Wanted: GPS Tutorial

[MaidenFan]

Does anybody know of a good GPS tutorial for X-Plane's basic Garmin that's in most of the GA's? I've looked a little, but I can't find anyting. A video would be nice if anybody knows where to find that.

Thanks

[Ben Russell]

Added the word "Wanted: " to your topic title.

[MaidenFan]

Thanks Indi!

[Kaphias]

See if you can find anything on it in here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~x-plane/FAQ-Flying.html

[steven winslow]

You can download the real world manual and quick start manual

http://www8.garmin.com/support/userManualAviation.jsp?market=1&subcategory=8&product=010-00139-11

I know it helped me a lot!

[JimW]

I researched and wrote this quite a while ago when I just started with X-Plane:

First of all as reported by others, the Garmin 430, at least in the Cessna 172SP is not fully implemented. Reading Garmin's <www.garmin.com> manual as suggested by the on-screen tips probably will not be of much help other than to familiarize you with what the instrument is supposed to do. Reading the 27 page Quick Reference might be of more, but somewhat limited use. It is now in PDF format so Win and Mac can both download it and open it. That said, here is a summary of what I found it will do:

Duplicate the functions of a normal 2 channel radio (Active & Standby for Com and Nav)

Allow you to manually enter a single waypoint - i.e Airport, VOR, etc.

Allow you to load a single waypoint from the Goodway Plugin. However you can enter a new one when you arrive at the previous on from the plug-in display - i.e. go through your list.

Allow the Goodway Plugin to load Nav & Com Frequencies

Display the Nearest points related to your current position.

Display Airport Frequencies

Display the local Airport elevation

Display the entered waypoint or loaded waypoint showing waypoint heading, you're heading, distance, ground speed, and estimated time of arrival

Display a limited and hard to see map of where you are and what is around you.

The unit is best conceptualize as being two separate instruments as currently implemented. The left side functions as a radio tuner as is fairly straight forward. It simply duplicates the functionality of the common aircraft radio, by pushing the center button of the left knob to select what you want to change (Com or Nav) and adjusting the stand-by frequencies with the outer and inner left knob with your mouse to set the frequency. Button to the left of the frequency display act a flip switches and your actual radios will reflect any changes made in the Garmin.

Of the lower bottom row of buttons, the only one I see work is the CDI key. It just switches between GPS & VLOC mode - Nothing else. However in VLOC mode the Garmin does not seem to sync with the OBS. Additionally there doesn't seem to be a way to use OBS2 with the Garmin as there is no selector switch. My experience so far with the OBS button is that it does nothing.

Additionally when the Garmin is in GPS mode, OBS1 is still functional and adjustable. In XP V8 when in GPS mode the OBS course indicated was controlled by the GPS and the setting knob was not functional. The OBS's still function properly but only seem to be controlled by the radios and autopilot.

The rest of the bottom row of buttons seem to be non-functional other than changing to a different screen display.

Now lets go to the right side of the Garmin. Starting with right control knob, it only seems to do the following:

Outside Knob:

Select Nav, Waypoint, or Nearest Display

When the Waypoint entry button is pushed, select the character field to enter a letter or number using the inner knob.

That's it.

Inside Knob:

Contrary to the manual, the inner know cannot be depressed, only turned. It serves to do the following:

Select a display page based on the outer knob setting

Select a character when the Waypoint button is pressed.

Starting from the top, going left to right (on the left side), these buttons function as follows:

RNG (Range): Select the scale of the map display.

Arrow with a circle in the middle (Waypoint) Sets the unit into waypoint entry mode

Men (Menu): No functionality

CLR (Clear): Displays the Map. Pressing it multiple time activates filters to eliminate information that may clutter the scree and make it unreadable. There are 3 modes to this - everything, navigation sources, and airports.

ENT (Entry): Only displays the data page that indicates waypoint, distance, speed, tracking, estimated time of arrival, and a horizontal graphic OBS. I find this to be the most useful page and is the only page that the Goodway Plugin seems to load. Please note that while the data loaded by Goodway (3.44) usually is correct, the Waypoint description may not be.

To summarize, I have only been able to load the following data with this unit:

Radio Frequency Information, manually or with Goodway

A single waypoint at a time manually with the waypoint button - I usually enter the destination airport.

A single waypoint with Goodway into the data display screen.

Interesting enough the unit can actually hold 2 waypoints at the same time. If a waypoint is entered manually with the waypoint button, it is not deleted if the data display screen is loaded from Goodway. It can be retrieved by pressing the waypoint button again and then dialing in the data display with the outer left knob. However any previous Goodway data in that display will be replace and must be reentered from the Goodway plugin.

Operation with the AutoPilot:

Actually this is fairly simple. When LOC is pressed, it creates a link to the Garmin. If the Garmin is in VLOC it uses the NAV 1 Radio frequency for its lock. If it is in GPS mode, it uses the data displayed in the data screen (the ENT button) for a lock. Since OBS 1 is linked to the Autopilot, If a VOR is the Nav 1 Frequency the OBS functions to fly the radial. If NAV 1 is tuned to an ILS frequency, it functions in ILS Mode.

Some tips on use:

Ignore the OBS when in GPS Mode unless you a NAV radio tuned to a correct frequency. Then the OBS can monitor the direction but the plane will not react to it unless you switch the Garmin to VLOC mode.

When an Airport is displayed in any of the modes, flipping through the pages with the right inner knob may reveal airport frequencies and elevations. In general, most of the pages, not described have limited use, or none at all, but feel free to browse.

You may discover something I missed as I only have been working with this device for 3 days. Please feel free to correct any mistakes or oversights in your replies. I am sure I have missed something but I wanted to get this out asap so others would not have to experience as must frustration as I have from this device as while there is some info available, it is spread out all over the place. So I just wanted to summarized what I have learned so far.