"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 8 June 1999

From The President - By Mike Piccirilli

Dear Members,

Pic is out of town. The President's column| will return next month..

Treasurer's Report - by Marlin Sipe

This month's bill includes an assessment of $120 for the new comm radio. Total cost was $845, which comes out to $120.71 per member. I put it on my credit card when I mail-ordered it. Next month I will show the cost of the radio on the bill, either as a credit on my account, or as a check written to me from the club depending on whether or not I get weathered out of my trip to PA this month (about 15 hours flying). If I make the trip, it will use up about half of the credit.

The assessment for the Personal Property Tax came in, and is actually LESS than what it was last year. I think what I did at the start of the year was assume that it would go up the same percentage this year as it did last year, and used that as a guess at the tax for this coming year. It worked out close that way last year. I have now adjusted the tax estimate for this year by assuming the tax will go down by the same percentage as the assessment. The extra in escrow is shown as a transfer back to the treasury, to make it all come out where it should be so far with the new tax. Anyway, the tax should be about $83 less than the estimate shown on earlier bills this year ($.99 per member per month), and about $34 less than the actual tax last year ($.40 per member per month). Not much, but every little bit helps.

Maintenance Corner - from Marlin Sipe

The new comm radio has been installed in the #1 position, the old #1 radio has been moved to the #2 slot, and the old #2 radio (low scratchy audio), has been removed. Thanks Randy. Basic operation is about the same as any other similar radio. Knobs set the frequency in the standby window. The flip-flop button (with arrows) swaps the standby and active frequencies. The "25" button activates the 25 KHz offset, giving us the other 360 channels that we were missing, for the full set of 720 channels. The squelch is automatic, but the "test" button opens the squelch so you can hear the static, similar to turning the squelch knob on the old radio. See radio operation instructions below:

OPERATION

Operating controls for the MX11 are located on the unit front panel or are remote inputs thru the rear panel.

The unit front panel is shown in figure 1. The left hand readout indicates the active frequency and the right hand readout indicates the standby frequency.

A "tic" in the upper left hand corner of the active display will indicate the presence of transmitter power.

Power Application. The COMM volume control contains the master power switch.

Frequency Selection. The MHz and KHz controls are used to select a desired standby channel. The "25A" button is used to advance the frequency by 25 Khz.

After the desired standby frequency is selected it may be transferred to the active position by pressing the Flip-flop button (double arrow). The active and standby channels will be interchanged each time the button is pressed.

TEST. The TEST button is a dual function switch. In normal operation, it is used to override the squelch to verify receiver operation and to receive weak signals. The switch is also used for frequency storage as described below.

Frequency Storage. The MX11 allows up to ten COMM preset frequencies to be stored in the memory for recall. To store channels in memory it is first necessary to enter the "STORAGE' mode.

STORAGE mode is entered by turning off the power switch on the unit; hold the flip-flop button in and turn on the power. Channel 122.500 will always appear in position "1" until it is set to another channel.
Channel position is indicated in the "active" display and selected channel is shown in the "standby" display. Channel position number is advanced by one each time the flip-flop button is pressed and will return to "1" after "10".
Channel selection is made by setting the desired channel position in the "active" display and then, using the channel selector knobs, setting the "standby" display to the desired channel.
The programmed channels may be reviewed by sequencing thru the channels with the flip-flop button.
Memory reset allows the memory to be cleared and all channel positions set to 120.000 (except position "1"). Memory reset is accomplished by turning off power, holding the "TEST" button in, and turning on power.
When the unit is turned on without any buttons pressed it will be in the normal operating mode. To recall channels from memory, pressing and holding the "TEST" button and then pressing the flipflop button will cause the flrst stored channel to appear in the "standby" display and its channel position to appear in the "active" display. In about one second the displays will return to normal. This procedure may be repeated until the desired channel appears in the "standby" display. Pressing the flip-flop button will put the recalled channel into the "active" display.
Transmit. The transmit mode on the transceiver is selected by grounding the MIC Key line on the unit's rear panel.
Display Dimmer Adjustment. The dark end of the automatic display dimmer range is adjustable through the front panel hole marked "D" using a small diameter (1/8") standard screwdriver. Similarly, the bright end of the range is adjustable through the hole marked "B".
Squelch Adjustment. The squelch threshold can be adjusted through the front panel hole marked "S" turning the screw for less sensitivity.

Some of the memory operation isn't real clear in the manual, but I'm sure it will make sense once we get a chance to use the radio. I'm thinking we can put ATIS, Ground, and the two Tower frequencies in the first 4 memories, and maybe leave the other six for members to change as they like. Suggestions?

There's a problem with the headphone mic audio (works one flight, but not the next). It seems to be in the pigtail that "Y"'s in the push-to-talk button. We were discussing hard-wiring the PTT button and eliminating the pigtail, which would be more reliable.

PAST NEWSLETTERS - Newsletter Archive

...