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Request for All Icom A210 owners.......

Brantel

Brantel

Well Known Member
UPDATE:

This thread is updated to reflect the new version 1.53 of the firmware for the A210. I have marked the changes this made in red below:


Those with A210's, please go here:

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/contactusform.aspx?ContactType=CS

and here

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/contactusform.aspx?ContactType=TS

And request the following:

"Please revise the A210's firmware to include the following features:

FIXED... In version 1.53 dual watch is not disabled when you press the transmit button!!!
1. Prevent the A210 dual watch function from being disabled when the radio is transmitting requiring the pilot to push the dual button again to get back to dual watch mode.


FIXED... In version 1.53 two button presses are not required to transmit when dual watch is active!!!
1a. Please update the firmware on the A210 to not require two button presses of the PTT button to transmit when the radio is in Dual Watch mode.

FIXED... In version 1.53, instantly sending frequency data from the GPS into the standby channel works if your GPS supports this feature. Highlight the frequency required and push it to the radio (different GPS's do this different ways) and it will show in the standby channel.
2. Allow direct frequency entry into the standby channel from a GPS that transmits frequency information when a frequency in the GPS database is selected and pushed to the A210.

Unknown...have no way to test this. I use an external intercom.
3. Increase the dynamic range of the Intercom function's VOX control. As soon as I open the throttle on takeoff the VOX is triggered from the ambient noise in the cockpit. You then have two open microphones until you turn off the intercom function.

All of these features are standard on most Garmin radio's and it would add additional value to the A210's feature set."


If enough people ask, they might do it. After all they did fix the dual watch feature after enough people complained. Even if you don't use the frequency download or the Dual Watch mode, please help us help Icom make this a better radio :eek:

It now appears that the A210 operates almost exactly like the Garmin SL40. Thanks to all that help communicate our needs with Icom!
 
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Brantel said:
Those with A210's, please go here:

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/contactusform.aspx?ContactType=CS

and here

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/contactusform.aspx?ContactType=TS

And request the following:

"Please revise the A210's firmware to include the following features:

1. Prevent the A210 dual watch function from being disabled when the radio is transmitting requiring the pilot to push the dual button again to get back to dual watch mode.

2. Allow direct frequency entry into the standby channel from a GPS that transmits frequency information when a frequency in the GPS database is selected and pushed to the A210.

Both of these features are standard on most Garmin radio's and it would add additional value to the A210's feature set."


If enough people ask, they might do it. After all they did fix the dual watch feature after enough people complained. Even if you don't use the frequency download or the Dual Watch mode, please help us help Icom make this a better radio :eek:
Click to expand...

You need to add:

3. Increase the dynamic range of the Intercom function's VOX control. As soon as I open the throttle on takeoff the VOX is triggered from the ambient noise in the cockpit. You then have two open microphones until you turn off the intercom function.

The intercom function is useless as is.
 
newtech said:
You need to add:

3. Increase the dynamic range of the Intercom function's VOX control. As soon as I open the throttle on takeoff the VOX is triggered from the ambient noise in the cockpit. You then have two open microphones until you turn off the intercom function.

The intercom function is useless as is.
Click to expand...

I am not a fan of intercoms built into radio's as it seems none of them work very well so I am not using this feature....I will however help your cause by sending this request as well! :)
 
I talked to a technician at Icom this morning and was genuinely impressed. When I described the issue I was having with the intercom he indicated he had the same problem in his plane. He added the VOX issue and your two items to a list of issues he was compiling. Sounded like they are actually interested in improving the radio.

I agree with you about the intercom but thought I would give it a try while leaving space in the panel for a separate one. If Icom can work through these few nit picking software items they will have a very nice radio.

Just got my 40 hours flown off Saturday and took the wife for a $100 breakfast Sunday morning :D
 
Brian,

I think they are listening, now if they do anything, that is a different issue.

Here is the note I received from them:

Icom said:
Bill,

Technical support has all ready forward this to our planning committee for this request.
Click to expand...
 
