lsearcy Posted April 1, 2015 Report Posted April 1, 2015 All: We have had a panel mount Garmin 396 in the plane for some time. The antenna has always been mounted on the glareshield with the mini-suction cup mounts. We moved the panel around a bit and now actually have 2 panel mounted 396's. The antennas are now both mounted with velcro to the dash. We are now experiencing lost satellite reception periodically during the flight on both 396's. The 530 is not losing reception. We called the avionics shop and the response was that the antennas were getting hot on the dash. If that is true why were they not getting hot with the suction cup mount. The antenna is essentially in the same place just now it actually touches the dash instead of mounting to the bottom of the windshield. Any help is appreciated. Quote
carusoam Posted April 1, 2015 Report Posted April 1, 2015 Antennae can cause interference with each other... You had one successful 396, then you added another? Are the two antennae close to each other. How close? See if separating the two antennae away from each other helps. Do you have old Narco radios in the panel? Mine would generate enough interference on some Nav channels to give the same effect to my portable Garmin. Best regards, -a- Quote
Releew Posted April 1, 2015 Report Posted April 1, 2015 Agree with the above....... Hard to believe but I personally saw 530 antenna go bad and it created a blocked signal on the 430 a Garmin handheld 510 as well as an Ipad. Seems crazy but is can happen!! Rick Quote
larryb Posted April 1, 2015 Report Posted April 1, 2015 My gps and XM antennas are mounted underneath the dash cover, hidden and out of sun. Reception of the signals is fine. Quote
lsearcy Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Posted April 1, 2015 We already owned the other 396. I had one when i bought the plane and the other one was already in the plane. We removed non-functioning equipment and for no additional cost stacked the 396's. No Narco radios. Yes, Antennas are close to each other. Maybe 6-8 inches. I will try moving them to the outside corners of the windscreen. Thanks for the information. 1 Quote
Hector Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 I've had my 496 antenna velcro to the dash for years without any problems. Quote
carusoam Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 When you try the next antenna experiment... Are you able to see their signal strength? They will at least show you the number of satellites that they are receiving. Watch the effect of signal strength vs distance between the antennae. Two portable garmins in one plane were probably not tested for issues like this. Panel mounted Garmins have a minimum distance required for their antennae. Best regards, -a- Quote
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