Re: Which Radios to Switch On?
As you say you have not had a radio overheat in the UK but you dont have to go to far south in the summer to get the radios very hot.
Put your hand on one of your radios at the end of an hours flying and you will find it walm , when one of your aircraft flys to the south of France or Spain in the summer the OAT on the ground may well be up towards +40C.
Add the heat that you are feeling from an hours flying and the radio could hit the +55C that most avionic companys state as the upper limit for the radio.
I have no doubt that the radio will continue to work at that heat level but that is when the damage is done that surfaces months later, perhaps mistaken for damage from damp conditions ?.
The cost of a radio cooling fan would be covered by the first radio repair that you DONT have to do. In all of my aircraft that have more than a NAV/COMM & transponder I have radio cooling fitted and the low level of radio problems is I think entirly due to the fact that the radios dont suffer from heat build up but not swiching on some of the equipment is simply not an option in some airspace enviroments that my aircraft fly.