Blind 430

Tell him to try it outside the hangar. ;-))

Jim Burns wrote:
A friend of mine has a 12v Garmin 430 that simply does not pick up the
satellites. It worked fine about 3 weeks ago (the last time he flew) but
now it fails to find any satellite signals. One avionics tech said that it
had "lost it's almanac" and to pull it out and let it sit for a couple hours
and it should pick up the satellites and work fine. No such luck. All
power and antenna connections are good and nothing has happened to the
airplane or the equipment since it flew last. Any ideas? Anybody ever hear
of such a thing?
Thanks,
Jim

Call Penn Avionics:

http://www.pennavionics.com/

A friend of mine has a 12v Garmin 430 that simply does not pick up the
satellites. It worked fine about 3 weeks ago (the last time he flew) but
now it fails to find any satellite signals. One avionics tech said that it
had "lost it's almanac" and to pull it out and let it sit for a couple hours
and it should pick up the satellites and work fine. No such luck. All
power and antenna connections are good and nothing has happened to the
airplane or the equipment since it flew last. Any ideas? Anybody ever hear
of such a thing?

Thanks,
Jim

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 18:37:24 -0800, "Jim Burns"
wrote:

A friend of mine has a 12v Garmin 430 that simply does not pick up the
satellites. It worked fine about 3 weeks ago (the last time he flew) but
now it fails to find any satellite signals. One avionics tech said that it
had "lost it's almanac" and to pull it out and let it sit for a couple hours
and it should pick up the satellites and work fine. No such luck. All
power and antenna connections are good and nothing has happened to the
airplane or the equipment since it flew last. Any ideas? Anybody ever hear
of such a thing?

The almanac includes a list of parameters that allow the GPS receiver
to determine where to 'look' for each satellite.

Without an almanac (and a valid time reference), the GPS receiver is
forced to brute force search for the satellite PRNs. Older GPS
receivers did not have enough processing power to effectively perform
this brute force search. So they would take 15+ (sometimes much
longer) minutes to 'cold start'.

Newer GPSs have more powerful processing engines, and do much better
on cold starts. I do not know for sure, but would expect a 430 to
have a new enough engine to manage a cold start in ~15 minutes. So
anyway, that is a possibility.

If there is an option for setting the time on the receiver, start with
that. Be sure and set the clock as accurately as you can. Make sure
the plane is outdoors and has a good 'view' of the sky. Pulling it
into a tight row of T-hangars still leaves a lot of the horizon
blocked. It is probably best to take it for a flight.

If the plane is flown for 30 minutes and the 430 doesn't lock, there
is a problem, time to troubleshoot. I would pull the radio and have
an avionics shop bench test it. That way you know if you are dealing
with a radio problem or an antenna/cabling issue. (from your
paragraph above, I am wondering how the antenna and connections were
verified 'good' without getting the GPS to work).

-Nathan

I wouldn't say that the cableing and antenna connections were positively
verified 'good', just that the 430 worked when the airplane was last shut
down and hangered and that there are no visable problems with the cables or
antenna and the connections are snug. This is however the direction he is
checking next. He flew it over to an avionics shop yesterday, unfortunately
the owner was gone. He's had it sitting outside running for over an hour as
well as flown it for over an hour and it still doesn't pick up the
satellites. I'll see if he can set the date and time and try it again.
Thanks,
Jim

Borrow another 430 and see if it is the box or the installation.

Mike
MU-2


"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
I wouldn't say that the cableing and antenna connections were positively
verified 'good', just that the 430 worked when the airplane was last shut
down and hangered and that there are no visable problems with the cables
or
antenna and the connections are snug. This is however the direction he is
checking next. He flew it over to an avionics shop yesterday,
unfortunately
the owner was gone. He's had it sitting outside running for over an hour
as
well as flown it for over an hour and it still doesn't pick up the
satellites. I'll see if he can set the date and time and try it again.
Thanks,
Jim

His is a 12v, only other ones around here are 24v. Avionics guy should be
back today.

Jim

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
Borrow another 430 and see if it is the box or the installation.

Mike
MU-2


"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
I wouldn't say that the cableing and antenna connections were positively
verified 'good', just that the 430 worked when the airplane was last
shut
down and hangered and that there are no visable problems with the cables
or
antenna and the connections are snug. This is however the direction he
is
checking next. He flew it over to an avionics shop yesterday,
unfortunately
the owner was gone. He's had it sitting outside running for over an hour
as
well as flown it for over an hour and it still doesn't pick up the
satellites. I'll see if he can set the date and time and try it again.
Thanks,
Jim

I think all the recent ones work on either 14 or 28V.

Mike
MU-2

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
news
His is a 12v, only other ones around here are 24v. Avionics guy should be
back today.

Jim

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
Borrow another 430 and see if it is the box or the installation.

Mike
MU-2


"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
I wouldn't say that the cableing and antenna connections were positively
verified 'good', just that the 430 worked when the airplane was last
shut
down and hangered and that there are no visable problems with the
cables
or
antenna and the connections are snug. This is however the direction he
is
checking next. He flew it over to an avionics shop yesterday,
unfortunately
the owner was gone. He's had it sitting outside running for over an
hour
as
well as flown it for over an hour and it still doesn't pick up the
satellites. I'll see if he can set the date and time and try it again.
Thanks,
Jim

Could be. Yesterday he visited the FBO that we used to lease the 182RG from
and they checked that one, it was only 28v. We're kind of in a 430 deprived
area of Wisconsin
Jim


"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
link.net...
I think all the recent ones work on either 14 or 28V.

Mike
MU-2

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
news
His is a 12v, only other ones around here are 24v. Avionics guy should
be
back today.

Jim

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
Borrow another 430 and see if it is the box or the installation.

Mike
MU-2


"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
I wouldn't say that the cableing and antenna connections were
positively
verified 'good', just that the 430 worked when the airplane was last
shut
down and hangered and that there are no visable problems with the
cables
or
antenna and the connections are snug. This is however the direction
he
is
checking next. He flew it over to an avionics shop yesterday,
unfortunately
the owner was gone. He's had it sitting outside running for over an
hour
as
well as flown it for over an hour and it still doesn't pick up the
satellites. I'll see if he can set the date and time and try it
again.
Thanks,
Jim

Are your tax payments current?