The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: AirGizmo PIREP, PS Engineering CD/Intercom woes, XM "service"

Jay,

Do you have any pictures posted of the Air Gizmo installation? I'm curious
how it looks, especially with the angle mount. I see they now have a
vertical angle tilt bracket as well, which might be interesting for a
mounting low in the stack.

Mike

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
Jay, please let me know how I can help, I'll do what ever I can to make
sure that the Bad turns into AWESOME!

Mark, what in the heck are you doing here, answering technical questions
on Thanksgiving Day???


His football team was losing... g


Montblack

wrote:


Without some external switching means, it is not possible for all to
hear one source.

However, unlike our competition and our PMA6000, it is possible to
create many different music distribution combinations, thus providing
flexibility in who hears what. While this does require an external
switch, please know that the competition's unit as well as our PMA6000,
no matter how many external switches you install, you are stuck with
the fact that these audio panels switch the music inside the unit. And
that switching is linked to the intercom mode switch. What this means
is that the audio panel dictates who hears what music when.

I had an earlier one of your intercoms(1000 II) in my 182 and the
Bonanza I bought came with the Garmin. In both cases I had/have a music
in jack and that feeds music to all four seats. The Garmin is stereo
and boy does that sound good compared to an analog unit, much better
than I thought it would. The PM intercom had the Pilot/crew/all switch
but it didn't really do anything, must have been wired that way. The
Garmin has pilot and crew isolate but I never use it. The PM intercom
muted the music when a radio call or somebody talked on the intercom. I
had the avionics shop wire the Garmin so it was in karaoke mode. They
asked if I wanted a switch on the panel for that but I said no and after
having it awhile I've never felt the need to turn off karaoke mode. I'm
not sure why switching the music internally is a bad thing, everybody
hears it and we're good to go. I could install a second music in jack
for the rear seat passengers only but have no need for that.

Newps wrote: (Like your screen name by the way, New PS!) How about
that.

I had an earlier one of your intercoms(1000 II) in my 182 and the
Bonanza I bought came with the Garmin. *In both cases I had/have a music
in jack and that feeds music to all four seats.
NOTE: Only when the GARMIN GMA340 is in ALL mode will passengers hear
music,
otherwise (unless music #1 and music #2 are hooked together) passengers
will not hear music when you want to isolate the folks in the rear from
the pilot
and copilot up front.

*The Garmin is stereo
and boy does that sound good compared to an analog unit, much better
than I thought it would.

The GARMIN GMA340 is an analog audio panel, only is the switching means
done by digital electronics. In another words, the audio is not
digitized.

*The Garmin has pilot and crew isolate but I never use it. *The PM
intercom
muted the music when a radio call or somebody talked on the intercom. *I
had the avionics shop wire the Garmin so it was in karaoke mode.

Sorry, the GMA340 does not have our Karoake mode, the switch that your
avionics installed only prevents the intercom from muting the music,
the radio
will continue to mute the music, no way of preventing that from
happening. For me, having
the music go up and down, up and down again and again on long IFR cross
countries is just
an annoyance. So what I do is I enable our "Karoake" mode. and I set
the music level
to a comfortable background level. Of course, I make sure the aircraft
radio is in the
foreground. And if I miss a call, no problem, instead of transmitting
"Say Again", I
just push the playback button on my PMA8000B and there's that message!
*
They asked if I wanted a switch on the panel for that but I said no and after
having it awhile I've never felt the need to turn off karaoke mode. *I'm
not sure why switching the music internally is a bad thing, everybody
hears it and we're good to go.

See my note above; when you don't want to hear the
conversation from the folks in the back, you must select the Crew mode.

Unfortunately, this action turns the music off for those poor souls.

I could install a second music in jack
for the rear seat passengers only but have no need for that.

Again, I hope you don't mind me pointing out these little details, but
that
is what we do, we get the details right. When we don't, our customers
let
us know, and we make the improvements as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Mark

wrote:




�The Garmin is stereo
and boy does that sound good compared to an analog unit, much better
than I thought it would.


The GARMIN GMA340 is an analog audio panel, only is the switching means
done by digital electronics. In another words, the audio is not
digitized.

I wrote that wrong. I meant to say the PM was a mono unit. What is the
benefit to a digital unit versus an analog unit?




�The Garmin has pilot and crew isolate but I never use it. �The PM
intercom

muted the music when a radio call or somebody talked on the intercom. �I
had the avionics shop wire the Garmin so it was in karaoke mode.


Sorry, the GMA340 does not have our Karoake mode, the switch that your
avionics installed only prevents the intercom from muting the music,
the radio
will continue to mute the music, no way of preventing that from
happening.

Well yes. That is exactly what I wanted it to do.








I could install a second music in jack
for the rear seat passengers only but have no need for that.


Again, I hope you don't mind me pointing out these little details, but
that
is what we do, we get the details right.

What detail? In order for the people in the back to listen to their own
music and being that they are teenagers there's no way I want to listen
to that crap, a second music in jack would be required.

In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

[snip]
In fact, when I first arrived at the airport I joked with the head tech
about "Should I make a follow-up appointment right now, or shall we
wait until the end?" At the time we all laughed heartily, but -- in my
limited experience with three different avionics shops -- there has
never yet been an installation that didn't either (a) need to be
tweaked, or (b) caused something else in the panel to become
non-functional.


To maintain balance in the world, my radio installs have all gone
well. Over the years I've had my local avionics shop:

Install an intercom

Install a kx-125, a KN-64 DME

install a kx-155, KI-209, Strikefinder, STEC-40, a new DG with
pickoff for the strikefinder and stec-40 (and new antennas and coax).

install a GEM-602 engine analyzer

install a digital OAT

Not once did I have to go back and get something tweaked.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Do you have any pictures posted of the Air Gizmo installation? I'm curious
how it looks, especially with the angle mount. I see they now have a
vertical angle tilt bracket as well, which might be interesting for a
mounting low in the stack.

Not yet. We took some family members flying this afternoon, and
stupidly forgot the camera...

It's a wonderful installation, truly a great enhancement to the plane
without much hassle.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Not once did I have to go back and get something tweaked.

Oh, boy, Bob, have you gone and done it now! You have not just
tempted the avionics gods, you have BAITED them.

I'd hang some garlic over the hangar door, or sumpin'...

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

In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Not once did I have to go back and get something tweaked.

Oh, boy, Bob, have you gone and done it now! You have not just
tempted the avionics gods, you have BAITED them.

nah, you've been the magnet for the bad juju

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

In article . com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Do you have any pictures posted of the Air Gizmo installation? I'm curious
how it looks, especially with the angle mount. I see they now have a
vertical angle tilt bracket as well, which might be interesting for a
mounting low in the stack.

Not yet. We took some family members flying this afternoon, and
stupidly forgot the camera...

hmmm.

"After trashing two Canon Elph cameras (by keeping them in my pocket all
the time, and fouling the auto-focus lens with pocket lint), I
purchased a little velcro belt pouch for it. I wear it like a cell
phone, and the camera is with me at all times.

My kids think I look like a geek (and I do), but I've always got the
camera along, and never "miss the moment"... "

gotcha. :-)

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate