GNS 430 problem redux

[Kevin Clarke]

Hi folks,

As a followup msg, I wrote awhile ago about the poor reception
performance we were getting after out GNS 430 was installed. As a
reminder, TX for COM was fine, GPS was fine and NAV was fine. It was
just the RX of the COM. The RX was working about 25% as well as the
KX-155 as measured by range of reception at altitude, 4000' or so. The
GNS was really limited to TERM operations only, meaning within 10 miles
or so.

Well after the avionics shop replaced just about everything else, it
turned out that most of the issue was resolved after replacing the
antenna. Now the COM function of the GNS works reasonably well, but
still not quite as well as the KX-155 we also have in the plane.

So two parts to this msg, 1, thanks for all your help and suggestions.
To those of you who voted antenna, you win. The second part is for folks
that have the GNS 430/KX-155 gear, what are your experiences in terms of
what COM radio works better?

thanks again for all your help.
KC

[Marco Leon]

Kevin Clarke wrote:
>The second part is for folks
> that have the GNS 430/KX-155 gear, what are your experiences in terms of
> what COM radio works better?

I can't speak for the KX-155 but I do have a GNS430/KX-170 combo. There
have been a handful of times where ATC (Boston Center to be exact)
couldn't hear me well on my 430 but heard me on my KX-170. In each of
these situations, I was flying over eastern NY while under BOS CTR's
jurisdiction so I was pretty far from them. As another data point, my
430 is attached to an antenna on the bottom of my fuselage and the 170
to an older one on the top. You would think that at altitude, the
bottom antenna location *should* provide for better for both TX and RX.
Oh well.

Considering that Garmin came out with the GNS430A with more powerful
coms, that tells me that the original 430's com weakness is well known
to their engineers.

Marco

[Viperdoc[_1_]]

I have a 530 and a King as well- the radio transmissions from the King seem
to have a better range.

[pgbnh]

Not a 430, but a 530/kx155 combo. No differences noted in transmission or
reception one to the other
"Kevin Clarke" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> Hi folks,
>
> As a followup msg, I wrote awhile ago about the poor reception performance
> we were getting after out GNS 430 was installed. As a reminder, TX for COM
> was fine, GPS was fine and NAV was fine. It was just the RX of the COM.
> The RX was working about 25% as well as the KX-155 as measured by range of
> reception at altitude, 4000' or so. The GNS was really limited to TERM
> operations only, meaning within 10 miles or so.
>
> Well after the avionics shop replaced just about everything else, it
> turned out that most of the issue was resolved after replacing the
> antenna. Now the COM function of the GNS works reasonably well, but still
> not quite as well as the KX-155 we also have in the plane.
>
> So two parts to this msg, 1, thanks for all your help and suggestions. To
> those of you who voted antenna, you win. The second part is for folks that
> have the GNS 430/KX-155 gear, what are your experiences in terms of what
> COM radio works better?
>
> thanks again for all your help.
> KC