I’m out of my depth with two avionics engineers, regarding the installation of a Garmin 330, and subsequent performance.
Engineer A installed a Garmin 330 (pre-loved) in our 182. Performance appeared OK, until a hyena decided our antenna would make a tasty breakfast.
Engineer B, not at our base, having installed a replacement antenna, remarked that Pin 50 had not been utilised, and performance would have been comprised.
Amateur research shows Pin 50 is “ALTITUDE COMMON (GROUND)” (thanks Peter for the manual).
Could a guru referee this potential dispute? How important is Pin 50 regarding performance?
Not using Pin 50 will only be a problem if you have a Grey-code altitude encoder which doesn’t have it’s altitude common connected to ground but was expecting to see the ground via the transponder. If you can see a valid Flight Level on the GTX330 then you have nothing to worry about.
Many thanks, Wigglyamp, that’s really useful.
We have a valid Flight Level indicated, so I guess, no problem.
2greens1red wrote:
a hyena decided our antenna would make a tasty breakfast
Wow! That’s not your typical tech problem…is that a metaphore or a fairly accurate description of the problem?
If so, I guess you must have been flying around the Kenyan outback….did you fly all the way there from the UK?