Well,,,,
Mine doesn't do what yours does in your #1. Dual works fine - all the time. #2 would be nice and I'll do as you suggest to make it better, but so far I've never used it. My intercom system within the unit works great too. I don't have a separate intercom, and don't want one. There is a lot to be gained with programming. Having said that, I have had occassions where something stops working (like receiving an audio signal) and going into the programming schedule and tweaking something, it suddenly starts working. Mystery to me why. I paid about 800 dollars less than I would have for the SL-40, which is a better unit, but I still think I got a good deal....

Scott
 
Scott,

You are telling us that with the same hardware and firmware that yours does not disable dual watch mode when you transmit? The manual and their tech support actually states this is normal behavoir and many people here have complained about that????

How about 1a?
 
Now that I am flying...Some of these deficiencies in the A210 are really annoying!!!

Help us out, contact ICOM!!!
 
My iCom A210 does some of what's requested, but not all.

The Dual Watch does disable when you transmit.
Transmitting while Dual Watch is on requires two button presses.
GPS frequencies on my Aera 500 are picked up in the GPS memory on the 210.

One interesting thing this past weekend, I parked in the sun for an hour while we stopped for lunch between two formation flights. During the second flight, the 210 rebooted many times... Lead would make a call to me, and when I hit the PTT the radio would go blank, then show the iCom logo and reboot. It remembered where it was frequency-wise, and I could transmit immediately, so my procedure became to listen for the other call, hit PTT, wait for the reboot, then hit PTT again and reply. It did this about a dozen times (until we'd been flying for about 15 minutes) then it stopped and worked normally.

My only guess is that it became overheated in the cockpit while parked in the sun, and then was shutting down due to thermal conditions until it cooled off. I guess it's time for a cooling fan in my panel.
 
Can you push frequencies on demand? My 296 also loads frequencies to the A210 GPS memory page but they are only the frequencies of either the closest airport or the next one in the flightplan when I get close to that area.

Mine does not allow me to select frequencies from the database and push them to the A210 like you can with the SL series Garmins. I am sure it does not load the pushed frequency to the standby channel but I will double check to see if I can push to the GPS memory page on demand. I don't think it does.

Snowflake said:
GPS frequencies on my Aera 500 are picked up in the GPS memory on the 210..
Click to expand...
 
Brantel said:
Can you push frequencies on demand? My 296 also loads frequencies to the A210 GPS memory page but they are only the frequencies of either the closest airport or the next one in the flightplan when I get close to that area.

Mine does not allow me to select frequencies from the database and push them to the A210 like you can with the SL series Garmins. I am sure it does not load the pushed frequency to the standby channel but I will double check to see if I can push to the GPS memory page on demand. I don't think it does.
Click to expand...

I will have to do some checking tomorrow but I think what I was seeing yesterday is the next waypoint frequencies are the ones loaded. Without an active flight plan then the nearest airport frequencies are the ones loaded. If your next waypoint has several airports between you and it then you only get the waypoint frequencies.

Be sure and check back for any corrections to the above tomorrow:D

I did check with Icom last week and there have been no firmware releases since the one that partially fixed the dual watch.
 
lets see here, my 696 shoots only the direct to airport to the a210 only if you are about 7nm from the last one you had selected. kind of anoying but than again if you are leaving an airport and still talking or in contact and you shoot in a direct to, you still have the ability to have the last airport. sometimes this is ok, than at other times it's very anoying. don't know what the answer is, I guess get my 430w.
 
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Haven't checked this post in quite some time, but today saw a new post and when I checked, I saw that Brantel had responded to me about 5 months ago.... sorry for not reponding to you earlier. I guess I mis-understood your original meaning of the #1 complaint concerning loosing the dual-watch function when you transmit. Yes, of course, mine looses dual watch when I transmit like everyone else's. Apparently, the Garmin SL40 doesn't behave this way. If it could stay 'connected' while transmitting so it's still there when you come back would be better, but I would rarely benefit for this feature. I seldom try to transmit while trying to listen to ATIS, because I am not flying IFR. I do like being able to disable the dual watch with a flick of the transmit button.... better than punching the dual button in turbulence, so I'm not sure how you would still accomplish that while retaining dual watch after transmitting. I had a separate intercom in my RV-6 (Garmin 430 radio), but honestly, the intercom in the ICOM works just as well for me - I have no complaints with it. The SL40 is a better radio. That's why it costs so much more.
 
