Capt. Ken's comments - December

Vertex Vxa-300, the intelligent portable radio

Picture yourself with a complete electrical failure! Whether IMC or visual, whether mountainous or flat land flying, whether in controlled airspace or not, a portable radio can save your life.

These radios have saved me a great deal of grief during years of aviating and their convenience more than justifies ownership.

There are many other emergencies that would require shutting down the aircraft’s battery and/or generator systems that declare the benefits of portable VHF radios and their low cost and myriad of benefits make them a very desirable gift at Christmas.

While it’s not a pleasant thought, consider after crash survival. The panel radio is useless, smashed by impact forces – or perhaps the aircraft battery is ruptured and lost its fluid.  The prudent pilot reaches into his flight bag for his rugged portable and with a press of one button selects the emergency frequency to alert the world of his predicament.  Portable radios make sense – and save lives.

For more mundane uses, they are handy for checking out the ATIS or AWOS at your local airport over your morning coffee. You can also check traffic on the local frequencies, or on the weather radio frequencies for prevailing conditions and forecasts – where applicable.

This month we will look at a long term evaluation of the Vertex VXA-300 radio from the exclusive Canadian distributor, Radioworld Inc. in Toronto. My first portable radio, an ICOM IC-A2, has served diligently and faithfully for many years; however, my search for a more capable portable lead to Vertex’s mid-line model as the best value.

In fact the Vertex is priced at one half that of my decades old ICOM and that’s in today’s depreciated dollars. The bottom line?  Portable radios provide more features for far less money making them a wise value for increased safety.

Portables provide many benefits that go beyond their emergency back-up capability.  Many pilots use them to obtain ATIS or clearance information prior to engine start-up (fuel being such as precious commodity nowadays). 

Others operating single radio aircraft use them to obtain enroute weather updates, arrival ATIS, and communicate with their bases or other pilots while monitoring controllers on the aircraft panel radio.

Of course, many pilots of light aircraft use portables as their only radio and install a fixed antenna with a good ground plane to provide performance comparable to panel radios costing many multiples more.

Another overlooked benefit of portable radios is the owner’s ability to take them home at night thereby mitigating risk of theft and also allowing preparation with frequency memory inputs for their next flight.

MODEL SELECTION

Vertex Standard offers four aircraft VHF com set models (VXA-150, 210, 300 and 700).  The later has additional features that allow pilots to listen to the FM radio band (monaural) and also the VHF amateur radio band for an additional $60 plus taxes. 

The 2-meter amateur radio band opens up a broad spectrum of communications and telephone relay possibilities; however, it is necessary to note that an operator must have an applicable license to utilize this band.

The VXA-300 we evaluated is also feature loaded with its Nav/Com features and the ability to listen to the NOAA weather channels (10).  While the advertising information will indicate this is only available on the USA model, our Canadian version is that model as I was able to pick up local weather frequencies on the NOAA “band.”

SIGNIFICANT FEATURES

Compared to my older 24 ounce radio with its alkaline battery pack, the Vertex is only 14 ounces and packs a 1400 maH capacity NiMH battery that provides a good 16 hours of service between charges (based on 5% transmission time usage). 

There is also a battery saver mode that puts the receiver in sleep/standby mode allowing it to “wake-up” for incoming transmissions after a minor delay.

The current manufacturers’ tendency to avoid ni-cad batteries has allowed portable radios to make a quantum leap in dependability and time between recharges. This makes them far more useful as pilots can fly for weeks between recharges.

The Vertex radio shell is also nearly half the size of older radios thanks largely to smaller battery dimensions. My ni-cad pack failed years ago on the ICOM and I am particularly thankful for the advance technology offered by the NIMH slim-line package with huge capacity and simple recharging requirements.

In addition to now common resources such as: scanning, full VOR navigation, Automatic Noise Limiting (ANL), back-lit keypad and display with dimmer for night flying, the Vertex radios have new, thoughtful capabilities that increase utility and safety margins.

The emergency frequency, 121.5 MHz is instantly tuned with a button press and up to 250 frequencies with 8 character alpha/numeric labeling can be stored in the memory for instant recall.

