GiTR done -200

Like a good wine or coffee, I need to let things percolate and sift when I'm learning something new. Arriving at the airport I had to open the box, just to check for shipping damage, you understand. 

I love the Approach cables, they're done so beautifully and come all rigged, labeled, and tested. 

Size comparison: GTR on the left, PAR on the right. But remember the PAR also has a remote radio box that needs to be fit in somewhere. In fact, PAR calls this unit the audio panel.

The Garmin is deeper,  I'll just have to make new rear supports. Weights are similar so no worries about strength.

The side holes match, that's a big relief since the front supports are harder to replace than the front ones. 

The front hole is just a little bit bigger. I had read that on the datasheets but there's nothing like seeing it for real. Bigger holes are easy to make, if it had been smaller....

Wiring looks simpler, 6 to hook up and the headset jacks.

First thing is to remove the PAR harness, and I think I'll just stitch everything back up before installing the GTR harness. Easier to keep separate in case I need to pull it later for repairs.



Good thing I worked on the avionics today, tire spiders are evolving into avionics spiders.

Redoing the radio started with careful examination and refreshing of my memory. "What does this wire do again?" I was paranoid about slipping and landing on the hull, breaking it.

One concern we've had is the closeness of the wire run between the hull and the transponder.

One of the few bad things about the GTR200 radio is that is only has 2 aux/unswitched audio inputs,  and I need 3 (Electrical Warnings, Gear Alert, and Trunk Monkey.) Steve at Garmin suggested the AP60 audio mixer, and when I started fitting it in I realized it gave me an opportunity to shift the transponder over and allow more room for the wire bundle.

The lateral mount of the transponder was required for antenna mount clearance, but it wasn't perfect. JR suggested I add a 90 fitting to the cable. Excellent idea, gave me even more room and solved the problem. Jim's avionics tray gives a LOT of flexibility to the radio installation.  

 
While I was working I heard a honkhonkhonk and ran outside in time to see the migration starting. It's been a good year, and it's not over yet.....

Careful now. Snip, snip, snip goes the scissors as the nylon lacing gets taken apart. Between worrying about cutting/nicking a wire and/or putting too much weight on the hull, I was concentrating pretty hard.

The harness had been planned so the electrical was in one bundle, and the avionics in another. As I took the PAR harness out I'd replace the lacing with tie wraps to hold it all together.

Garmin harness on the left, PAR on the right. The PAR has already been sold to another local pilot. 

I had done some lacing earlier this year, but Jim had done most of it. I got better as I went, might go back and redo some of the early parts later. 

Time for the GTR. Scott wisely suggested I go in from the back, good idea. It didn't take long to have the front fit into place.

And he also made a good suggestion about the back mounts that enabled me to leave the old one in place and just add to it.

Gotta love good people that are generous with their time and advice. I was having problems with recrimping some old wires, easy if you've done it many times before and are willing to show a rookie how it's done. 

 Incremental testing. It's all done and wired up, first test the old stuff without the new radio.

Ops check good. 

Showtime. Hook it up, check, double check, and

Throw the switch. Eenine, meeny, miney, moe, check out my new radio.

Better vs Best

During the Space Race in the 1960s, NASA found itself in a conundrum: technology was changing so fast that by the time a spacecraft was ready to fly, some of it's systems such as computers, etc, were obsolete and could be replaced by lighter equipment that could do the same job faster. Unfortunately, replacing a system often had effects on other systems, which required changes, which led to cost overruns and delays, and by the time the spacecraft was ready to fly something else would have changed and there'd be something else New and Improved out, which led to..... Over time, this became known as the "Better vs best" syndrome, as when an engineer would say "I can make it better!" and someone else would counter with "But it's already the best we need."


I always swore that when I owned an airplane of my own, I'd have an excellent radio. No crappy scratchy tin cans on a string radio for me, I've been spoiled by the digital radios in the airliners I fly. The best radios were built by Garmin, and Garmin might just was well be spelled Goldmin for their prices. Some limits were even beyond my capabilities.

When I designed my panel last year the PAR100EX was the current hot radio within my pricepoint,  and even though it was more than I needed (designed for a dual nav/com setup, with a built-in 4 place intercom) I went with it and we wired it into OspRey. I still remember the night earlier this year when Jim and I stayed late and were able to throw the switch for the first time, see all the pretty lights and talk to each other. We were very happy.


Damn you, Garmin.


Now that I've got my avionics all wired in and happy, what does Garmin do this year at Oshkosh but release a single comm/2 place ICS radio with twice the power at half the price of my PAR100EX. Stop me if you've heard this before, but the GTR 200 got rave reviews, and it was designed to interface with the Dynon Skyview. I took a hard look, and when I mentioned my dilemma around the airport I quickly found a buyer for the PAR. It only meant undoing the wiring harness, getting access to hard to reach areas while leaning over the fragile hull, and redoing something Jim busted his arse off building.

I thought long and hard, went back and forth a few times, and finally made the decision to make the change. Jim ordered the radio and new wiring harness through Approach Fast Stack, a local avionics tech I know has agreed to keep an eye on me, and a few minutes ago the box with the new toys arrived. I'm off the rest of the week, and it's probably one of the most stupid things I'll do, but I'm off to undo a bunch of hard work, and work even harder making the change. Stay tuned.