Garmin 396 Replacement Antennas

Folks,

My nagging problem of lost sat reception appears to still be with me.
Switching off the entire electrical system does not help. So, I believe
we have eliminated the Narco radios as a possible source. Moving the
antenna around the glareshield may or may not help.

I am beginning to think I may have a bad cable on the antenna. Nudging
it a bit will, at times cause a significant jump in reception. Sometimes
not.

Anyone tried any of the "high gain" replacements (Gilsson and others)?.
At less that $50, I may just give it a try.

Still seems odd that my old Apollo and Lowrance units never had these
problems.

Mike

My nagging problem of lost sat reception appears to still be with me.

Here's an interesting data point for ya, Mike:

Coming out of Myrtle Beach, SC, last week, our 496 lost all but one
satellite, while our Lowrance Airmap 2000c never lost lock on all
12.

We tried everything -- cycling it on an off, complete power down with
battery removal, unplugging and re-plugging all the various cords and
cables -- nothing mattered. We still had XM radio, but no weather,
and no GPS, for about 20 miles.

Then, just as suddenly, it all came back. It was rock-solid before
then, and it's been rock solid ever since, with another three flights
and 10 or so hours. Very weird.

We've got Narco radios, BTW.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message oups.com...
: My nagging problem of lost sat reception appears to still be with me.
:
: Here's an interesting data point for ya, Mike:
:
: Coming out of Myrtle Beach, SC, last week, our 496 lost all but one
: satellite, while our Lowrance Airmap 2000c never lost lock on all
: 12.
:
: We tried everything -- cycling it on an off, complete power down with
: battery removal, unplugging and re-plugging all the various cords and
: cables -- nothing mattered. We still had XM radio, but no weather,
: and no GPS, for about 20 miles.
:
: Then, just as suddenly, it all came back. It was rock-solid before
: then, and it's been rock solid ever since, with another three flights
: and 10 or so hours. Very weird.
:
: We've got Narco radios, BTW.
: --
: Jay Honeck
: Iowa City, IA
: Pathfinder N56993
: www.AlexisParkInn.com
: "Your Aviation Destination"
:

I guess the Garmins have gremlins, but since there is nothing that rhymes like that for Lowrance, they just keep on
workin...

;-)

Mike Spera wrote:
snip
Still seems odd that my old Apollo and Lowrance units never had these
problems.

Mike

Hey Mike,

I haven't been doing much flying with the 396 lately, but I can tell you
that my problems persist as well. I was able to track some of the
interference down to the Narco radios. Just putting the comm radios on
some popular CTAFs and local ASOS frequencies (no TX) is enough to take
out the 396. The flip flop button acts much like a light switch when I
watch the GPS satellite status page. Yes, it's that obvious (and
repeatable).

That said, there are times that, like you, I have turned off the master
in flight and the poor reception has continued, so other (as yet
unknown) factors are at work here as well.

For what it's worth, I will soon begin experimenting with a bluetooth
GPS, so I'll report back on any loss of signal there. If a $100 BT GPS
fails to lose lock while my $2500 396 does, Garmin will get an earful
from me, that's for sure.

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, ATP/CFI

http://www.dvatp.com
--------------------

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

My nagging problem of lost sat reception appears to still be with me.

Here's an interesting data point for ya, Mike:

Coming out of Myrtle Beach, SC, last week, our 496 lost all but one
satellite, while our Lowrance Airmap 2000c never lost lock on all
12.

We tried everything -- cycling it on an off, complete power down with
battery removal, unplugging and re-plugging all the various cords and
cables -- nothing mattered. We still had XM radio, but no weather,
and no GPS, for about 20 miles.

Then, just as suddenly, it all came back. It was rock-solid before
then, and it's been rock solid ever since, with another three flights
and 10 or so hours. Very weird.


This is a known fault in the remote antennas originally shipped with 496s.
Did you ever call Garmin for the free replacement?

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

On Mar 18, 8:56 am, Mike Spera wrote:
Folks,

My nagging problem of lost sat reception appears to still be with me.
Switching off the entire electrical system does not help. So, I believe
we have eliminated the Narco radios as a possible source. Moving the
antenna around the glareshield may or may not help.

I am beginning to think I may have a bad cable on the antenna. Nudging
it a bit will, at times cause a significant jump in reception. Sometimes
not.

Anyone tried any of the "high gain" replacements (Gilsson and others)?.
At less that $50, I may just give it a try.

Still seems odd that my old Apollo and Lowrance units never had these
problems.

Mike

Interesting. My Garmin 196 immediately loses all satellites as soon as
I tune the ASOS freq at one of my local airports, 119.275 at KTHV.
It's the only freq I have found where that happens. I have a Narco Com
810.

This is a known fault in the remote antennas originally shipped with 496s.
Did you ever call Garmin for the free replacement?


Was that ever acknowledged or published anywhere?

I have a LATE 396 (496 came out 1 week or so after I bought the unit).
The 496 you mention has the same antenna.

Thanks for any info.
Mike

Interesting. My Garmin 196 immediately loses all satellites as soon as
I tune the ASOS freq at one of my local airports, 119.275 at KTHV.
It's the only freq I have found where that happens. I have a Narco Com
810.


109.5 on the Nav side will instantly kill the Garmin. Transmitting on
123.0 will show all sats marching down to zero in about 5-6 seconds. I
saw a list someone published that had all the freqs that cause problems
and I see those 2 are on it.

But, I still lose sat lock even with the master and all radios turned off.

Mike

Coming out of Myrtle Beach, SC, last week, our 496 lost all but one
satellite, while our Lowrance Airmap 2000c never lost lock on all
12.


Jay,

Mine comes and goes. A few hours of flying and it is fine. Then, fritz
out time for the entire flight. Change direction and it gets better and
worse. Next flight, fine again.

Another poster says the 496 antenna has a "known problem" and suggested
I can get Garmin to replace it. I have the same antenna. Hear anything
about this?

Thanks,
Mike

Another poster says the 496 antenna has a "known problem" and suggested
I can get Garmin to replace it. I have the same antenna. Hear anything
about this?

Nope.

Mine has only done this the one time. I'm hopeful that it remains a
one-time affair.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"