the same headset but the non-ANR/mono version, and the kids have a couple
cheapos. To me the volume was plenty loud with the inner knob at about 10
to 11 o'clock (40% I'd guess) position. I had the outer knob way up, like 3
o'clock position. The wife couldn't hear ENT1 as well as I could, but
everything else fine. ENT2 was the dvd player for the kids, and they were
happy with the volume. I'd hear ENT2 bleeding through, along with the kids
voices, but at a very very low level, the wife couldn't hear either. Also
the sound coming through ENT1, while decent, had some noise coming through
as well. A low buzzing sound that would repeat over and over to the beat of
my tail rotating beacon, that kind of rhythm. But it had nothing to do with
the beacon or any lights, or the DME, as I'd turn things off to try to
figure out where it was coming from. This is a C182, so it wasn't some twin
engine harmonic thing either. Along with that was a steady high pitch tone.
This audio was coming through an Ipaq running Anywhere Map and Real Audio
player playing the file. Also there is a Bluetooth GPS feeding the Ipaq,
it's possible the noise was mostly coming from one or both of those units.

Next time I'm at the avionics shop that installed this I'm going to have a
couple things looked at: 1) the manual says in the ISO mode the pilot
should hear ENT1 at a muted level, I wasn't hearing it at all. 2) the bleed
through of ENT2 and back passengers to the pilot position, and 3) installing
a remote switch for Karaoke mode for the back passengers. They didn't
complain about it, but I assume anytime the kids spoke ENT2 would mute, just
like us in the front and ENT1, but we have the ICS button to take care of
that, they don't. I'd also put second ENT2 input on the other headset jack,
don't ask, it's a kid thing.

Otherwise we're very happy with this unit. The wife said it's the best
money we've put into the airplane. After the fact we're glad we held off on
the PS Engineering DVD player. I'm sure it's also a great product, but
probably not functional for us. Why have the control of the DVD or CD in
the front when the passengers in the back will be the only ones using it.
On this trip we used a portable CD player and a laptop with DVD to keep em
busy back there. We'll probably get one of those portable DVD players and a
case that attaches it to the seat back. That way they have a screen, the
controls, and even a remote control. Up front we just want audio, wife
wouldn't mind video at times, but where to put it?

Question for the PSE rep, I'd like the PXE7300, but now seeing how ENT1 and
ENT2 work, would only the pilot/copilot be able to hear it? Same question
for your DVD unit (cant find name online at avionics shops and your website
is down). If it's wired for the back passengers, can the front still hear
it? Thanks for a great product!

Chris

Dear Chris:

Thanks for your post. I'll try to be brief in my answers:

"HOOK toggle switch so Pilot or Copilot position can use the phone."

Actually, the hook switch, when installed, will allow the copilot to make a
private phone call, or join in with the pilot. the pilot's "hook switch"
actually is the Com 3 mic pushbutton

"At the beginning of the long cross country COM3 (phone) upper button was
active and the mic button for COM3 was blinking. The intercom was not working
properly in ALL/CREW mode."

It appears that the PMA7000B is working properly, when you are in the telephone
mode, the intercom function between the pilot and copilot is deactivated.
However, the passengers are free to continue to communicate.

"The wife used the audio panel more than I did it seems. And she loved it. She
often went back and forth between CREW and and ISO to talk (yell, hehe) to the
kids. This is where I'll mention her suggestion: she'd like those little metal
switches to have something rubber or plastic on the ends. Sort of like
airliners have those little condom looking things on their landing light
switches, etc."

EXCELLENT suggestion! Let me see if I can get some slide on rubber covers. Do
you have a preference in color? White seems to be a standard.


"I guess the only thing I wasn't sure I liked was that whenever she'd go into
the ISO position, ENT1 would cut out for me."

Again, the PMA7000B is behaving correctly. We had more recommendations to have
the entertainment turn off when in ISO mode for the pilot than the other way
around.

"Volume levels. I had the outer knob way up, like 3 o'clock position. The
wife couldn't hear ENT1 as well as I could, but everything else fine."

This is clear evidence that the Bose headset is more efficient in using the
power from the intercom than your wife's headset. (Xmas is coming up, and I
just know she would LOVE to have an equivalent headset as her husband, no?)

"ENT1, while decent, had some noise coming through as well. A low buzzing
sound that would repeat over and over to the beat of my tail rotating beacon,
that kind of rhythm. But it had nothing to do with
the beacon or any lights, or the DME, as I'd turn things off to try to
figure out where it was coming from."

The 182, if I'm not mistaken, has its battery in the rear of the aircraft. The
engineers at Cessna felt that using the airframe for the ground return path
saved weight (no copper cable) and certainly aluminum is an excellent conductor
(ask all those home owners who wired their homes with aluminum in the '80's).

Anyway, one strong possibility is that the noise is coming from your charging
system, and that would be because the who airframe has the noise supperimposed
on it from the return charging current.

Are you using your cigarette ligther adapter to power your entertainment
device? If you are, USE BATTERIES, otherwise you will have ground loop noise
from the power source.

"The manual says in the ISO mode the pilot should hear ENT1 at a muted level, I
wasn't hearing it at all."

Again, sounds like it is working the way it is designed, you'll notice our mute
level is very low. Without the engine running sometime (preferably on the
ground) get your entertainment running, speak into the mic, and listen to the
mute level, it's way down.

"The bleed through of ENT2 and back passengers to the pilot position"

Now this is an anomoly, because the isolation of Ent 2 and passengers is even
greater than the mute level of Ent 1. There may be some wiring issue here. I'll
need to speak to your installer if this level is annoying.

