Spent 9 hours chasing a "bad" COMM radio that turned out to be a 15 minute connector fix

Wade Anderson · 2026-10-29T06:45:04.771019+00:00

Had a Cessna 172 in the hangar down here in Wichita with a COMM 1 that would cut out in flight but tested fine on the ground every single time. I pulled the radio, swapped it with a known good unit, rang out the antenna, and even borrowed a spectrum analyzer from the shop next door over two days. Turns out the BNC connector at the tray had a cracked ferrule that only opened up under vibration and heat, took me 9 hours to find and 15 minutes to fix. Now I wiggle and tug every connector before I even pull a unit out of the panel. Anybody got a better trick for catching those intermittent vib issues without flying the thing?

📢Hub Chatter

Loading…

Spent 9 hours chasing a "bad" COMM radio that turned out to be a 15 minute connector fix | Avionics Technicians - Hub Chatter