Weak Radio - Narco Escort II

[Skates97]

My #2 Nav/Com is a Narco Escort II. I use it just to pick up ATIS/AWOS enroute. When it comes in it is clear as can be, the only problem is that it does not come in until I am about 20 miles away. I was thinking that it was only because I had hills in between myself and the destination, but I have been playing around with it more and I can pick up the ATIS/AWOS from upwards of 40+ miles away on my #1 Nav/Com which is a Narco 12D. However the #2 will not pick up until right about 20 miles out. Loud and clear on #1 and nothing but silence on #2... If I switch over to Nav mode I don't pick up a VOR until about 15-20 miles away while the #1 Com picks up VORs from 60-80 miles out. Is that just to be expected of the Escort II, possible antenna/cable issue, ideas?

[Piloto]

17 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

My #2 Nav/Com is a Narco Escort II. I use it just to pick up ATIS/AWOS enroute. When it comes in it is clear as can be, the only problem is that it does not come in until I am about 20 miles away. I was thinking that it was only because I had hills in between myself and the destination, but I have been playing around with it more and I can pick up the ATIS/AWOS from upwards of 40+ miles away on my #1 Nav/Com which is a Narco 12D. However the #2 will not pick up until right about 20 miles out. Loud and clear on #1 and nothing but silence on #2... If I switch over to Nav mode I don't pick up a VOR until about 15-20 miles away while the #1 Com picks up VORs from 60-80 miles out. Is that just to be expected of the Escort II, possible antenna/cable issue, ideas?

The Escort is a 110 channel radio with a tuning in steps of 0.1MHz. Most ATIS are in 12.5KHz steps. Tuning an ATIS on 119.85MHz by setting the Escort to 119.8 MHz will not provide optimum reception since it is not on the exact frequency. 

José

[Skates97]

5 minutes ago, Piloto said:

The Escort is a 110 channel radio with a tuning in steps of 0.1MHz. Most ATIS are in 12.5KHz steps. Tuning an ATIS on 119.85MHz by setting the Escort to 119.8 MHz will not provide optimum reception since it is not on the exact frequency. 

José

I have the Escort 2 which is 200 channel Nav and 720 channel Com so I am able to tune the correct frequency, it just doesn't come in until I am within 20 miles or less of whatever I am tuning to. 

[N201MKTurbo]

Most likely antenna problems, but you said it has poor performance on both nav and com. They are usually separate antennas so they shouldn't both be bad. And the nav antenna is usually shared between the two radios with a splitter. 

The radios are an old PLL design so there is probably a single master oscillator. If it was off frequency it would affect the sensiativity of both receivers.

Probably the best bet would be to have an avionics shop bench check and align the radio.

[Skates97]

15 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Most likely antenna problems, but you said it has poor performance on both nav and com. They are usually separate antennas so they shouldn't both be bad. And the nav antenna is usually shared between the two radios with a splitter. 

The radios are an old PLL design so there is probably a single master oscillator. If it was off frequency it would affect the sensiativity of both receivers.

Probably the best bet would be to have an avionics shop bench check and align the radio.

May look into that. It isn't that critical, just slightly annoying. Then again I may just live with it until I put in a different #1 Nav/Com and relegate my current #1 to #2 status.

[takair]

23 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Most likely antenna problems, but you said it has poor performance on both nav and com. They are usually separate antennas so they shouldn't both be bad. And the nav antenna is usually shared between the two radios with a splitter. 

The radios are an old PLL design so there is probably a single master oscillator. If it was off frequency it would affect the sensiativity of both receivers.

Probably the best bet would be to have an avionics shop bench check and align the radio.

As I recall, the Escort II was a bit of a compromise and used the same antenna for com and nav.  This resulted in the nav radio always being mispolarized.  So, in this case, degradation of the single antenna or its bonding may affect com and nav....so this may really be a possibility.  I would start by looking at the antenna bonding and see if it can be improved.  That said, I don't think an Escort II will ever perform quite as well as as the MK12D.  Hope I have my facts right, I have not worked on one in almost 20 years..

[N201MKTurbo]

41 minutes ago, takair said:

As I recall, the Escort II was a bit of a compromise and used the same antenna for com and nav.  This resulted in the nav radio always being mispolarized.  So, in this case, degradation of the single antenna or its bonding may affect com and nav....so this may really be a possibility.  I would start by looking at the antenna bonding and see if it can be improved.  That said, I don't think an Escort II will ever perform quite as well as as the MK12D.  Hope I have my facts right, I have not worked on one in almost 20 years..

[takair]

38 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Well, I stand corrected.  I don't know where I came up with the single antenna idea.