Brantel said:
Can you push frequencies on demand? ...
Mine does not allow me to select frequencies from the database and push them to the A210 like you can with the SL series Garmins. I am sure it does not load the pushed frequency to the standby channel but I will double check to see if I can push to the GPS memory page on demand. I don't think it does.
Click to expand...
I'll have to check next time i'm up. I thought I could tap a frequency and have it show up in the GPS memory bank, but i'm not so sure now. Weather permitting i'll fly tomorrow, i'll try to remember to check it then.
 
Firmware updated -- PTT no longer disables Dual Watch!

Hi everyone,

There's been some movement here! I just installed an a210 as a slide-in replacement to my ky97a. The unit came brand new from Spruce, and in the box there was a small note to the effect of 'PTT w/Dual Watch engaged no longer disables Dual Watch.' I've now tested it out in flight, and sure enough, seems like they've updated the firmware! A big thanks to everyone who fired off a message to Icom. I was prepared to cope with the old functionality... but this was a very welcome surprise.

I haven't wired the radio to my 496 yet, so I'm unsure if the GPS memory functions have changed any.

-jon
 
Great news if they have...

Can you confirm what version FW you have?

Press the frequency switch button while turning on the unit and it should show you the FW version.

Thanks for the report! I just contacted Icom a couple weeks ago and they said there had been no progress on these issues.
 
I just got my 210 back from the service center about two weeks ago. They did a minor repair on the faceplate, and upgraded the firmware (I presume to the latest that they had). I just went out to the hangar to check it, and the FW is version 1.43.000. Alas, I set up the Dual watch, keyed th emic...and the Dual Watch went away. So if they have fixed it, it is REALLY recent.

Paul
 
So now we know that 1.43.000 does not fix it. Wonder what it does fix. I think most of us have 1.23.001.
 
Ironflight said:
Alas, I set up the Dual watch, keyed th emic...and the Dual Watch went away. So if they have fixed it, it is REALLY recent.
Click to expand...
Is it possible that they made it a user-configurable setting in the new firmware? If so, I could see the default being to leave it the way it was rather than change how your radio operates when it's returned to you. Take a scroll through the config menu and see if there's anything new?
 
Firmware Version 1.53.000

I went to the hangar today to check the firmware, and... it's 1.53.000! I don't see any new user settings, so I think the new ('correct') functionality is non-optional.

I grabbed pics of the manual addendum and firmware screen:

icom-a210-1.53.000.jpg


-jon
 
Cool! I should get mine upgraded too... There's an iCom service center here in town. I wonder how hard it is to upgrade, and/or if there's a cost?
 
Icom upgrade

Rob
Can you PM me with the contact info for the service center and cost if and when you find out.

Matt
 
I just got a response from Icom that there is no new firmware beyond 1.23.001......

Obviously someone there is out of the loop. I sent them the pic above and asked them to verify their response.....
 
I talked to them yesterday

The tech that I talked to said this is so new that he was reading the information for the first time. The engineers had also made the changes and left tech support in the dark about it. Along with the dual watch upgrade, the gps frequency is now pushed directly to the stby frequency. Cost of upgrade is 42 bucks, plus s&h.

Randy
8A
Finishing gear legs fairings
 
Yeah,

The same guy that told me there was no update later sent me a form for sending my unit back for the upgrade....when I sent him the pic above to prove that there was an upgrade, he must have investigated further. It is funny that the power of the Internet enables the customer base so much that we are a step ahead of their own technical group.

Good to hear that there is also some changes to how the A210 can handle GPS frequency data!!!!

