GNS430 - thickee's guide

[stiknruda]

Another plea for help from a beleaguered Stik.

I've been asked to fly an aeroplane with a GNS430 coupled to an autopilot with an HSI thingy.

As a good airman, I've spent the afternoon going through the POH and waded through countless supplements, done the W&B and recall doing 50 odd hours in one of these craft over 10 years ago. So I'm good to go except one wee thing...........

I've no idea how to use the 430! It looks really pretty but I'd quite like to know how to change frequencies, both NAV and COM and set up the GPS as in GOTO. At this stage I don't need to enter waypoints or routes or even slave the autopilot! And I guess i just want a moving map as a display to ensure I don't infringe CAS:p

Where can I find a simple pamphlet on the net?

Thanks chaps/esses

[david viewing]

The Garmin manuals are on the net but you may find this video (http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/afs/divisions/eastern_region/avsafety_program/Garmin/)more entertaining....

[stiknruda]

David - you is the man! Exactly what I hoped for.

Thank you.

Stik

[drauk]

You can find one here (if you really only want to do what you say):

1) Switch it on
2) Press Enter when prompted with "OK?". Do it again when prompted.
3) No matter what screen you're on at any time after that, press CLR and hold it in for a few seconds. Turn the small dial of the pair in the bottom right corner one click clockwise. You'll now have a moving map.
4) To zoom in and out press the arrow buttons, top right.

Do you know how to work its radio?

[Whirlygig]

Thanks for asking the question Stik; I've also found it a bit of bewildering kit but then I'd never used GPS before!!

Cheers

Whirls

[stiknruda]

drauk - work the radio, I could now fly the box it came in, thanks to DV's awesome powerpoint presentation aimed at Septics and thickees!

On a serious note - it is quite intimidating when you are used to a simple COM and anything with a flip-flop is deemed advanced!

Stik

[Tinstaafl]

A precis of the Garmin 430. All from memory so might be some errors here & there...

The Garmin 430 is a combined GPS, COM & NAV unit. The face of the unit has 4 main areas:

1. Knobs & buttons on the L. side of the screen to control COM & NAV tuning & activation from standby

2. The display screen

3. More knobs & buttons to control the GPS functions to the R. side of the screen

4. Buttons along the bottom to control other functions eg whether the VOR/HSI CDI is to react to VOR signals or GPS off-track signals.


COM & NAV each have a knob of their own to tune frequencies. Inner knob for decimals of freqs., outer ring for units. Push on the respective inner knob to disable squelch/enable morse ident.

Top knob is for COM, knob below for NAV. Each has an adjacent boxed area on the screen showing the frequency in use & a standby freq. The tuning knobs enter the frequency into the standby area.

A button to flip-flop active standby freqs. is next to each freq. display box.


The 430's display is divided into sections. For simplicity call them Left - Middle - Right - Bottom

Left: Primarily has COM & NAV windows + a small advisory area at the bottom

Middle: The main working area of the unit for most of its functions. Show the GPS moving map, various E6B functions, flight plans etc

Right (if enables): Can be used to show data blocks eg Next waypoint, Dist, time, ETE, speed etc. If not enabled then the middle screen takes over the space made available.

Bottom: Advisory/confirmation info. The area is only a line or two high.


The right hand side of the unit has various buttons & another concentric input knob.

The important buttons are 'Direct to' (standard 'D' With an arrow), 'Enter' ('Ent'), display scale (top rocker button) & the data entry knob.

The data entry knob uses the outer ring to move the cursor to the next postion, inner knob to rotate through the alphabet/numerals in sequence.

An example: Press DIRECT TO. The screen shows a data entry window to enter the waypoint/vor/airport you wish to fly to. Rotate the inner knob to set the first letter of the waypoint then rotate the outer knob a single click to position the cursor for the next letter. Rotate the inner knob again to select the next letter etc. When finished press ENTER to activate the selection. You may have to press ENTER a couple of times to confirm/choose your selection eg if there's two or more fixes with the same name. I often have to choose between a VOR I use here in the US and another in S. America.

Use the outer knob to move the selection up or down as needed & press ENTER to confirm.

With the map shown on the display it's also possible to press the data entry knob to cause a cursor to display on the screen. The top of the screen will show the lat/long, dist. & brg. from the a/c position to the cursor. Rotate the outer ring of the data entry knob to move the cursor L & R, the inner knob to move the cursor UP & DOWN.

If the position you want is off screen the GPS will take a few moments to redraw the screen after the cursor reaches the window edge.

After you position the cursor you can press 'DIRECT TO' --> 'ENTER' & the GPS will activate that cursor position as the next waypoint.

*NB it might be inner knob for L & R, and outer knob for U & D. Can't remember. No matter- it becomes blindingly obvious as soon as you rotate the knob!

Bottom row of buttons:

Leftmost one selects whether the HSI CDI reacts to the active VOR frequency or to the GPS off-course signals.

