Advances in avionics don’t negate the need for old standbys such as a handheld transceiver for use in the unlikely event your digital panel goes dark, or simply to pick up Atis or a clearance before engine start. Sporty’s Pilot Shop’s handheld SP-400 navcom makes a worthy backup, providing more nav information than other navcoms in a package little larger than transceivers that offer only com functions.
Sporty’s calls the SP-400 “a complete radio stack in the palm of your hand,” and besides limiting users to one piece of the stack at a time, it lives up to its billing, most impressively in its ILS display. This is the only handheld navcom that provides vertical guidance information: input the localizer frequency and the SP-400 depicts the glideslope and course deviation indication (CDI) on the relatively roomy monochrome LED screen (1 5/8” x 1 5/8”) as it would appear on an HSI–with intersecting perpendicular bars–not with the pointing arrowheads that some handheld navcoms employ for nav guidance symbology.
More In Avionics
