SV-COM-X83 Operations

Have had a chance to use the radio with the AF5400s. While I am pleased generally how things work I have noticed a few 'bugs'.

When you access the virtual keypad and then enter a radio frequency, pressing ENT to cause it to go into the standby frequency slot, the BACK button doesn't work at this point. You have to either swipe the keypad to the right or press the COM button to remove the keypad from the screen.

The box in the centre of the virtual keypad allows you to enter an airfield ICAO designation (to do a frequency look-up) when you push EDIT via the right hand knob. Despite entering a new identifier via the knob it is not clear how you actually enter / activate it. When you change the designation from say EGLL to EGLD, ACTV appears under the right hand button (next to the knob). However, selecting this causes the system to ask "Switch to Internal Navigation?"...this isn't really what you want to do from this screen...you really want to view / select / activate / the frequencies associated with the selected aerodrome identifier.

Moreover, if you enter a new identifier, for example you enter EGLD (when previously it was set to EGLL) and then go to the FREQ tab it will still show the radio frequencies for the previous airfield (ie., EGLL) although it shows the selected airfield (EGLD) in the box at the top.

Just hoping that these minor bugs along with the Mic Gain setting might be addressed in the upcoming software release (v14).

One other minor request. Being in Europe I have the X83 version installed which supports 8.3kHz frequency spacing. The Dynon documentation indicates that you can switch between 25kHz spacing and 8.3kHz in the setup screen. This impacts how the control head responds to spinning the small frequency control knob. While a requirement for installing a new radio, no one is actually using the finer spacing. So I was hoping that this feature could be implemented in the setup screen making it much quicker to set frequencies using the knobs.

Got a report from the developers that the 8.3kHz spacing is officially supported in v14 software.

That's great, thanks for following up.

Upgraded to the latest software and was a bit disappointed to find that the bugs have not been fixed between the 5400 and the SV-COM.

What bugs are you finding with the 12.08.02 software?

All the ones mentioned in my original post :-

- unable to switch the radio to 25kHz tuning
- unable to retrieve correct frequencies when you enter an ICAO airfield designator...you enter the identifier and it gives you the option to ACTV...but it then asks if you want to switch to internal navigation
- the BACK button doesn't work properly
- incorrect radio frequencies displayed in the FREQ tab

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Originally Posted by darnold

- unable to switch the radio to 25kHz tuning

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This was added into v14 but I'll see if they can get it rolled back into v12.

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- unable to retrieve correct frequencies when you enter an ICAO airfield designator...you enter the identifier and it gives you the option to ACTV...but it then asks if you want to switch to internal navigation

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ACTV creates a internal flight plan direct to the location being activated. This is why its requesting the switch.

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- the BACK button doesn't work properly

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I'm assuming you are referring to the flight plan page. I have inquired about the same question but the flight plan is meant to stay open just the same as the map page or engine page. The flight plan is closed the same way, as EFIS ENGINE & MAP, by double pressing the FPL button.

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- incorrect radio frequencies displayed in the FREQ tab

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After pressing ENTER when changing airports the airport entered is validated. If it in the database the entry will turn grey and the frequencies will be populated.

I can live with 8.3kHz tuning for now. When will version 14 be available?

Let me try to again explain what is not working on the virtual Com page (I am not referring to the flight plan page).

There is no way to load (or look-up) the frequencies when you enter an ICAO designation in the box at the center of the screen (see below).

Attachment 307

The ENT key is greyed-out and if you hit the ACTV key it asks you "Switch to Internal Navigation?" I may be missing something but it is not obvious how you look-up radio frequencies for a designated airfield. Finally, the BACK key doesn't work from this screen.

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Originally Posted by darnold

I may be missing something but it is not obvious how you look-up radio frequencies for a designated airfield. Finally, the BACK key doesn't work from this screen.

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Just use Nearest, pick the airport and go to the Comms tab.
If the airport is not on the Nearest page yet, just load it into the "Direct to" and don't activate it, just hit Info, then Comms tab, from there you can load the frequency into your radio.

Lenny

BACK functions as an edit exit when the white box is highlighting the airport identifier. I do see where it get stuck after entry of the digits so I'll have that fixed.

ENT is greyed out until the frequency is valid or three digits are entered.

I see how the 5400 doesn't allow the airport selecting doesn't work so I'll add that to the bug report.

Additionally, the ACTV button shouldn't be on the COM page so I'll have that removed.

Thanks Shawn, I am glad I was able to clarify the issues with the COM page.