Narco Avionics No More

[mike roe]

This taken from the Narco Website.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we regret to inform you that after over 65 years in business, Narco Avionics, Inc. has closed. A trustee will be appointed shortly to oversee liquidation of assets and assure return of Customer's property, such as Customer's Radios sent to Narco for service, as soon as possible. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this causes and thank all loyal Narco Customers, around the world, for their loyalty over all of these years! Please monitor this web site as informational updates will be provided as soon as possible.
One more gone.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Darn it. Can't say as I'm surprised thought. Probably a long time coming.

[GAHorn]

I'm truly sorry to see this and hope someone will pick up their product line. I have three Narco products in my plane and I like them. Their Comm 810, their AR-850 Encoder and their AT-150 Txdr. They've never given me any trouble but I guess if they do...

[lowNslow]

I'm truly sorry to see this and hope someone will pick up their product line.

Where are those Chinese when you need them.

[GAHorn]

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but about six months ago I spent a day downloading virtually all their available manuals, drawings, and pin-outs just so I'd have them. Anyone needing such info can contact me. I will archive the most popular ones in the MX Library.

[russfarris]

May Nancy Narco RIP...

Narco was the first to market a lightplane VHF radio and VOR receiver in 1948 - right at the beginning of the change from low-frequency four-course ranges. Most of old timers (am I really one of those now?) flew the Superhomer with whistle stop tuning for the com receiver. The 172 Forrest and I co-own has an AT-50A transponder and a Narco ADF 31A installed in 1963 that still works perfectly. Sad to say they rested on their laurels for probably the last 20 years and it finally caught up with them.

Russ Farris

[blueldr]

Russ,
And before that we usd to transmit on 3105 kc and receive on 200 to 400 kc --- EVERYBODY!

[GAHorn]

I've posted this before in PDF version... here it is in jpeg.
Narco made it's biggest hit with GA when they created the first "affordable" nav receiver based upon the new high-tech process known as VHF-Omnidirectional Range navigation...or "Omni's". It allowed navigation along courses based upon any radial to/from a station...not just pre-ordained radials like the old "Range" courses. (I guess someday kids'll wonder about that obsolete GPS system their granddads used....)

DALLAS RANGE.jpg

[cessna170bdriver]

Whenever the subject of ranges comes up, I think of Ernie Gann in "Fate is the Hunter" where he lands an ice-laden DC-2 out of a range approach with the only outside visibility being through the open side window. I've always wanted to try flying a range, but I think the last one was decommissioned when I was in grade school. I wonder if there might be an add-on to Microsoft Flight Simulator...

[GAHorn]

I think it was 1974 that I flew the range in Monterrey, Mexico on a charter flight. It was clear wx but I wanted to do it. It was shut down later that year.

[blueldr]

Miles,
If you truly want to try flying on an old four legged radio range, find an outfit with an old link trainer. They all had it.

[cessna170bdriver]

Miles,
If you truly want to try flying on an old four legged radio range, find an outfit with an old link trainer. They all had it.

What do you mean "find" a Link? I want to build one.

[russfarris]

In the early 1980s there were still operating range stations in Mexico, co-located with VORs. I use to tune them up on the ADF in the DC-8s I was flying, just to hear the dit-dah or da-dit change to a steady tone as we approached the station. Most of the captains thought I was a little strange - now my F/Os think so, too! Russ Farris

[GAHorn]

In the early 1980s there were still operating range stations in Mexico, co-located with VORs. I use to tune them up on the ADF in the DC-8s I was flying, just to hear the dit-dah or da-dit change to a steady tone as we approached the station. Most of the captains thought I was a little strange - now my F/Os think so, too! Russ Farris

Russ... print/clip this message and hand to all your future F. O.'s:

"Dear F.O.,
Captain Farris loves to hear "dit-dahs". It might behoove you if every time you approach a VOR (that's one of those little pentagon-shaped icons on the charts that have little blue lines (old, soon-to-be obsolete "jet-routes/airways") ...anyway, each time you pass near one of those if you'll turn OFF the auto-squelch on your comm radio (to interject a little background static) and then you can "dit-dah/dit-dah/dit-dah" -away into your mic...then slowly let it morph into a "hhuuuummmmmmmm" as you pass-by, and return to saying "dah-dit/dah-dit/dah-dit..." and so on, slowly fading out... then return the comm back to auto-squelch ON...
This might lull Capatin Farris into letting you have a landing every so often.
Good luck. (Oh yeah...and place a couple of bricks into the bottom of his flight bag...to give him the impression that things are gettng a wee bit heavier, and encourage him to retire... and you can "UPgrade" sooner.
But beware... do not discuss too deeply your past flying with future F.O.s ...or they will begin to give you strange looks when you mention things like INS, VLF-Omega, and "Hydraulic-boosted controls/Reversion", or "pulleys-and-cables" etc. etc.