Coming back to this one as it still isn’t fixed and I want to try for recommendations one more time before sending it to Garmin.
I’ve got a local A&P now and have elected to do a little more in-depth troubleshooting. I’ve been doing quite a bit of IMC too and only having one radio is a little disconcerting. When checking reception, airborne I’ve been unable to get ATIS at any range. On deck, I’ve been checking it against local ATIS at about 1/4 mile range and results have varied between 0-100%.
After spending an hour with it today, here is what I know: I’m almost 100% certain it is not an issue with anything other than the unit. I installed it another a/c with the exact same issue (zero reception). In my plane, sometimes reception is 100% clear, sometimes it is 0, even with squelch off. When it’s 100%, sometimes it’ll last a couple minutes, then slowly transition to heavy static and 0 reception. Sometimes it’s 0 initially, but swapping freqs or cycling the power will get it back to 100%. Sometimes, doing this will give me about 10-15% reception initially, but then it’ll slowly clear up to 100%. I initially thought that I would lose reception as the unit warmed up, but after spending some time with it, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Sometimes reception is 100%, but keying the mic (pilot or copilot) will cause me to completely lose the reception. Sometimes with 0 reception, keying the mic (either) once or more will bring reception back.
Having the 530W on or off does not seem to affect it. Nav works fine. I’ve reseated it multiple times, wiggled the unit, checked for recessed pins, and confirmed the ant is connected at both ends and moving the cable has no affect. I’ve cycled the power on the audio panel too. Last time it worked 4.0, I had a GTX-345 installed and I presume the 430 had to come out to facilitate install. 430 hasn’t worked right since.
Again, I’m pretty certain the unit needs to go in to Garmin for servicing, but just wanted to check here once more just in case someone had another idea.
