Garmin 530 WAAS upgrade - what's involved?

It's true. I was at the AOPA convention at Palm Springs and talked
with the Garmin rep. The antenna is replaced to upgrade to WAAS and
included in the $1500 price. I have a homebuilt Glasair so replacing
the antenna won't be any problem or added shop expense since I do it
myself. Of course it will be convenient if it has the same footprint
as the old one.
When the first announced their much delayed WAAS upgrade program, you
had to pre-sign-up with a shop to get the $1500 price. But now it
seems they are just giving it to everyone.
Ron Lee wrote:
Ron Natalie wrote:

John R. Copeland wrote:
Antenna replaced? If it's broken, maybe.
Nothing in the upgrade itself would require that.
And if the cable works OK before the upgrade, it'll work OK afterward.

While the WAAS satellites use the same (L1) frequencies as the
others..rumor has it that the existing antennas Garmin sold with
the 530/430 have a hard time seeing low enough on the horizon to
meet the C146a specs.

I find that hard to believe. Do you know the elevation angle
requirement? I will check how low it picks up soon.

Ron Lee

"Glasair" wrote:

When the first announced their much delayed WAAS upgrade program, you
had to pre-sign-up with a shop to get the $1500 price. But now it
seems they are just giving it to everyone.

I called Garmin about this last week and that was what I was told.

Ron Lee

What did Garmin tell you Ron ?

Roy

"Ron Lee" wrote in message
...

"Glasair" wrote:

When the first announced their much delayed WAAS upgrade program, you
had to pre-sign-up with a shop to get the $1500 price. But now it
seems they are just giving it to everyone.

I called Garmin about this last week and that was what I was told.

Ron Lee

Glasair wrote:
It's true. I was at the AOPA convention at Palm Springs and talked
with the Garmin rep.

Garmin is still offering the 1500 price I believe. The list price of
the -W version of the units by the way is exactly $1500 higher than
the non-W version as well.

Ron Lee wrote:
Ron Natalie wrote:

John R. Copeland wrote:
Antenna replaced? If it's broken, maybe.
Nothing in the upgrade itself would require that.
And if the cable works OK before the upgrade, it'll work OK afterward.

While the WAAS satellites use the same (L1) frequencies as the
others..rumor has it that the existing antennas Garmin sold with
the 530/430 have a hard time seeing low enough on the horizon to
meet the C146a specs.

I find that hard to believe. Do you know the elevation angle
requirement? I will check how low it picks up soon.

Ron,

As you know, the MOPS has gone through several revs, but my copy of
DO-229A specifies 10.-deg. They've released 229D and I believe it
hadn't changed between C and D, but the mask angle is now 5.-deg.

As an aside, remember the issues with some of the early 129 boxes? As I
recall, there was no specific requirement for any particular mask
angle. 7.5-deg (then 5.0-deg in a later version) was the recommended
value. Basically, as long as the rcvr. manuf. could prove that
Integrity was being maintained, it didn't really matter what mask angle
was chosen...

But it did/does. Effects such as local multipath come into play at the
low angles.

When examining the Availbility/Integrity tradespace, those on the
conservative side would rather take the Availability hit in order to
maintain Integrity. Conservative in this context meaning 'safe' as
opposed to Right Wing

Ron Lee

Regards,
Jon

"Roy N5804F" wrote:


What did Garmin tell you Ron ?

Roy

That the $1500 price is independent of having to be registered for the
upgrade last year. If you registered....$1500. If you did not....
$1500

Ron Lee

Ron Lee wrote:

That the $1500 price is independent of having to be registered for the
upgrade last year. If you registered....$1500. If you did not....
$1500

Maybe those of us who registered will get a free coffee mug or something.

--
Peter

Frank Stutzman wrote:

Indeed. Garmin has had my $1,500 for, what?, two years? Nice of me to give them
an intrest free loan. The least they could do is give me some $.99 marketing
gimcrack.

You actually paid when you registered for the upgrade? That was not a
requirement to register.

--
Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Stutzman ]
Posted At: Thursday, November 30, 2006 10:08 PM
Posted To: rec.aviation.ifr
Conversation: Garmin 530 WAAS upgrade - what's involved?
Subject: Garmin 530 WAAS upgrade - what's involved?

....
Indeed. Garmin has had my $1,500 for, what?, two years? Nice of me
to
give them
an intrest free loan. The least they could do is give me some $.99
marketing
gimcrack.

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

What will you bet that you have to pay $7.95 postage and handling?

Peter R. wrote:
Ron Lee wrote:

That the $1500 price is independent of having to be registered for the
upgrade last year. If you registered....$1500. If you did not....
$1500

Maybe those of us who registered will get a free coffee mug or something.

Indeed. Garmin has had my $1,500 for, what?, two years? Nice of me to give them
an intrest free loan. The least they could do is give me some $.99 marketing
gimcrack.

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR