MGL V6 COM radio interference

[XenosN42]

Recently I've read a few threads on the subject of interference on com radios. Here is my story which has the moral: watch for the little things and everything.

I have used a MGL V10 com radio in my XENOS for over 3 years and had no problems with it. Transmissions and reception are crystal clear. So when it came time to pick a radio for my new OneX I went with the MGL V6, which is their newer model replacing the V10.

The V6 worked just great on my test bench. However, when I installed it in the aircraft it usually had very bad interference issues, but not always. I did all the standard things like move power wires away from the antennae cable, install ferret beads, etc, but nothing seemed to work.

Well today I was sitting in the cockpit testing the radio and it worked fine, no interference, with the squelch set to a reasonable value. Then I saw the light, or rather I couldn't see something clearly near my feet so I got out to pick up my portable work light. When I moved the light the interference came back. Put the light down the interference went away. That light was plugged into an extension cord which was plugged into a ceiling outlet. The cord was hanging about 6 inches from and parallel to the antennae and was the cause all along! That answers the question why the radio worked sometimes but not always.

So when chasing down radio interference problems don't just look at the radio, the EFIS, and the wiring. Also look around the aircraft to find any external EM sources.

Happy flying

-- Michael
XENOS N42XE
OneX N169XE

[vwglenn]

I have the MGL com as well. Thanks for the heads up!

[tonyr]

I think the first clue would have been the extremely long extension cord following me out the taxi way... :mrgreen: