GDL-50 under the glareshield?

[201Mooniac]

Has anyone tried to install a GDL-50 under the glareshield?  I presume the GPS will work fine but I was wondering how the ADS-B reception was having to get the signal from the ground without metal in the line of sight.

[0TreeLemur]

Since I'm thinking about the best way to mount a ADS-B receiver under the panel I'm interested in this as well.   I see the GDL-50 has a jack labeled GPS, which I presume is for an external gps puck, it would be possible to put that up on the glareshield.   How about an external connection to an L-band (transponder antenna)?  Also, I see the GDL-50 has a power switch.  Can it be connected so that it auto powers on?

Our previous airplane had an Appareo transponder and a Stratus 2i under the panel.  It just worked.  Always.   I want that level of functionality without having to worry about it, without having to pay for a transponder I don't need to replace. 

[LANCECASPER]

https://static.garmin.com/pumac/190-02087-02_B.pdf

[201Mooniac]

Yes, it can auto power up and auto power down when there is no BT connection and on the ground.  The GPS should work fine below the glareshield as the internal antenna faces up.  The ADS-B antenna though needs to receive a signal from below.  I understand you can remove the included ADS-B antenna and connect an external antenna through a coax to an MCX connector.  I'd just like to know if the ADS-B would work without the external antenna as I'd rather not add another antenna hanging out in the wind.

[LANCECASPER]

59 minutes ago, 201Mooniac said:

Yes, it can auto power up and auto power down when there is no BT connection and on the ground.  The GPS should work fine below the glareshield as the internal antenna faces up.  The ADS-B antenna though needs to receive a signal from below.  I understand you can remove the included ADS-B antenna and connect an external antenna through a coax to an MCX connector.  I'd just like to know if the ADS-B would work without the external antenna as I'd rather not add another antenna hanging out in the wind.

It will get some targets but hooking it up to an external antenna on the belly, since ads-b is ground based, will get you a lot better reception. Many airplanes have an extra dme antenna under there which isn't being used which would work fine. 

[201Mooniac]

13 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

It will get some targets but hooking it up to an external antenna on the belly, since ads-b is ground based, will get you a lot better reception. Many airplanes have an extra dme antenna under there which isn't being used which would work fine. 

My DME antenna is already repurposed for the GDL-88.  As the GDL-50 is intended as a backup for power failure, just hoping it might be good enough without another antenna.

Maybe I should remove the marker beacon antenna and put the antenna in that place.

[LANCECASPER]

1 minute ago, 201Mooniac said:

My DME antenna is already repurposed for the GDL-88.  As the GDL-50 is intended as a backup for power failure, just hoping it might be good enough without another antenna.

Maybe I should remove the marker beacon antenna and put the antenna in that place.

I have a GDL52 for the same reason (backup for power failure). I just leave it on top of the right side of the glare shield and it does fine. That way I can look at the status light and verify everything. I power it with the usb-c jack and run it down the side. Since I'm not OCD it doesn't bother me to have it on the glare shield .

[201Mooniac]

56 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

I have a GDL52 for the same reason (backup for power failure). I just leave it on top of the right side of the glare shield and it does fine. That way I can look at the status light and verify everything. I power it with the usb-c jack and run it down the side. Since I'm not OCD it doesn't bother me to have it on the glare shield .

Wow, you nailed it immediately, I'm very OCD and I'm not sure I could handle it on the glare shield :-)

[0TreeLemur]

1 minute ago, 201Mooniac said:

Wow, you nailed it immediately, I'm very OCD and I'm not sure I could handle it on the glare shield :-)

I'm not OCD, but I prefer not having to worry about stuff flying around the cabin.

[LANCECASPER]

35 minutes ago, 0TreeLemur said:

I'm not OCD, but I prefer not having to worry about stuff flying around the cabin.

The GDL 50, 51 & 52 have a nice little bracket that they snap into that can be attached to the glare shield with industrial velcro or screws.

[larryb]

When I had my J model I had the 796 XM puck under the glare shield and it worked perfectly, always a strong signal. When I got my Encore I tried the same and it never worked. Weak signal, dropouts in turns, etc. Tried to find a place on top of the glare shield and that didn't work either. Tried a couple different pucks, no improvement. I figured there must have been some interference source in the panel area that was messing with the signal.

 

Eventually I transitioned to a GDL52-R mounted in the tail and hard-wired to the 796 and the audio panel for music. I already had an XM antenna mounted on the top of the cabin from the legacy GDL69 and I had a 2nd ADSB-in antenna installed under the belly pan. This gave me solid signal strength for XM, a 2nd ADSB-in receiver, and no visible wiring.

[slowflyin]

I can't speak to the ADSB reception, but I have a GDL51R mounted under the glare shield.  Auto powers up and works great!  Remote antenna on the glare shield behind the center post.  It's barely noticeable.  No issues for three years.