"Question for the PSE rep, I'd like the PXE7300, but now seeing how ENT1 and
ENT2 work, would only the pilot/copilot be able to hear it?"

Yes, but only if you didn't hook the PXE7300 output to Ent 2 input.

"Same question for your DVD unit"

Actually, the PAV80 is different, it has two seperate outputs and does working
in a multifunction fashion. What I mean is that the crew could listen to say
your external music device (through the PAV80) while the kids could what their
favorite DVD. Or, maybe mom and dad want to play their favorite MP3 songs in
the PAV80, and the kids could plug in their video game into the PAV80 and use
the PAV80's display.

The PAV80 is an awesome, and probably is one of our biggest achievement (the
IntelliVox being another.)

Thanks for taking the time and letting me know about your setup, it is most
certainly one of the most high tech ones I have read about.

Let me know if I can be of any service.

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.

Chris

(W9MV) wrote in message ...

I appreciate your comments, my questions are not intended as a brash sales
intrusion, but rather a fact finding mission to further our quest for the
altimate audio panel. (pilots have told us that the PMA7000B is it, but we
won't rest on our laurels)

Hey, Mark,

Have you ever considered coming up with a "modern age" audio panel
which integrates other functions?

We don't have ADF, DME, etc in our plane. So switches allowing us
to route their audio output to speaker or phones seem a waste of
space.

Space which perhaps could be put to use integrating the
annunciators and switches needed for an IFR GPS into an audio
panel design?

Just a thought...

Best,
Sydney

Dear Sydney:

The reason we keep ADF and DME is that it's a requirement of our OEM's.

While the use of ADF and DME are becoming more of a rarity with the advent of
approved GPS approaches, they are still used extensively in the international
market.

However, PS Engineering is the only company that has dedicated a pushbutton for
AUX, which can serve as a switched input of your choosing.

And don't forget about our DRAWS option, it's the only one in the world, and
ties into GPS quite nicely.

So we like to think we are making a modern day audio panels, keeping the things
we need to while bringing new capability to our after market customers.

And I can promise you that you will continue to see innovation from us, it's
what we do.

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.

Mark
7000B audio panel and the PXE 7300 is a great combination. I wanted the PAV80 but
couldnt find any information on how the screen for the DVD player is installed or
where it would be located.

Radio stations are crystal clear, in the mountains of southern nevada, over 100 NM
away from the radio station, my installer placed the antenna inside the airplane,
not outside of it. My opinion is I like it alot better then the garmin GMA 340 I
had in my old airplane. I dont have to turn down the radio when someone calls me
or ask them to repeat anything like I did with the garmin GMA 340 and PMA7000CD
(the cd player only version)

Jeff

W9MV wrote:


I appreciate your comments, my questions are not intended as a brash sales
intrusion, but rather a fact finding mission to further our quest for the
altimate audio panel. (pilots have told us that the PMA7000B is it, but we
won't rest on our laurels)

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.
www.ps-engineering.com

Hi Mark -

thanks for taking the time to inquire -

To elaborate more - I did appreciate the intelliVOX feature on the
7000MS. And, I did notice the difference when I started using the
GMA-340 because I did find myself adjusting squelch more often. Not a
huge deal, but a very nice feature of your unit.

regarding karaoke mode - I never missed an ATC call, but a few times
might have. In someways I do wish Garmin included that feature.

Finally, my now having a Garmin instead of a PSE is because the plane
with the 7000MS was sold and I bought a step-up to another plane that
had a newly installed garmin stack. You might think about making a
tray compatible swap out for Garmin 340 owners to move to a 7000xxx
model....perhaps even a trade-up program.....

Regards,
Dave


(W9MV) wrote in message ...
Dear Dave:

When you compared the GMA340 and the PMA7000MS, (I'm assuming you had several
of hours of operation with both) I was surprised you didn't mention a
difference between the two units that many consider significant. The GMA340 has
two knobs to provide adjustment for the threshold of all 6 microphones, while
the PMA7000MS doesn't use knobs at all but employees a computer at each
microphone to automatically adjusting the VOX levels at each microphone.

Was it because you fly solo often (which is not uncommon) and setting the
single Pilot's VOX on the GMA340 is no big deal, or that the PMA7000MS
IntelliVox worked well that it wasn't something you thought about?

You mentioned that if the ATC/music volumes aren't set right it can get you in
trouble. That is what we heard from the ACO! (Aircraft Certification Office).
We convinced the engineering examiner that he weren't giving pilots enough
credit and that they would be able to make these adjustments for themselves and
it isn't a safety issue.

Reasons:
1) Karaoke mode was selectable from the front panel
2) Ability to adjust A/C radio in foreground and music in background
3) Pilot has other means to prioritize the radio (ISO mode and Mute)

Had you missed a radio call because you had the Karaoke mode on? If so, can you
describe what the conditions that allowed this to happen? If there is something
we can do to improve our system, you can count on us doing our best to do so.

I appreciate your comments, my questions are not intended as a brash sales
intrusion, but rather a fact finding mission to further our quest for the
altimate audio panel. (pilots have told us that the PMA7000B is it, but we
won't rest on our laurels)

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.
www.ps-engineering.com

Excellent suggestion Dave, about a plug and play unit with the GMA340.

As far as trade ins, we really would rely on our dealer network to work those
details, the manufacturer typically isn't set up (or at least we aren't) to
sell used equipment.

Question, assuming you could get say, $800 or more for the sale of your current
GMA340 on ebay, would you be willing to invest $800 or less (depending upon how
much you get from the sale of the GMA340) for such a plug and play unit?

Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.
www.ps-engineering.com