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V10
Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:52 am
by jond01
Hi fellow flyers! I just joined the group and have a question. I have a V10 radio that i salvaged out of my crashed Zenair 601. I just installed it in a taylorcraft 12BC and is working just fine on Odyssey battery power. The Taylorcraft has no generator/alternator on the continental A80 engine.
So, I decided to look at the history of the MGL navcom products on this site, but see no mention of it on the legacy products page. Why is that? Is it because MGL would rather forget all about the V10? I hope not! I've been very satisfied with it on low performance aircraft. Hell, it even survived my crash where the plane was totalled
.
Does anyone know when the V10 is completely orphaned on this site? Or am i just blind haha
Re: V10
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 11:56 am
by rainier
There is a bit of history here.
Long ago just after the glaciers melted (i.e. in about 2004) I decided to design a VHF radio for aircraft. I proceeded to make a prototype. It was still in the format of something like a SL40. The prototype was OK but I decided not to go ahead as we simply were too small at the time to consider production - we were still working from a garage.
Then a couple of years later I got a visit from a RF designer and he asked if he could do something for us. So I showed him my effort and also showed him the housing we used for our Maxi single range. I told him "put that into this". He managed eventually but it was a huge challenge. You will of course notice the V10 weighs next to nothing yet tends to produce about 6W of carrier power. It was a great little radio at the time.
MGL never produced it though - we did sell it under our brand name but it was not made by us. I did however do the firmware and of course most of the design was mine.
That then was followed by the V6 which basically was a V10 with a bit of stereo intercom in a more favorable 2.1/4" format. This was also a fairly good radio.
But over the years that followed we had increasing issues related to supply and servicing/repairs of these radios so eventually we decided we cannot continue. I handed over all source code and compilation tools required and the RF guy was now going to run free under his own brand name. First thing he did was cancel the V10 - he only wanted to continue with the V6. I know all remaining spares and parts stocks for the V10 were shipped to the U.S.
No longer having a radio in our portfolio was of course a problem so I started the V16 - this time a radio manufactured by MGL so if there is a problem with repairs - at least it's my fault. Once that was done I did the N16 navigation radio the RF guy always promised but nothing happened and the A16 and A14 intercom. The T16 transponder is pretty advanced and (very nearly) ready for prime time but development is on ice due to unavailability of some critical components. I really hope that will resolve itself soon - this component "shortage" is causing us much gray hair.
So V10 and V6 are no longer shown as our products for several years now.