Sporty's New Handheld Radio Field Report
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- For backup or primary, there's a still a need for a reliable, rugged and inexpensive handheld aviation transceiver and the Japanese-made $199 PJ2 built for Sporty's is the latest to hit the market. At first blush the PJ2 has useful features including built-in GA headset jacks, smart power options and tight receiver sensitivity. Aviation Consumer editor Larry Anglisano has been putting the PJ2 through its paces and prepared this field report.
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Wow! 4 years old and still one of the best avionics radio reviews on this site.
Love these episodes, Good info with no artificial hype 👍
FYI, the radio isn’t back ordered due to high demand. It’s due to it currently awaiting FCC certification.
I had a Telex back in the mid 80's that i used as a back-up in my Jep Case and used it as a primary from Madison, WI to Buffalo, NY when I flew my newly purchased 1947 J3 Piper Cub through (under) Chicago TCA as the last Fathers Day Gift for my Dad (a 30K ATP Rated Commercial Pilot) in 1986... you should have seen it strapped to my leg with the matching Telex Boom Mic and Push to talk switch and a JEP Case Strapped to the front seat ';-)
Good unit I just bought one and did some class D work with it and no issues.
Common sense radio. Finally. No need to FUMBLE FART with a clumsy headset adapter dongle. It doesn’t have a thousand microscopic buttons either. I can’t wait to get it in the mail.
Got one...Nice unit for backup and for no APU ops on ground.
Thanks for the good review. I really like the simplicity of operation and price t of this radio.
I have one question: Can the on-off knob be easily bumped while in your flight bag or clipped to your belt? I have had other handhelds I really liked, but the on switch was a deal breaker. It kept getting turned on when not in use, and running the batteries down. If the knob is stiff enough to turn on, it might be okay. Otherwise, I may have to stay with the Yaesu I have which has a push button on the side to turn on and off. Thanks for any insight you can provide on this.
Don't forget those light gun signals too!
PTT when headset connected or VOX?
I am debating between this and the SP400. I was leaning to the 400 for the NAV features, but now I don't know...
Everything is RNAV/ GPS now. I just got the PJ2, which already came in handy as my C172 trainer won't activate PCL lighting, but the PJ2 sure did :)
I have a Sporty’s handheld that I bought in ‘91.that still works. Why do I need another?
Sounds like an amazing bargain at $199 MSRP. However Ive seen that Sportys has really pissed off a lot of people who placed orders expecting November availability and now pushed back until January 2020. Shame on Sportys. The radio is not yet FCC approved.
Cessna Adventure Shame on the FCC for dickin the dog on the paperwork. The Part 15 and other related testing takes a few hours for the actual tests and certification by the lab. The paperwork is the hold up. This radio wouldn’t have made it out of China by the OEM if it was that shitty. I bet they filed the paperwork a year ago. Maybe Sporty’s or Larry will comment?
@@chipjumper Sporty's says all FCC testing is complete and has been for some time. It's waiting on one final piece of paperwork, which it expects any day. It says it has a large quantity of PJ2 radios ready to ship as soon as it has final approval. As noted, demand is high-partly because of the low price point and feature set.
I ordered mine on October 17 and just received it today Dec 6.
👍️👍️👍️👍️👍️
Can it be used in 8.33 kHz spacing?
Anybody know if a ptt can be connected to this?
slightly annoyed that there isn't a rechargeable options...I guess one could use NiMH instead of alkaline batteries.
Can 2 headsets talk to each other with this?
Can an airplanes speed outrun communication?
Not yet, Mike Patey hasn't figured out how to get his planes past 299,792,458 m/s quite yet.
Lol what???
I want a plain ol handhed, no frills, no stored features, just manual tune and talk....PLAIN JANE, NO FRILLS.
Time Traveler 2025 EggsZackly!!! East simple buttons, no need to refer to a manual everytime you have to use it, SIMPLE.
Time Traveler 2025 yep, but hard to find and no one lets them go. Too dependable.
All those planes with NOTHING but damn Computer Screens! And no genuine instruments.
I could fill a 2000 page book with reported incidents of folks nearly loosing their life because of all these screens going dark at a critical moment!
And those are just the ones to get my attention!
The Administrator of a large maintenance facility has told me it's very common for a plane filled with Computers to be grounded for electronics repair TWICE A YEAR!
And, for 1 to 4 weeks at a time!
My Dad's old 180 and my old 185 have never had this happen!
So, YES!
GET THE HAND HELD!
With today's technology, your going to need it! Sooner, rather then later!
Actually there are 'genuine instruments' behind the panel, feeding info to the 'damn Computer Screens'.
If someone nearly lost their life because a screen goes dark, they need additional training. If the PFD goes dark in my G1000 cockpit, the vital info shows up on the MFD, a few inches to the right. If the PFD and MFD go dark due to a total electrical failure, in the center of the panel below the screens I have a traditional airspeed indicator, attitude indicator and altimeter, but the vast majority of the time looking out the window usually suffices to fly the airplane safely, unless I'm IMC.
Get over it man. I fly planes with screens for work and much prefer it for mission critical/ hard IMC flying. The increase in situational awareness with glass really cannot be compared to flying needles.