John Zimmerman

Aviation radios through the years—six decades of change

Radios have been used by pilots since the days of open cockpit biplanes, so it's no surprise they have been part of Sporty's offering since the very beginning of the company. In fact, the first product Hal Shevers sold from the trunk of his Studebaker was a Realtone Voyager radio (model TR-970). Since then technology has advanced and prices have dropped, but we still design our own radios. Our goal is to make the easiest-to-use, most reliable radios for pilots. Here's a look at some of the many radios we've sold over the years.

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Posted in PIREPs

Sporty's 60 year celebration

This year marks a milestone in the history of Sporty's: we're celebrating 60 years of serving pilots worldwide. Sporty's wouldn't be here without the incredible support of our customers over the past 60 years, so we invite you to join the celebration. Each week we'll be sharing special savings, new product introductions, and customer contests.

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Posted in PIREPs

New FAA chart cycle starts this month

Starting February 25, 2021, chart subscribers (and pilots everywhere) will notice an important change to the effective dates of charts. The FAA is shortening the update cycle for VFR charts to match the dates on IFR charts. This means that, whereas sectional charts used to be updated every six months, now all FAA charts will be updated every 56 days.

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Hands-on with the new Garmin aera 760 GPS

It’s been four years since Garmin launched the aera 660, and some pilots have been wondering whether the avionics giant would ever develop another portable aviation GPS. Their electronic flight bag app, Garmin Pilot, has won thousands of fans over the years and their wireless weather receivers, like the GDL 52, are found in everything from 172s to Citations. Are those products the only option now? This week Garmin answered with an emphatic “no,” by introducing the impressive aera 760. We’ve been using it for a few weeks now and we like what we’ve seen.

 

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Posted in PIREPs

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