I bought a nifty almost new mx-170b radio on e-bay last week. Unfortunately the radio came without any kind of paper. I have searched the web of the Michel/TKM site without avail. So I hope that you (my bulletin board buddies) will indulge me by answering a few questions.
??? What is the VC-ID button?
??? What is the VT button?
??? What are the D an S holes for?
Tom Heany
thomas.a.heany@boeing.com
1-253-931-9254
I understand that the earlyer ones were a real pain. My friends at American avionics tell me that TKM will do a total referbishment for $85.00. The also told me to save the box because I would probibly need to send it to them.
I have had my MX170B for 1.5yrs without any problems, it is heard loud and clear at 60NM by my local (DVT) tower....
Also, Skyview traffic reporting here in the PHX area uses the TKM and has over 10K hours on them, without complaint...
I think like most stuff, the early models had growing pains, but they are remedied, other than the normal gremlins which invade all aviation products from time to time...
I have a TKM MX 170B Nav/Com in my 182. It works fine but the LED display is very dim, like it is in a night mode. Is there a procedure/method to brighten the display in order to see it more readily in the day light?
Yes. The little holes with the D and the S... They require a very small screwdriver to make an adjustment, and the S is squelch (which if you have no troubles with that I'd leave it alone...) and the D is to adjust how much light makes it go into the night mode.
How much did you pay for your MX-170? I have two of them, both of which work only part-way. They came with my plane when I bought it, and I have kept one as the second radio when I upgraded the panel to the 430W.
But as I say, each one has its idiosyncrasies. One of them, the voice channel is weak but the VOR/LOC/GS reception is great. The other swaps that around. I sent it back to TKM twice to get it repaired so I'd have one where everything works, and twice it's come back not fixed. I have finally given up on their repair service.
But if I could get one where everything actually works I might pay for that. Thus, my question about costs on eBay...
A year or so ago I bought a new MX170C as a slide-in replacement for my well functioning #1 KX170B. It has worked very well, and I've had several comments from others that it is much stronger than the KX170B was before it. I'm thinking about buying another one to replace my #2 KX170B with. I don't know what the differences are between the "B" and the "C" models, but yellow tagged "B" models sell for $1,200.00 or so on eBay, while new "C" models generally retail for about $1,600.00. I think that you're money ahead to go ahead and buy new. I think that the new ones also come with a year year warranty.
Call me if you want to try and make a deal. I have one that I guarantee is good. We could probably make a deal on your two bad ones as some sort of trade if you want.
