All,
Further to my posting a few hours ago, I have already received a reply from
Michael Coates (XCOM).
If you read everything below, I think there should be enough to allow you to
form your own conclusions. Everything below Michael's reply is what I sent
to Michael.
See what you think ! I know for sure I am going to wait for the XCOM 760.
Regards
Kingsley Hurst
Mono Classic 281 in Oz
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Coates
Subject: Re: FW: Forum Chatter
I will try to respond to both your email addresses... still nothing through
on XCOM though..... it is strange because it comes to the same server as the
Pipistrel-USA account ??? Answers follow.....
Hello all, thanks for forwarding the emails to me for follow-up. Just a few
things i would like to point out first
SNIP (Oh yes, I know of another builder who has been waiting a looooong
time for delivery of his paid for Xcom vhf 760.)
This is absolutely not true......
Not a single person in the world has paid anything for an XCOM VHF
Transceiver !! Not even a deposit has been taken from anybody.... Sure
there are lots of orders, more than 300, but we have never taken a single
cent for payment or deposit on the radio until it's ready to ship..... I
think that's important to clarify this inaccuracy before i give you some
background info on the XCOM project.
The XCOM VHF project was dreamed up about 2.5 years ago. At the time i was
the biggest reseller of Microair products and there were things about the
radio i would like to have changed like adding a proper intercom, boosting
the power output, making the radio transmit the full 3 watts across the
whole frequency range and not 3 watts at 118 and 0.8 watts at 136 etc...
etc... Unfortunately the Microair company didn't see our suggestions as
constructive and chose not to implement these improvements into the Microair
range. It was about this time i meet with one of the engineers working in
the manufacturing company who made the Microair and we eventually realized
there was a market for an upgraded / updated version of the Microair and the
XCOM project was 'born' .
About 6 months later a prototype was displayed at Oshkosh and won Jim Weir's
award for "best product of show" and the inquiries and orders started coming
in. In retrospect it would have been best to keep our activities undercover
and just develop the product but none including myself though it would ever
take this long. The XCOM Avionics company is basically 2.5 people.... One
head engineer, a technician assistant and myself doing the sales, we are not
a mega millions company like Garmin and honestly we never will be..... but,
what we are trying to do is provide a product which is better than anything
else on the market (in our intended market segment - Sport Aviation), packed
with features for sport aircraft and to provide exceptional service to our
customers by providing the best aftersales service we can in the event of
any problems.
Having been self employed in business for more than 20 years i know problems
do happen, it is our intention to make these problems as small as we can for
the customer if something goes wrong but a lot of the time it is outside our
control.
The XCOM Intercom which i am now talking about now is a spin off from the
radio development..... I have Microair's in a lot of aircraft we sell, the
XCOM intercom was the answer to our prayers when matched to the Micorair and
it made the radio perform really well when installed properly.
The XCOM Intercom has now sold more than 300 units in the past year and we
have had 3 returns that have been due to the unit actually being defective.
Speaking of the returns they have all been in the original batch which were
either hand made or made by a manufacturer we no longer deal with, we have
since turned to a new production company which is a preferred electronics
supplier to Boeing and has full production control to military TSO
standards. Since the change we havent experienced any problems with the
units themselves but we still get a few units returned with the customers
reporting a problem but when tested they perform faultlessly.....
Our problems from customers are usually with their soldering and wiring
harness designs, electronics and harness's are something which has to be
right and you wouldn't believe what has been returned for testing. One
customer returned his harness with a full size 240 volt light switch which
you have on the wall of a house to turn the lights on and off..... He used
this to turn his radio and intercom off..... needless to say after making
some changes and replacing his household speaker wire with twisted and taped
joints (no soldier) it actually worked......
The unit spoken about in the bottom of this email hasn't made it to our
office yet but when it does we will be able to check it over and identify
the problem, it's highly unlikely (based on statistics alone) that the
customer in question has received two faulty intercoms, it is more likely to
be in the harness and if we made the harness and it doesn't work then it's
our mistake, but please be confident that the mistake will be fixed in the
quickest possible time and returned to the customer so he can commit
aviation again. I will be happy to forward our findings on the faults found
if it's of interest to anyone and if its a mistake that might happen again
then it will make it to the website in the FAQ section to try and help
someone having the same problems again.....
The comments on contacting us are valid, with over 800 ssppamm (spelt it
wrong so your rules don't trash this email reply) emails a day we now have
aggressive filters to slow it down but it seems to be dropping a few
legitimate inquiries... if this ever happens and you don't get a reply then
go back to the old fashioned way and send us a fax or give us a call... the
details follow.....
XCOM Avionics
4/24 Leda Drive, Leda Business Estate
Burleigh Heads. Queensland 4220. Australia
Phone Australia 07 5568 7770 Fax Australia 07 5568 7772
Phone International +61 7 5568 7770 Fax International +61 7 5568 7772
Hope this helps clear up any concerns, regards Michael Coates
XCOM Avionics
PS Drop by and say hello at site 423 at Oshkosh in the northern aircraft
area if you get a chance.
********* My e-mail to Michael **********
Michael
Second try as just arranged.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kingsley Hurst [mailto:khurst@taroom.qld.gov.au]
Subject: Forum Chatter
Michael,
Following is a copy of a posting I made yesterday on the Europa Matronics
List. It also contains the pertinent parts of original posts of two other
builders. ( See section below in Blue)
I received a couple of replies and after speaking to Nigel Andrews last
night I confirmed with them that the XCOM Intercom should alleviate the
things they don't like about the Microair intercom etc. Richard Iddon in
the UK has advised me already that he has ordered one from you as a result
of this.
I was therefore disappointed to read another post (see section below in
Fuchsia) received this morning.
There have also been another couple of rumblings (now deleted) so I am
passing these on to you FYI out of my genuine concern for what I believe
should be an excellent product and you don't need me to tell you what effect
postings like this can have travelling around the World at the speed of
light.
If you would care to make a response via me, I will forward your comments to
the list should you like me to do so. Since Nigel tells me you haven't been
able to contact me via e-mail, I would request you respond to the account
---From which this has come and also to mailto:hurstkr@growzone.com.au My
work account mailto:khurst@taroom.qld.gov.au is now with a new ISP so I am
hoping it might be a bit more successful now.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Kingsley Hurst
(W) 07 4628 9555
(H) 07 4627 3236
<hurstkr@growzone.com.au>
Steve wrote:
has anybody used the built in intercom available on the microair 760 ,
or do
you opt for an external intercom ? it seems there is no separate /
independant volume control
for intercom / radio . any feedback appreciated .
cheers steve # 573
and
Richard wrote:
I am using the built in intercom on my Microair but it does seem to
generate a good deal of background noise whilst it is switched on and it
is a bit inconvenient switching it on and off every time you need to
talk to ATC. I am thinking of buying a voice activated intercom to make
things a bit more peaceful. The volume control on my headsets seems to
adjust the intercom volume OK.
Gentlemen,
I understand the XCOM intercom may be the answer to your problems with
the microair. I will pass on your postings to a person who will be able
to give you very reliable advice in this regard. In the meantime, you
may like to check out the following link to the XCOM intercom.
http://www.mcp.com.au/xcom760/intercom/intercom.html
and no, I'm not on any commission.
Regards
Kingsley Hurst
Mono Classic 281 in Oz.
Hold the phone folks on the Microair and the Xcom. I have two microairs
and an Xcom intercom. I also paid them $100USDs for a harness to tie
the works together. The harness had a zillion errors that took me a
looong time to find them all. When corrected, it still didn't
work....... I began a loooong process of trying to get Xcom to remedy
things to no avail. I was about to s-can the works when they finally
started responding. They sent me another intercom which didn't work
either, interestingly in a different way! They now sound more
interested in making things right. Both intercoms and the harness are
back in Oz and I am breathing hard waiting to see what happens. Sooo,
hold the phone! I'll report what happens.
Tom (Oh yes, I know of another builder who has been waiting a looooong
time for delivery of his paid for Xcom vhf 760.)
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