The Sporty’s PJ2+ radio gets high marks for direct plug-in of twin-plug GA-cable-equipped headsets. In an emergency, unplug from the aircraft’s jacks and plug into the handheld—no adapters needed. But that won’t work in cockpits served by the single-plug 6-pin LEMO panel power/audio interface. That’s a fair number of so-equipped Bose and Lightspeed headsets, and the LEMO-equipped L6 solves the dilemma.
Priced at $279, the L6 is tightly designed around the decent-performing PJ2+ rig, which is priced the same. As we reported in the February 2023 Aviation Consumer, the second-gen PJ2+ with its improved display, 6-watt transmitter and noise-limiter circuit is a good value, plus it’s more than capable for use as an emergency backup or even as a primary radio in lesser-equipped aircraft when connected to an external antenna. The same can be said for the L6.
PERFORMANCE
We tried the L6 side by side with the PJ2+ and both performed identically in terms of transmit and receive range. But you won’t plug twin-plug headsets into the L6. This is for LEMO cables only, where the radio will power the headset through the LEMO interface. The L6, with its 1.5 by 1.63 inch LCD display and auto-lit keyboard, has a USB-C input port for plugging in a 2.4-amp external power source to back up the standard six AA alkaline battery pack. For power input less than 2.4 amps, the radio will receive but not transmit. Moreover, it’s nearly impossible to put a hard number on battery endurance because transmitting uses more power than receiving. Sporty’s said to expect between five and 10 hours of battery life to power a LEMO headset with typical transmissions, and up to 30 hours of life when receiving only. That’s pretty much in line with what we saw in our use when powering a Bose A20, A30 and a Lightspeed Delta Zulu.
Speaking of the Delta Zulu, Sporty’s warned that while the L6 will power a LEMO-equipped Delta Zulu, there might be some issues during transmissions. That’s because the Delta Zulu’s non-shielded cables (and some other non-TSO models with unshielded cabling) can sometimes work as a transmitter, creating interference. It might not happen all the time (or at all), and the issue might be frequency dependent. We didn’t notice any issues with the Lightspeed we tried; however, Sporty’s has ferrite grounding beads on hand for buyers who do have an issue. Position the ferrite bead close to the LEMO plug end of the cable. Another method of grounding is to wrap the headset cable around the radio’s antenna.
The L6, like the PJ2+, also has a 3.5-mm earbud jack that disables the internal mic and speaker when in use, 20-frequency storage/scanning, NOAA weather radio band, a dedicated 121.5 key and an active/standby frequency button.
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