Tested unit today on the ground
A yucky low layer of clouds in the valley kept me grounded today, but we finished install last night and got to ground test everything!
I hopped in the front and hubby in the rear seat and we taxied out to the runup area at Sutter County while a friend used a handheld to listen to our transmissions.
Front and rear PTT's all work and reception was clear as a bell from both the handheld and some NorCal transmissions we picked up. We sat out there and listened to music, set up our volumes a little more than the default settings, and the best part: however our plane was wired before with the OLD ValCom 760 we heard every actuation of the flaps, fuel pump and nav lights through the intercom. ANNOYING. Today, it was crystal clear and quiet! I cannot wait to get back in the air!!
Setup so far: It's a good idea to get familiar with the Pilot Guide, but navigating the radio is very intuitive once you play with it.
Soft Keys - PTT, Music ON/OFF
*I chose these 2 options because I didn't feel I needed ISO and I can access User List and Emergency by other means easily. Having a backup PTT could be handy and shutting off music quickly as well.
I entered 19 of the 20 available USER list frequencies quickly and easily...love the access to this via the small knob.
COM Mute Music - OFF
COM ICS Mute - OFF
ICS Mute Music - OFF
COM 3D Audio - ON *We really liked this when I kicked on 'Monitor' on the Standby Freq and the audio came in from our 1-2 o'clock.
ICS 3D Audio - OFF *We tried it, didn't care for it.
Cockpit Noise - HIGH *Talked on the intercom through runup...everything sounded great. Can't wait to try in flight!
Bass Boost - MED
Equalizer - ROCK
Key Beeps - COM
Contrast - 0 (default)
ICS Vol - 60% (Up from the 50% default)
ICS SQ - Auto
Music Vol - 50% (Default setting is great...and I use my iPhone to set the music volume to a point where I can listen and hear transmissions well.)
I might as well add our goofs as well (being the new aircraft owners that we are). We just finished a whole panel upgrade to include a new 4-function flight grip. My dear husband soldered the momentary switch for the PTT and then we didn't test it. The switch has 3 solder points, one common, one for momentary ON and another for momentary OFF. Guess which one we had first?
Other than that, the radio install was about as simple and straight forward as you can get...especially with the 2-place harness all wired up from ACS.
Hope this helps someone!