396 Magnet No More

[Jon Kraus]

I guess Garmin really does listen to us.... Got our 396 yesterday...
What a sweet piece of equipment by the way... I thought I would remove
the magnets in the GX30 antenna so I wouldn't have to mess with the
Whiskey compass getting spatially disoriented... I found the
instructions for removing the magnets (excellent detailed instructions
by the way) and sat down to perform the surgery. Imaging my suprise (and
delight) when there were no magnets to remove!!

I knew that the 496 didn't contain the dreaded magnets but I thought all
the 396's did. Guess Garmin really did "feel our pain".

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ UMP

[Doug Vetter]

Jon Kraus wrote:
> I guess Garmin really does listen to us.... Got our 396 yesterday...
> What a sweet piece of equipment by the way... I thought I would remove
> the magnets in the GX30 antenna so I wouldn't have to mess with the
> Whiskey compass getting spatially disoriented... I found the
> instructions for removing the magnets (excellent detailed instructions
> by the way) and sat down to perform the surgery. Imaging my suprise (and
> delight) when there were no magnets to remove!!
>
> I knew that the 496 didn't contain the dreaded magnets but I thought all
> the 396's did. Guess Garmin really did "feel our pain".
>
> Jon Kraus
> '79 Mooney 201
> 4443H @ UMP

How about scanning those instructions and posting them somewhere? My
396's antenna needs to be admitted for surgery as well...

-Doug

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

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

[Jon Kraus]

http://www.numa.aero/GXM30.html

That should be all you need. It will take you 10 minutes max to
accomplish... Good luck!!

Jon Kraus

Doug Vetter wrote:
> Jon Kraus wrote:
>
>> I guess Garmin really does listen to us.... Got our 396 yesterday...
>> What a sweet piece of equipment by the way... I thought I would remove
>> the magnets in the GX30 antenna so I wouldn't have to mess with the
>> Whiskey compass getting spatially disoriented... I found the
>> instructions for removing the magnets (excellent detailed instructions
>> by the way) and sat down to perform the surgery. Imaging my suprise
>> (and delight) when there were no magnets to remove!!
>>
>> I knew that the 496 didn't contain the dreaded magnets but I thought
>> all the 396's did. Guess Garmin really did "feel our pain".
>>
>> Jon Kraus
>> '79 Mooney 201
>> 4443H @ UMP
>
>
> How about scanning those instructions and posting them somewhere? My
> 396's antenna needs to be admitted for surgery as well...
>
> -Doug
>
> --------------------
> Doug Vetter, ATP/CFI
>
> http://www.dvatp.com
> --------------------

[Doug Vetter]

Jon Kraus wrote:
> http://www.numa.aero/GXM30.html
>
> That should be all you need. It will take you 10 minutes max to
> accomplish... Good luck!!

Awesome Jon...thanks for that.

-Doug

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

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

[[email protected]]

On 18-Aug-2006, Jon Kraus > wrote:

> Imaging my suprise (and delight) when there were no magnets to remove!!


Jon, were you able to determine that there were no magnets BEFORE you
performed the surgery? Is it your understanding that the magnetless
configuration is now standard on GX30 antennas?

The idea of putting magnets in a device intended (or at least likely) to be
placed atop an aircraft glareshield (and invariably in close proximity to
the wet compass) has to be put in the category of "what were they thinking?"


-Elliott Drucker

[Jon Kraus]

Elliott,

I did not know that the GX30 was missing the magnets until I took it
apart. The GX30 antenna is quite heavy (compared to the GPS antenna) os
I thought or sure that the magnets were in there. I was quite suprised
that they were gone.

In hindsight I should have put a piece of steel by the antenna to see if
it was magnetized. Live and learn I guess. No harm no foul... I was able
to put the thing back together where no one could tell I had been in
there.

JK

wrote:
> On 18-Aug-2006, Jon Kraus > wrote:
>
>
>>Imaging my suprise (and delight) when there were no magnets to remove!!
>
>
>
> Jon, were you able to determine that there were no magnets BEFORE you
> performed the surgery? Is it your understanding that the magnetless
> configuration is now standard on GX30 antennas?
>
> The idea of putting magnets in a device intended (or at least likely) to be
> placed atop an aircraft glareshield (and invariably in close proximity to
> the wet compass) has to be put in the category of "what were they thinking?"
>
>
> -Elliott Drucker

[Dave Butler[_1_]]

Jon Kraus wrote:
> http://www.numa.aero/GXM30.html
>
> That should be all you need. It will take you 10 minutes max to
> accomplish... Good luck!!

Thanks for the link, Jon. Mine will be going under the knife as soon as I get
home from work.

DGB

[Jon Kraus]

No problem Dave.... Make sure the "patient" is completely under before
plunging the knife in... ;-)

Dave Butler wrote:

> Jon Kraus wrote:
>
>> http://www.numa.aero/GXM30.html
>>
>> That should be all you need. It will take you 10 minutes max to
>> accomplish... Good luck!!
>
>
> Thanks for the link, Jon. Mine will be going under the knife as soon as
> I get home from work.
>
> DGB

[Mike Spera]

I am REALLY tempted to remove the critters, especially since you
provided the "heavy lifting" by trying it first.

After surgery, would anyone be able to tell the magnets were removed? I
am thinking of the fist fight I would have if that thing ever went in
for a warranty repair and was refused because the magnets were removed.

Also, does it help to heat the mags a bit to soften the glue?

Thanks,
Mike

[vincent p. norris]

A member of our flying club sent this to me:

I looked into this when we bought the new GPS 396. While we can
remove the magnet from the base of the XM weather antenna, it will
void the warranty, which didn't seem like a good idea at the time.
Instead I made a steel plate that attaches to the dash by Velcro on
which to put the antenna. The steel works as a flux keeper and
contains the magnetic field enough that it has virtually no effect on
the compass. If you move the XM antenna and the steel plate together
from their current location to farther away from the compass you'll
see that the effect is almost, if not completely, imperceptible.

vince norris

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article .net>,
Mike Spera > wrote:
> After surgery, would anyone be able to tell the magnets were removed? I
> am thinking of the fist fight I would have if that thing ever went in
> for a warranty repair and was refused because the magnets were removed.

Removal of the magnets is obviously at your own risk, but a couple guys
on the Piper Owner Society message boards removed the magnets and then
sent the units it for (unrelated) warranty repairs. Garmin didn't
flinch. Obviously, if you trashed your GXM30 removing the magnets, it
would probably be noticed.


JKG