Having dunked an aircraft, I love the JIS-4 compliant specification that allows the MIL-STD magnesium die-cast casing to be submerged in three feet of water for up to thirty minutes without damaging the radio (assuming the external DC power cover is in place).  The DC power cord connects the Vertex to a cigarette plug outlet to eliminate any battery drain for normal operations, further extending the lengthy battery capacity.

The function switch allows users to check the radio case temperature – somewhat indicative of the cabin’s internal temperature as well as the battery voltage. I found the 7.2 volt battery pack would actually re-charge to 7.9 volts indicated and the radio remains operative till voltage drops to approximately 6 volts. Handy indications.

A “dual watch” capability and a derivative “priority” function essentially permits a pilot to monitor two frequencies at once since the receiver monitors the two channels with an pilot pre-set time interval. 

Regardless of which of the two frequencies are being received in the speaker, when the Push To Talk (PTT) is pressed, the radio will transmit on the priority frequency. This can be very handy in busy terminal areas or other instances when heavy communications make it difficult to monitor the more important frequency.

The VXA possess many other “advanced features” that are very useful such as adjustable pitch control which lets a pilot optimize the radio tone for his ears’ reception (very handy for our aging pilot population) and voice operated transmission (VOX) which eliminates the need to press a button to transmit.  

With a headset/microphone attached the radio can also be used as a Public Address System (PA) and the circuitry permits the radio to be used as a count down timer for up to 60 minutes or as a straight clock timer – perhaps to time you flight time or time between aeronautical fixes.

The manual points out that 150 frequencies can be programmed into the main memory and up to 100 pre-programmed “Book” memory inputs with alpha-numerical names of up to eight characters. 

The scanning capabilities are quite powerful and owners can scan all of their frequencies in the main, book or weather channel modes. Because it pauses on each frequency, a pilot has the option of transmitting at that time. 

The scan capabilities also include the ability to skip frequencies as transmitters such as AWOS or ATIS essentially transmit continuously and would have a tendency to lock-up the scanning receiver on their frequency.

Supplied accessories include the overnight charger and cradle, whip (duckie) antenna, “quick draw belt clip” (very handy), headset connections for aviation headsets and a detailed operating manual.

I should note I found one error in the manual on pages 36-37 with respect to on/off course indications with the text and diagram disagreeing with each other. No big deal for pilots who “picture their position” as my students have always been trained.

For pilots wishing to directly connect their headsets to the VXA-300 they will need to insert their own PTT switch as the supplied headset adapter doesn’t include a PTT.

OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES

An SMA/BNC adaptor is available to connect the unit to a fixed aircraft antenna for improved range performance as is a speaker microphone, alkaline battery case, DC auxiliary power plug with/without noise filter and a PC programming kit for use with a personal computer. I tested none of these.

An optional sensor (SU-1) can monitor barometric pressure and calculate the current density altitude with a simple keystroke. The radio’s warranty is a trend setting 36 months.

PERFORMANCE

Immediate impressions are very positive with the unit’s light weight, minimal dimensions and large dot matrix display. With so much capability, there are a number of functions to learn during the 12 hour charge cycle to maximize the radio. 

For those shunning advanced features, simple tuning and transmitting are straight forward. Tonal qualities of the speaker are very clear and I can read the digital display without my reading glasses – a bonus.

Reception of signals with the floppy antenna was adequate – although an owner planning to use any portable radio as his primary means of communication would be wise to install a fixed aircraft antennae with suitable ground plane to improve transmission and reception range.

I found the old ICOM possessed a more sensitive “front end” and picked up fringe signals better than the Vertex radio – each with their floppy antenna connected. 

The Victoria VOR is line of sight from my balcony and 10 NM distant. Checking the bearing information resulted in a slightly fuzzy signal with accurate readings. The VOT at Victoria International showed “0” degrees receiver error. 

I consider these portable radios a best buy compared to in-dash mount transceivers and wonder why any pilot wouldn’t own one of these versatile tools. They are incredibly inexpensive, possess many features that go well beyond permanently installed instrument panel radios and are a huge bonus in safety and capability.

Their modern rechargeable batteries avoid the hassles associated with older radios and minimize charging requirements while their light weight and portability make them attractive for virtually every aircraft.

For more information on the selection of portable radios visit the company’s website at www.radioworld.ca/   or phone their toll free number 1-866-666-8600

List Price: $425.00

Radio World Price: $369.00

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