2nd from the R. activates & de-activates the flight plan page. Push the inner data entry knob to activate the cursor then as with 'DIRECT TO' to enter a waypoint, and ENTER to move down ready to enter the next waypoint.

Push the data entry knob again to cancel the cursor mode. Outer ring will now move up & down the list of waypoints.


Lots more features but the above at least lets you get com., nav., & basic GPS functions. I love them. They're the best GPS unit I've ever used.

Re. HSI: It's just a DI combined with a VOR. + a heading bug for autopilot use. Usually slaved to a remote compass so you don't have to keep aligning the DI yourself. The 'normal' VOR OBS is replace with an arrow that you turn to point at the required radial shown on the compass ring. The middle of the arrow moves as per a normal CDI. The radial will depicted oriented w.r.t. to the a/c heading.

[Johnm]

You can also download a simulator from the Garmin website and practice driving it:)

[Kolibear]

Indulge me for a moment - how much does it cost?

[Maxflyer]

I believe that there is a simulator available for download from Garmin's site foc.

Sorry I didn't see JohnM's post. Time for new glasses methinks.

[Johnm]

Indulge me for a moment - how much does it cost?


It's free!!:) :)

[Sir George Cayley]

...and it's current -


You can have a go at the CAA GPS Trial:)


Were'nt they saying they needed some more heroes like you to take part?



Sir George Cayley

[Zulu Alpha]

Stik,

Have you found out how to program it for aeros yet!!!

Must be a way to get the sequence into it somehow.

[stiknruda]

IMC rating - no chance, out of sight of the ground and in cloud, too - in an SEP. I'm just not brave enough.

ZA - Aeros, I think not - you don't see many Pietenpol Aircampers with electrics!

[Kolibear]

ndulge me for a moment - how much does it cost?


It's free!!

Actually, I meant how much is a 430?

[S-Works]

I paid £3000 for mine from Harry M. Cost me £500 to fit with David Jones at Airspeed Aviation Derby and £70 for the BRNAV Airways bit of paper.

If you need an Indicator whici is required for IFR you will need to connect to either an HSI or buy the Garmin G106A at about £850.

[drauk]

£3k is a great price - HM quoted me £3,700 (+VAT), having asked for a discount. Various installers quoted the same price too. Add another £2k for a GNS530. £500 is a great install price too, though I guess it depends on how many other things in the panel you've got it hooked up to (txpdr, HSI, AP, etc.).

[LowNSlow]

stik I assume that the training wheel on something so full of electrikery is on the front. Don't forget if it is!!! :eek:

[Fright Level]

I've just started flying a plane with the 430. Great piece of kit, mostly intuitive except the "execute" button, I keep pressing the centre CRSR button instead of moving up to the ENT button.
I tried the manual but you need to have the unit on and running to really work though it. The simulator you can download from their site is excellent and saves you flattening the battery in your plane getting to grips with all the functions. Link to manuals and simulator (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=194&pID=82).

[A and C]

Stay with what you know best ............ a map and the standby compass !:)

[Fright Level]

Try as I would, I just couldn't get the autopilot to accept commands from my screwed up half mil chart :}

[BackPacker]

COM & NAV each have a knob of their own to tune frequencies. Inner knob for decimals of freqs., outer ring for units. Push on the respective inner knob to disable squelch/enable morse ident.

Top knob is for COM, knob below for NAV. Each has an adjacent boxed area on the screen showing the frequency in use & a standby freq. The tuning knobs enter the frequency into the standby area.

A button to flip-flop active standby freqs. is next to each freq. display box.

Not quite correct, as I recall. There's only one knob to tune both the COM & NAV standby frequency, and this knob has an outer and inner ring as usual. To switch between tuning COM and NAV (the standby frequencies), *press* this knob once. To flip-flop between the active and standby frequency, both COM and NAV have their own dedicated flip-flop button. And both NAV and COM have their own little volume knob as usual (with pull to disable squelch/enable ident), and I think the COM volume is the one which can also turn the whole unit off.

But it's the combined COM/NAV frequency selection knob and the non-intuitive way of switching between COM and NAV frequency selection which still gets me from time to time.

Something else which caught me out. I had painstakenly inputted an eight-leg flightplan and activated it, before starting the engine. Avionics master off, start engine, avionics on. Flightplan gone. Bugger. Had to do the whole thing again in the air. (Fortunately I had a computer wiz passenger.) To retain a flightplan across a power cut you actually have to save it in one of the twenty or so available slots.

Great piece of kit, but you need to spend some serious time learning it. And, as said, better do that using the sim than running the aircraft battery down.

[Fright Level]

Davids link to the FAA site is good. It opens two small media player windows, one with Tao-Knee from the Bronx describing the operation and the other a Powerpoint presentation. With the simulator running in a third window, it's an easy job to learn the 430/530 operation.
Apologies in advance to the FAA presenter, but the heavy NY accent is a little like an episode of the Soprano's :}