Icom A21 PIREPS?

tonycondon

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Ive got the opportunity to pick up a Icom A21. Its not the newest fanciest, but the price is right. Big question I have is what is the battery life? It also comes with the Alkaline battery pack. I like that it has VOR nav function. I need something to communicate with my ground crew on cross countries. A battery of 5 or 6 hours is required. Thanks
 
tonycondon said:
Ive got the opportunity to pick up a Icom A21. Its not the newest fanciest, but the price is right. Big question I have is what is the battery life? It also comes with the Alkaline battery pack. I like that it has VOR nav function. I need something to communicate with my ground crew on cross countries. A battery of 5 or 6 hours is required. Thanks


I have the A21, which I bought when I first started flying in 1994. It works like new and has all the functions of the newer models, but is a bit bigger. I use the Nicad battery and have the Alkaline batter pack as a back up, but never have had to use it, so I can't speak to alkaline battery life.
 
I had an A21 which I have since replaced with an A22. You should expect around 10-12 hrs with fresh akaline batteries in the A21 in standby, less if you transmit frequently. The Ni-Cd would be about half that, on the conservative side.
 
I used to use an A-21 when I was a line boy. The battery life (I think it had a charger unit) was about 5-7 hours. A really good unit. It seemed to work about as well as the ground based unit we also had. You might need to replace the Ni-Cad unit on yours if somebody has used it for a while. Ni-Cad's develop a memory.
 
infotango said:
Ni-Cad's develop a memory.

NO THEY DON"T That is an OWT. Modern Nicads do not suffer from memory issues they can suffer from voltage sag.

The word ‘memory’ was originally derived from ‘cyclic memory’, meaning that a Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) battery can remember how much discharge was required on previous discharges. Improvements in battery technology have eliminated this phenomenon.

The problem with NiCd is not the cyclic memory but the effects of crystalline formation. The active cadmium material is present in finely divided crystals. In a good cell, these crystals remain small, obtaining maximum surface area. When the mythical memory phenomenon occurs, the crystals grow and drastically reduce the surface area. The result is a voltage sag, which leads to a loss of capacity. In advanced stages, the sharp edges of the crystals may grow through the separator, causing high self-discharge or an electrical short.

You should carry some extra batteries with you because I suspect that the 5-7 hours off of a set of batteries is a stand-by or receive time. If you start transmitting a lot that time will significantly decrease.
 
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