Filser ATR 57 radio: need comments

If you are using a Filser ATR 57 com in your FIBERGLASS glider:

I'd like to know: 1. what type and brand of mike are you using? 2. what's your battery voltage at the beginning of the day? 3. what's your broadcast like

Just sent my Filser ATR 57 back to where I bought it for the same reasons. I had a radio shop check the output and it was 400,000 times less than what it was suposed to be, only about 280mil amps. thats why it has no range. Mine would not recieve very well, either. Get a Becker or Walter Dittel, period.

We purchased a Filser ATR 57U, and have had no problems with it. Matter of fact we like it. We are using it with a Plantronics mike, and after some adjustment of the gain it works fine. Seems to get out and not waste the battery.

It is installed in a PIK 20D-78.

Regards,,,,,,Dave

What type of mike are you using? There is a switch on the side of the case to change from condensor mike to electret mike. Check it is in the correct position for your mike.

Basil

1. Telex 5X5 headset and stdby speaker mounted in panel. 2. Two 7ah batteries switchable to the main bus that (one at a time)run a Volkslogger, iPaq 3835, SB-8, Filser ATR-57 and gear warning system. 13.3 vdc at the beginning and after 5 to 6 hours, 12.2 vdc. I almost never switch to the other battery. No problem with power or garbled transmission due to low power. 3. Just fine, I can easily transmit and receive 35 miles at 6000 ft AGL.

My radio is in a Nimbus 3 with 20 year old factory antenna in the rudder and same age coax.

If you suspect the cable/antenna, see if you can find someone with a time domain reflectometer (avionics shop or airline avionics friend) that can check it out for you. The TDR will tell you immediately if there is a problem with you coax, antenna, or the connections and exactly what and where it is.

Sounds like a microphone problem. I have an early unit and had problems with a Pieker boom mic. My radio worked fine in another glider on the field that also had a Pieker mic, but neither my radio or the one in the other glider would transmit satisfactorily in mine. It seems that my mic had a resistor, capacitor, and diode soldered in place at the mic element, before the shielded wires, the mic in the other glider had none of the above. When I removed them, it appears to transmit fine.

Unfortunately, the matching of mic's to these radios seems to be somewhat of a black art. I wasted a lot of time, but it does seem to work fine now.

Neal Pfeiffer