Garmin 430 Reception

Jon Kraus ) wrote:

Our "new" '79 M20J came with a 2 year old Garmin 430 GPS and Garmin 340
audio panel. The backup radio is an ancient King 170B. I must say that
the reception on the Garmin sucks compared to the 170B. Am I doing
something wrong or is this just something I have to live with? To me for
10 grand the Garmin should run circles around the 170B . Thoughts?
Don't flame me too bad I have only flown this plane a couple of
times... Thanks!!

Where do you notice the reception problem, on the ground or in the air?

Do you know where on the body of the aircraft the antenna for the GNS
430 is located? How about the King 170B? What quality is the co-ax
connecting the radio to the antenna? Is the antenna itself in good
shape?

By no means am I an avionics installation guru, but these are the first
questions that come to my mind when I read of a reception problem.

I have pretty much the same stack (GNS430, a B/K 155, and a Garmin audio
panel), but the GNS 430 does not have reception problems that you
describe. The reception seems to be comparable to the 155.

--
Peter

The reception issue seems more prevelant on the ground. THe 430 antenna
is on the top of the aircraft. I haven't had time to check the cable
connections yet but I will.... The antenna got painted when it probably
shouldn't have..... Thanks for the advise! JK

Peter R. wrote:

Jon Kraus ) wrote:


Our "new" '79 M20J came with a 2 year old Garmin 430 GPS and Garmin 340
audio panel. The backup radio is an ancient King 170B. I must say that
the reception on the Garmin sucks compared to the 170B. Am I doing
something wrong or is this just something I have to live with? To me for
10 grand the Garmin should run circles around the 170B . Thoughts?
Don't flame me too bad I have only flown this plane a couple of
times... Thanks!!


Where do you notice the reception problem, on the ground or in the air?

Do you know where on the body of the aircraft the antenna for the GNS
430 is located? How about the King 170B? What quality is the co-ax
connecting the radio to the antenna? Is the antenna itself in good
shape?

By no means am I an avionics installation guru, but these are the first
questions that come to my mind when I read of a reception problem.

I have pretty much the same stack (GNS430, a B/K 155, and a Garmin audio
panel), but the GNS 430 does not have reception problems that you
describe. The reception seems to be comparable to the 155.

Have you considered swapping the antenna leads (at the tranceiver end) to
see if it's a aerial issue?

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
Our "new" '79 M20J came with a 2 year old Garmin 430 GPS and Garmin 340
audio panel. The backup radio is an ancient King 170B. I must say that
the reception on the Garmin sucks compared to the 170B. Am I doing
something wrong or is this just something I have to live with? To me for
10 grand the Garmin should run circles around the 170B . Thoughts?
Don't flame me too bad I have only flown this plane a couple of
times... Thanks!!

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner
'79 M20J 4443H @ TYQ

Desribe your reception problem in more detail. Do you have background
noise, poor range, poor readibility (i. e. audio frequency response),
poor built-in squelch settings, maybe even poor frequency selectivity
(do you hear transmissions 25 KHz above or below set frequency)?

Best quality, clearest, & most troublefree radio in my A/C is an old
Cessna RT508C. It is supposed to be junk.

Jon Kraus writes:

Our "new" '79 M20J came with a 2 year old Garmin 430 GPS and Garmin 340
audio panel. The backup radio is an ancient King 170B. I must say that
the reception on the Garmin sucks compared to the 170B. Am I doing
something wrong or is this just something I have to live with? To me for
10 grand the Garmin should run circles around the 170B . Thoughts?
Don't flame me too bad I have only flown this plane a couple of
times... Thanks!!

Can you swap the antennas around? There is no receiver made that
does not need a good antenna.


--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

I put a 430 in about 4 years ago, and kept a 170B as the 2nd radio. Can't
say I've noticed any difference between them in reception. Both are
"fine" to my ears.

I checked my 430 against my KX125 today on the ATIS and the 430 picked
up the ATIS 60 miles out, about 10 miles before the KX125. My
installer strongly recommended new cables and antenna when the 430 was
installed, and it's always been excellent.