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RV-9A #91894 Bruce Hill

Ray,

I'd love to rule out a wiring issue on my side. I spent 3 weeks undoing everything and couldn't find anything wired wrong. I did some testing before I sent in the radio. I've checked the continuity of every wire multiple times. I have the correct shielded, and twisted pairs as specified by Dynon in all of the connection wiring.

I set up my handheld a ways from the airplane, put my iPhone down in front of it on voice record memo, then would run back to the airplane and do some simple transmissions. If I said the alphabet - abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz, it would record something like abcd===hij==mnop===tuvwxyz, where the = is blank and cut out. On other frequencies it seems fine -- no cutting out. Some frequencies it transmits a staticky hissing and will still cut in and out. I can never get anyone on the ground frequency 121.65. I hear everything just fine - no problems with receiving. The intercom LED changes color when transmitting, and that is nice and steady. The COM panel has a Tx icon which also stays nice and steady. It isn't a bad PTT switch. Same thing happens from the Copilot side, which is wired up independently. I've had 2 antennas, and they both tested out fine with a SWR of 1.8 to 1.3 over the frequency spread. The coax is RG-400, and it checks out with continuity. No bad connectors or I wouldn't be able to receive. I've tried multiple headsets.

I'm stumped. The only thing left is the COM unit, COM panel or intercom. The intercom seems like it might also be flakey. Lots of background hiss when flying. The squelch can be turned all the way up and it is still there. I have to run the volume way down to get it to quiet down.
 
Bruce,

Definitely a puzzler.

A couple of ideas though. Checking continuity isn't the same as having a good low resistance path. I'm not sure how you did your check so you may have covered this case.

I'll PM you with my cell number if you just need another body to help with the checks.
 
More COM troubleshooting and a problem found!

This week I was able to do a bit more testing on my COM radio. Dynon suggested that I do a number of subsequent tests after I put back in the radio transceiver and it was still giving me problems. I completed all of those tests, and it was still pointing at something wrong with the transciever. PCHunt contacted me and made arrangements to have another guy at Ramona who has a repair shop to help see what he could find. I taxied across to his hangar and we went over the entire system and went methodically through the wiring, coax, headsets, PTT, mic's, antennas, etc.

Here's what we discovered. After he pulled out his frequency counter we were able to see that transmitting on certain frequencies (not all frequencies) that the stability of the frequency being transmitted would jump around quite a bit off of what was set. My transceiver basically is doing frequency hopping and that is what is causing the cutting out at the receiving end. This makes sense, since the intercom and/or sidetone in the headsets always sounded loud, clear and continuous. I have emailed this info back to Dynon to get them to send me a new unit, so at this point I'm waiting again for Dynon. The tech at Dynon did admit that they didn't actually repair or fix my radio in the previous return, but only bench tested it and found no problems. Hopefully, they can get me a new transceiver unit to replace this one, and then take back my current one and root cause the problems and add this to their testing repertoire. If anyone knows of similar issues, let me know. Hopefully this is an isolated problem with this particular unit.

For now, I guess I can continue to fly with the handheld radio. 3 months into Phase 1 and a whopping 11.2 hours flown. :mad: No Oshkosh for me this year.
 
Bruce,

Glad to hear you have some more solid data for your COM problem. Given this new information maybe you can get Dynon to take this problem a little more seriously.
 
Dynon has agreed to send me a new COM transceiver unit. I had to give them a credit card number to secure it while my current unit is returned. Should have it before the weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing if this replacement completely solves all of the transmit problems I have been experiencing.

I spent this evening putting on the gear leg fairings and wheel pants. Time to start doing some real data collection on cruise speed and climb speeds! :D
 
COM fixed!

I got the new replacement COM transceiver unit from Dynon and put it in. I did a quick flight to make sure it was working. No issues! So glad to have that saga behind me.

I'm just about at 15.5 hours in Phase 1. I think my engine is officially broken in, so I've started testing the TAS. I did a bunch of runs at different RPM's at 5000 feet. I still need to do some similar runs at lower and higher altitudes. I've got the gear leg fairings and wheel pants on now, so the speeds are much faster. I was seeing 165 KTS ground speed at 2700 RPM.

Does anyone have any good spreadsheet templates for data capture? I'd like to be able to create some nice graphs and charts from the test data for the POH.

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Phew!

Glad to hear it. See I told you it was the BNC connector:D. I should be chasing you around any day now:eek: hopefully Dynon won't waste a month of the next persons time and will be a bit more proactive in ruling out issues.
 
A visit to Van's!

I had to come up to Portland for a business trip so I was able to get over to Aurora and visit Van's today.

Here are some photos from the tour today.

It was great to be able to visit the factory and see the facilities here. I got to sit in the RV-14. The RV-14 is very nice. Not too much bigger than the RV-9A as for cabin area, but a much nicer canopy and bigger baggage area.
 
Call ahead for a Friday tour.

On our one and only visit to the factory in 2005, we showed up on a Friday morning and learned that the tour was available but the folks in the shop areas worked Monday through Thursday. It wasn't a bad visit, but it could have been better to see the machines and people in action.

Do they still work Monday through Thursday in the shop areas? My advice is to call ahead to see if they are in production on the day you plan to visit.
 
Done with Phase 1!

I put in a marathon of flying 21.9 hours in the last 2 weeks.

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I still have lots to work on. I need to get my interior upholstered, I need to fix my weapy front crankshaft oil seal, and I need to rectify my heavy left wing.

The airplane is a joy to fly and the performance is outstanding.

Now time to give some rides to my wife and kids.
 
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40 Hrs

Way to go Bruce. That's quite a push to get that many hours in two weeks. Must of had some time off work. You are out of the cage now and I am about 39 hrs behind you.
 
Well done Bruce. Now fix all those little things ASAP and go explore the continent. Life is too short to see everything go fly!:D
 
HUGE congratulations, Bruce! That's a big milestone. Can't wait to see the pictures of RV grins on your passengers. :)
 
Phase 1

Congrats on a new found freedom Bruce! Enjoy all your hard work as you share it with family and friends. Fly safe
 
Congratulations Bruce! Mine just rolled over 40 last week, finally ending a 4-month-long phase 1. Enjoy!!
 
First Passenger video

Thanks everyone for the support and getting through to this point in the process!

I got my son to bring his GoPro's for the event of my wife's first flight. He posted this video. Not much to watch, but it sure was fun to fly with someone finally! I got to take her around the area and then came in to land and then take up my son for his first flight. I'm sure more video will be forthcoming. My older daughter was sick, so she stayed home and the youngest is out of state at college, so I guess I'll have to fly to Colorado soon to get her in the airplane.

David: I'll get up to Whiteman soon!
John: I'll try to get to Corona for the Aircraft Spruce event on 10/4. Good luck with your Phase 1.
Doug: Let me know when you need a motivation flight.
Bruce S: Get that airplane done! Van's homecoming is on my to do list for next year.
Vlad: It will be a while before I come anywhere close to matching your exploration of the continent! Oshkosh 2015?
 
Congrats Bruce...

I only have 39 hours left. Can't wait. Going to be tough though. The days here Washington are getting shorter fast. I'd hoped to be flying earlier in the summer. Not complaining though!

Michael-
 
Bruce, how cool. Taking your family on their first flight in a plane you built. Wow, what a great thing.
 
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AOPA Fly-In at Chino

My first big fly in to the AOPA convention at Chino this weekend. A lone experimental among the spam cans where I was parked.

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This photo was taken by AOPA and put on their Facebook feed.

More photos here.
 
My first big fly in to the AOPA convention at Chino this weekend. A lone experimental among the spam cans where I was parked.

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This photo was taken by AOPA and put on their Facebook feed.

More photos here.

Wow, and they made you park in the middle? At least there were three guards there.

Congrats on your accomplishment!!
 
Interior done!

After flying for the first 85 hours with nothing on the seat foam but pillow cases and towels covering them, I finally got them upholstered by Abby at Flightline.

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Abby went above and beyond and was able to source the special order Ultraleather colors that my wife had picked out. They came out great. She also got my carpeting edges finished off and sewed on the heel pads, and covered my arm rests. She is a busy person and I had to schedule this about 4 months ago, so if you are building, get your interior lined up early!

Now I need to think about paint schemes. :rolleyes:
 
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Three years of fun flying and the (finally done) finish line is getting near. I put off painting for various reasons - mainly because I like flying too much, but it could wait no longer. I've had the airplane in the paint shop for 5 weeks and finally got to see some teaser shots from the painter.

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I hope to pick it up next week.
 
Three years of fun flying and the (finally done) finish line is getting near.

Nice one Bruce. I put mine off for 8 years and had many of the same dramas you list on your building log. I thought I recognised the designer when I saw your pictures. Jonathan did my scheme as well. I've also had mine in the paint shop for 6 weeks and waiting to see the result. Looks like you are going to have a fantastic looking machine!
 
Pretty in Purple

I added a whole new folder of picture galleries documenting the Painting saga.

Here's the beauty shot with a bit of Instagram filtering.

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It took two full days to get it all put back together. Now, I get to take it all apart again to do the annual condition inspection. :(

All of the credit for the design goes to Jonathan McCormick at PlaneSchemer.
 
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