If the dual watch is fixed and you can push freqs on demand to the standby channel, that pretty much makes this radio a "functional" equivalent to the SL40.


While it took a while, I am glad to see that a company like ICOM does listen to their customers. I know I sent at least 25 emails over the past year to ICOM USA requesting these problems be fixed. Thanks to all of you that also sent emails in. There is strength in numbers!! The ICOM USA folks really seem to be skidish over telling the folks in Japan that their programming is flawed. Talk about ego problems!!!
 
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Dang! It took me two years to send my unit in (for another problem) to get the first update to the firmware - and it goes in and comes back without the newest load! I must have missed it by a day or so....

Oh well, the #2 Comm in the new airplane is an SL-40....matches everything else!
 
FYI, iCOM Canada told me yesterday in an email that my upgrade would be performed free of charge. Apparently there is both a hardware and firmware upgrade to be applied. I've emailed back to ask what their hours are, the iCOM office is only about a 1/2 hour drive from my office.

That's an upgrade from 1.23.001 to 1.53.000 (or newer, if there's something else) and it's 11 months from date of purchase.
 
I was quoted $42 to upgrade mine which is more than a year old. This is their minimum labor charge I think...

They also insist that I send mine back to the main USA service center in WA. I asked if I could use the Icom South East station and they said no.
 
Update Confirmed!

Before we left for vacation on 12/10 I sent my A210 in for the 1.53 firmware update. I got it back last week and had a chance to try the new version out today. Here are the results:

FIXED... In version 1.53, dual watch is not disabled when you press the transmit button!!! Dual watch stays active after the transmission.
1. Prevent the A210 dual watch function from being disabled when the radio is transmitting requiring the pilot to push the dual button again to get back to dual watch mode.

FIXED... In version 1.53, two button presses are not required to transmit when dual watch is active!!! This was a byproduct of #1 above. Gone now!!!
1a. Please update the firmware on the A210 to not require two button presses of the PTT button to transmit when the radio is in Dual Watch mode.

FIXED... In version 1.53, instantly sending frequency data from the GPS into the standby channel works if your GPS supports this feature. Highlight the frequency you want from the GPS database and push it to the radio (different GPS's do this different ways) and it will show up in the standby channel. This is a sweet feature!!!
2. Allow direct frequency entry into the standby channel from a GPS that transmits frequency information when a frequency in the GPS database is selected and pushed to the A210.

Unknown...have no way to test this. I use an external intercom. (this was someone else's request)
3. Increase the dynamic range of the Intercom function's VOX control. As soon as I open the throttle on takeoff the VOX is triggered from the ambient noise in the cockpit. You then have two open microphones until you turn off the intercom function.



It appears that the A210 operates almost exactly like the SL40 now with this new firmware. Thanks to all those that helped communicate our needs to Icom!

The update costed me a little under $100. I asked them to go ahead and freshen my ribbon cable with a new one and to send me a couple spares. The new ribbon cables are longer than the originals. I was quoted half that amount just to update the firmware so they gouged me a little on the change of that cable....

UPDATE: Originally Icom charged me a little under $100 for the firmware upgrade and to refresh my ribbon cable. A few days ago I got a letter in the mail from Icom where they have credited me for all the labor associated with this upgrade. The only cost I now have incurred was for the ribbon cables and the shipping to Icom. The letter stated that I was accidently charged labor. Way to go Icom!!!
 
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I can confirm all the same upgrades are present in mine too with version 1.53. Tested the "transmit-while-dual-watching" feature yesterday, it's nice to not have to hit the PTT twice, and it's nice not to have to hit the DW button afterwards to get back into DW.

FWIW, wired to my Garmin Aera, I find it a bit inconsistent how the frequencies show up on the radio... If I start at my home airport and tell it Direct To another local airport, i'll have my local frequency until *just* shy of the zone for the other airport. I'd like to switch it earlier, like half-way, so I could monitor the traffic as I approach. I haven't found an automated way to do this. I need to go tap the airport on the screen, to get to the info page, then select the "freq" button at the bottom of the screen, then when the frequencies are on screen I can tap one. At that point, *all* the frequencies appear in my standby, and I can scroll through them.

