Page 68 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

FEATURE

PJ AVIATION

PJ Aviation is the only SA manufacturer of portable ground-to-

air VHF transceivers for the dual use market

soon Gariep Dam seemed to become the rough use, without making it difficult to
field testing station.
remove the battery. To avoid irrecoverable
Peter would discover a bug, call Bernd,
Still going strong after 27 years. and by next day he had a new firmware deep discharges, an intelligent lithium iron
phosphate battery is used together with a 3
Founder of the company, Peter How loaded. Over the first two years, mostly stage charger built inside the portable case.
qualified in microwave communications through such software improvements
at Hartebeeshoek - after building his first the radio became an excellent and very The result is a lighter and more compact,
sailplane - started one of the first licensed versatile product. durable, all metal product, vastly superior
composite aircraft repair shops in the Now, after three decades, and with to the original yellow coloured units (which
country, with the legendary sailplane thousands of Dittel VHF transceivers PJ Aviation still service).
developer Pat Beatty. exported all over the world from Germany, The SAAF was the first to take to the new
Later Woody Woods of EAA fame, there was a ‘new Dittel’. units and the KRT2-TB2 is now used by air
joined and top agencies such as GROB Every air force and ATC centre will forces and airports in over 12 countries.
Flugzeugbau and Walter Dittel were remember the old yellow units - there were PJ Aviation is the only SA manufacturer
acquired. a couple hundred in South Africa alone. of portable ground-to-air VHF transceivers
It was the latter with its mix of aviation for the dual use market and is confident
Following in his father’s footsteps, Walter
and radio communication which captured Jnr’s KRT-2 is rapidly becoming Europe’s that their product is both superior and
Peters’ interest the most and during the fastest selling transceiver (4000 in 2 years). better priced than any others still produced
’80s Peter expanded into what became Today with the new owners of the KRT2 overseas.
Pertec at Grand Central Airport. design, TQ-Systems, over 16,000 have been Peter How said, “Whilst there are several
By then the yellow portable ‘Dittels’ delivered. handheld VHF transceivers on the market,
were very well known. Woody was a great But, going back to when the KRT2 was only a high power portable will give you
inspiration in business. He had grown 3M developed, there was no portable version. adequate range and battery endurance in
SA into a major entity, and Peter finally applications such as temporary ATC, air
took his advice and sold the business when Having supplied the yellow units for show control, search and rescue, an-
it was at its peak. decades, Peter, had already identified all ti-poaching, oil rigs, disaster management,
fire-fighting, personnel extraction, bush
A restraint of trade agreement in 1993 the shortcomings of the old model, and and jungle warfare and other situations
meant going back to repairing and building in collaboration with Walter in Germany, where VHF propagation is difficult”.
improved the product, which he designated
composite aircraft. This paid off as it drew the KRT2-TB2. After the portable, the business went
the newly founded business closer to the onto develop 19 inch fixed base stations
light aviation market and soon, as new The transceiver module, the KRT-2 and using the KRT2, one with a 25W PA
agencies were acquired, Peter and his wife the hand microphone is imported, but 50% developed for export. Interestingly, this
Fran were attending every major air show of the KRT2-TB2 is manufactured locally. amplifier is a redesign of one by the same
and selling a couple of hundred headsets The metal parts are made in a CAD- specialist which helped Peter deliver
a month. There was not one flight school CAM plant in Johannesburg, and these 25W base stations to the SAAF 20 years
or flight shop that did not escape their parts, together with other materials are previously.
attention. shipped to PJ Aviation at Gariep Dam to be
Grob had introduced Peter to Becker assembled. Another successful radio product line
Avionics and then Filser, so soon the VHF has been a pilot initiated runway/helipad
radio business grew again. Then he re- lighting controller. Peter says they must
membered Woody’s advice and sold again THE KRT2-TB2 have produced a few hundred by now,
to start what he thought was retirement at Some of the features include a reduction in exports taking advantage of the weak
a place he loved to soar - Gariep Dam in the weight without compromising strength was Rand.
southern Free State. a major goal in the development. The business no longer markets aviation
Things don’t always go the way you plan This was achieved by combining high headsets, but instead specialises in config-
- and the next thing Walter Dittel Junior strength corrosion resistance alloys. The uring special noise reduction headsets for
defence and control centres, with suppliers
comes knocking on the door with Bernd alloy used in the outer shells and face in the UK, Germany and China.
Koendoefer, the designer of the Filser is resistant to salt water corrosion and
range, claiming to be on a holiday. denting, and a high quality powder coating
The original Walter Dittel GmBH had is applied to the shells and face plates.
given up VHF radio production and these The handle is a polished stainless steel THE SAILPLANE MARKET
two wanted to know if Peter would bar with black nylon grips, and a polished, Love for light aviation meant that Peter
distribute Bernd’s new VHF design, the thin stainless steel cover clips over the face continued to acquire agencies, orientated
KRT2. After building a composite yacht plate, providing a protected storage area towards power and the sailplane market.
for the lake and soaring all summer, this for accessories during transport. Sailplane flight computers have become
was too big a temptation to give up. Early Particular attention has also been taken extremely sophisticated and require a lot
models were a bit ‘iffy’ to say the least, and
to secure the battery during transport and of customer support. Peter has found that
World Airnews | September Extra 2020
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