Garmin 430 VOR reception

Hi!

I have a SL30 and a GNS 430 in my plane. They use the same antenna via a
splitter.
When I dial in the same VOR in both units the SL30 catches up the
radials always between 20 and 50 nautical miles earlier than the GNS
430! (Altitude about 3000 ft, flat area)

Is this normal?
What is your experience?
How far away do you have a reception of a VOR with your GNS 430?

Fly safe!
Maik

Maik ) wrote:

Is this normal?
What is your experience?
How far away do you have a reception of a VOR with your GNS 430?

I have never noticed a discrepancy between the Garmin's VOR reception
and that of my Bendix/King receiver, but I wanted to share a similar
problem I had over the summer.

When I brought my aircraft in for other avionics work, I ask the shop to
verify the installation of the GNS430, which was done by another, rather
careless shop for the previous owner of the aircraft.

After running a battery of tests, they found that the glideslope
receiver in the unit had lost a bit of sensitivity and was below spec.
They also discovered that the other shop used a lower grade co-ax cable
to connect the antenna, but that is another story.

The shop sent the unit to Garmin, who in turn replicated this problem,
but had a challenging time correcting it (it had failed Garmin's own
internal quality control two times before the problem was fixed).

--
Peter

Maik wrote in message ...
Hi!

I have a SL30 and a GNS 430 in my plane. They use the same antenna via a
splitter.
When I dial in the same VOR in both units the SL30 catches up the
radials always between 20 and 50 nautical miles earlier than the GNS
430! (Altitude about 3000 ft, flat area)

Is this normal?
What is your experience?
How far away do you have a reception of a VOR with your GNS 430?

*** I have a similar experience. My GNS-430 is clearly less sensitive than
NAV2, a KX170B, even though they use the same antenna. I had assumed it was
because the '430 has a wideband front end, whereas the KX170B, a much older
technology, has a varactor-tuned front end. OTOH, the SL30 should have a
wideband front end too.

- Jerry Kaidor ( )

I remember my avionics tech telling me that it was not recommended to double
up the antenna of a GNS 430 with anotherNAV--especially the older ones.
Could be a factor.

Marco Leon
N36616 FRG


"Jerry Kaidor" wrote in message
om...
Maik wrote in message
...
Hi!

I have a SL30 and a GNS 430 in my plane. They use the same antenna via a
splitter.
When I dial in the same VOR in both units the SL30 catches up the
radials always between 20 and 50 nautical miles earlier than the GNS
430! (Altitude about 3000 ft, flat area)

Is this normal?
What is your experience?
How far away do you have a reception of a VOR with your GNS 430?

*** I have a similar experience. My GNS-430 is clearly less sensitive
than
NAV2, a KX170B, even though they use the same antenna. I had assumed it
was
because the '430 has a wideband front end, whereas the KX170B, a much
older
technology, has a varactor-tuned front end. OTOH, the SL30 should have a
wideband front end too.

- Jerry Kaidor ( )