Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
By WingedSupra
#1746561
I have just bought an aircraft which had a Trig radio in it. It has the capability to upload and download frequencies to a USB stick, which should have been included with the radio but no doubt got lost along the chain of ownership.

I contacted Trig to see how I should format an existing USB stick to work properly, and they sent me a Trig USB free of charge. That level of service is rare these days.

If only they made a transponder with numeric buttons instead of a twiddly knob... :)
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By T67M
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1746582
And the Avidyne AXP340. My main criticism of the Avidyne is that the buttons are too close together - more than once I've got both Ident and VFR with a single push, especially in turbulence.
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By TLRippon
#1746593
I’ve had a Trig TT31 since they came out and within a couple of weeks I could enter a code as quickly as with a push button. It is a lot easier in bumpy conditions too. I also had the satisfaction of sticking two fingers up to all the others who told me the Garmin 330 was the way to go and I was deluding myself because it was a lot cheaper and not so good. Then when I had my ADSB enabled for next to nothing and they were buying new transponders, oh how we laughed!
By BoeingBoy
#1746595
I commend Trig as well. I had a problem with my TY96 radio being intermittent and they simply sent me a new one whilst I sent theirs back. In the end it turned out the casing had not been put on properly at manufacture and whilst they gave me the option to change back I kept the replacement one.

The USB stick is very useful but don't forget to update it.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1746601
BoeingBoy wrote:
The USB stick is very useful but don't forget to update it.


If you can remember where you’ve put it !

Peter :wink:
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1746627
We didn't get a USB stick with our new installation and had to ask for one: It arrived pdq with no fuss, but alas no tag: God knows where it is now.

ISTR loading USB stick up with frequencies was a pretty agricultural time consuming process (the stick was 'empty' when we got it )and I think I gave up after a while.....

Peter :roll:
By WingedSupra
#1746631
I agree. I am in IT and pretty familiar with CSV files but it does remind me a little of ancient ham radio processes.

I was thinking about the possibility of scraping the data from newfrequency.co.uk, adding physical locations, and then using google geo API functions to generate a list of frequencies within (say) 150 miles of my local flying area. But sadly I am not quite that clever.

So I will just add my most used frequencies as I go along and see what I end up with!
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By kanga
#1746928
As I may have posted before ( :oops: ), I had my own reasons to be impressed by Trig. Some years ago I was helping to staff the LAA-YES stand at The Flying Show at NEC or Telford. This included a partly completed School's Build-a-Plane, with the involved youngsters explaining it to passing visitors. Someone from the Trig stand, walking past during a break, stopped by and listened respectfully to the young crew. Not long after he came back with a brand new Mode S transponder (then foreseeably mandatory) as a corporate gift to the project. :thumright:
Bobcro, Dave W, Stu B and 1 others liked this
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By Sir Morley Steven
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1746933
I have Trig transponders on four of my aircraft. One went wrong after ten years and they repaired it free of charge.
I find the twiddly knob easier in turbulence than numbers (with the zero on the wrong end)
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By rdfb
#1747037
TLRippon wrote:I’ve had a Trig TT31 since they came out and within a couple of weeks I could enter a code as quickly as with a push button. It is a lot easier in bumpy conditions too.


Flying a hire aircraft with one of these I ended up with an exchange like this:

East Midlands Radar, G-ABCD request traffic service.
G-ABCD East Midlands Radar, squawk 1234 and pass your message
Squawk 1234 G-ABCD (the usual long message)
(I then proceed to fiddle with a single knob)
G-ABCD confirm your squawk..., disregard I see you now

This was hardly a problem but it struck me as interesting that the ATCO presumably wasn't aware what some pilots have to do to select the squawk.

I can enter a squawk on a keypad while I read it back. However I don't seem to have the ability to focus enough to use a single knob entry mechanism fast enough, and I certainly can't speak about anything else and enter the code at the same time.
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By TLRippon
#1747039
It just depends on what you are used to. I replaced a Garmin 327 with it and it took a couple of weeks to get my fingers sorted. Don’t even think about it now.
The first hurdle to overcome is remembering the knob works both left and right, I’ve noticed some people selecting a 6 with a lot of right clicking.