Maybe i'm not doing what it's expecting, or maybe there's a setting I haven't found that allows me to tell it to offer the next waypoint sooner.
 
Well you can only have one freq in standby. On my aera, I can push any freq in the database to the radio on command. It goes straight to the standby.

There is also a memory bank of gps frequencies that get populated by the gps. This is a function of the gps not the radio. The radio only stores what it gets. I am not sure I have fully figured out garmin's logic on when and how they send out frequency data that the radio stores in this gps memory bank. I am also unaware of any way to control how this works.

The new feature to be able to accept the instant pushed frequency is what I love about the new version. In the past ones, it just ignored them.
 
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Brantel said:
Well you can only have one freq in standby. On my aera, I can push any freq in the database to the radio on command. It goes straight to the standby.
Click to expand...
This seems (at least on my setup) to be dependent on what memory mode you're in when you start poking around on your Aera. If you've hit the "RCL" button and are on the "GPS" page, hitting any frequency on an airport's screen will populate the GPS page with *all* the frequencies on that screen.

As you say, if you're sitting just at the idle screen with no memory bank visible, selecting a frequency on the GPS puts that frequency alone into the standby slot.

I am not sure I have fully figured out garmin's logic on when and how they send out frequency data that the radio stores in this gps memory bank. I am also unaware of any way to control how this works.
Click to expand...
This has to be the only annoying feature left on my Garmin now. Well, that and the fact that I can't really use the audio alerts. If I turn on the audio alerts and set the squelch such that my intercom opens soon enough that I can hear them, it's too sensitive and just stays on all the time... I haven't found a way to get the aux input on the intercom to play nice in that regard.

Oh, i'm using an external intercom... PS3000 I think.
 
Rob,

I use my Aera with a PS3000 and it works fine. Start a new thread detailing your setup and we can figure out what is wrong....
 
calling icom

i am currently seeking out to buy this radio but will call icom to tell them im sceptical about buying there product if it doesnt live up to as advertised standard,well see what they say about these issues to a new potinetial customer.
 
almarsh said:
i am currently seeking out to buy this radio but will call icom to tell them im sceptical about buying there product if it doesnt live up to as advertised standard,well see what they say about these issues to a new potinetial customer.
Click to expand...

Not sure what issue your talking about since most of the original complaints have been resolved by the 1.53 firmware. It definitely fixes the issues most of us had with the false advertising.
 
UPDATE: Originally Icom charged me a little under $100 for the firmware upgrade and to refresh my ribbon cable. A few days ago I got a letter in the mail from Icom where they have credited me for all the labor associated with this upgrade. The only cost I now have incurred was for the ribbon cables (a couple dollars) and the shipping to Icom. The letter stated that I was accidently charged labor. Way to go Icom!!!
 
Kudos to ICOM

I just received my upgraded A-210 back from Icom exactly two weeks since I sent it from the snowy Northeast to the rainy Northwest.
It has the newest 1.53 firmware and a new upgraded ribbon cable.
No charge. ;) And I bought this thing years ago in a "VAF" group buy.:eek:
That's pretty good service! :D
 
Does the 1.53 firmware ??

Does the 1.53 firmware address any of the VOX issues on the built in intercom? I have since stop using the A210 internal intercom and gone to a stand alone device. Might go back and give it a try if that upgrade changed anything. I remember the auto VOX did not have enough setting to operate properly in a loud environment cockpit.
 
Did you try turning down the mic gain when trying to use the built in intercom? Some have suggested that this works to make it better.
 
the intercom setting did change

before the upgrade, when I disabled the intercom, there was very little background noise. Now it seems that disabling the intercom doesn't affect the background noise at all, it is always present. I liked how it was set up before the upgrade as far as the intercom goes. But having the dual-watch feature fixed now is a big improvement.

Randy
8A
 
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