The International Cessna^® 170 Association

My transponder died an unglamorous death yesterday . Unfortunately I have never been able to find an avionics shop in our area that I trust or that doesn't have a two month wait. Any recommendations for a shop that I could ship my KT76A to for repair?

I have heard that Sterling at Buchannan field CCR does good work. I also hear they are not cheap. Don't know about the wait. The best shop in the Bay Area, as far as I am concerned, was Bay Avionics who recently closed their shop at OAK (Port was squeezing the life out of them). I am hoping they will start up again at LVK.

http://www.bevanrabell.com/

These folks have done several repairs for me and have been very reasonable. They have a good reputation.

I have used Airmartronics, (831)768-9733, right on your field several times with good results. Some of his equipment is as old as our airplanes! He once worked on the innards of my KT76 and got it fixed up fine.

Jeff.
1951 170A, N1722D, O-300D
Must be a twin of Richard's !!

Jeff- Post a picture of 1722D if you can.

John,

I don't have any recent personal experience with avionics shops, but High Desert Avionics at Fox Field in Lancaster, CA has a good local reputation for the quality of their work, but from what I hear, they can be slow. According to switchboard.com they can be reached at (661) 949-8300.

Good Luck!

Miles

jeff170a wrote:I have used Airmartronics, (831)768-9733, right on your field several times with good results. Some of his equipment is as old as our airplanes! He once worked on the innards of my KT76 and got it fixed up fine.

Mike is a nice guy but is totally overbooked.... Last time he worked on my radio he had it for 7 months! He did give me loaner but it wasn't much better than the one I took in for repair.

John, APR Aviation here at Monterey airport does avionics (they also have a avionics shop in Fresno). I do not have any experience with them so I can't tell you if they are any good are not. Problem is MRY is class C airspace so you need a transponder to get here. Might be worth a call 1-866-373-3672.

lowNslow wrote:John, APR Aviation here at Monterey airport does avionics (they also have a avionics shop in Fresno). I do not have any experience with them so I can't tell you if they are any good are not. Problem is MRY is class C airspace so you need a transponder to get here. Might be worth a call 1-866-373-3672.

Thanks Karl..... I the transponder died as I was departing MRY . I'm pretty sure I could talk my way back in without a transponder, but I am old and jaded (and cheap) and reluctant to take anything to an avionics shop that isn't recommended by someone that has had personal experience with them. When I ask the local IA's and A&P's who the best shop in the area is their response so far has been universal... There isn't one They all used to like Bay Avionics as mentioned above. I heard that it is the high cost of living in the Bay Area that makes it very hard to find technicians who will work here, and that was a contributing factor to Bay Avionics demise.

It is definitely getting harder to find techs around here. A lot of the ones around don't want to mess with it unless it's the new stuff. I found a retired avionics guy near Hunter Ligget to work on my old KX170B radio. He does great work, is very reasonable, but unfortnatly he doesn't do transponders. We might be forced to upgrade to glass cockpits.

hilltop170 wrote:http://www.bevanrabell.com/

These folks have done several repairs for me and have been very reasonable. They have a good reputation.

Thanks for the referal... Did you take your plane in or ship them your unit?

removed

John- Bevan-Rabell is in Wichita if I remember correctly. I have always shipped the radio to them after talking with a tech on the phone so they expect to see it. They get them back in a reasonable time and a fair cost.

Kings Avionics in Salt Lake City, and Aerotronics in Billings, MT

Thanks, I shipped it off to Bevan-Rabell after talking to the tech today. They were very nice and seemed knowledgeable on the phone...... I'll report back with the results.