Serial comm with Garmin GTR-200 and 496 GPS

[hoyden]

I have a dual Skyview system that I am configuring to communicate with a Garmin GTR-200 comm radio and a 496 GPS. I would like the 496 GPS to send position to Skyview and an ELT. With position coming in on a serial port I would like to push radio frequencies to the GTR-200 with the otherwise unused serial output. Reading through the manual I see that communication with an external radio requires serial input and output. It looks like I need to run the GTR-200 and the 496 GPS from different serial ports.

Is there any value in having bi-directional communication with the 496? Does communication with an external radio always require bi-directional communication?

 

[dynonsupport]

Hoyden,
The advantage of hooking the GTR up both ways is that SkyView can show the frequencies and status of the GTR in the top bar. It will even do reverse-lookup on a frequency, so if you manually enter 119.700, it will tell you that it KPSP TOWER.

Because of this, we don't support setting up a COM radio where we only use the OUT serial port, and allow you to hook the IN to something else.

There is no particular advantage to having bi-directional to the 496, so when you set up those ports, we only use up the IN port. The OUT can be used for something else. You may want to re-consider having the 496 as well- many of our customers have been removing the portable GPS units from their planes now that SkyView has such advanced mapping features.

We also really recommend that you use Dynon's SV-GPS-250 GPS for position. The 496 only outputs at 1Hz (even though it is 5Hz internally), so you will get much smoother animation on SkyView if you use the 250 instead.

 

[hoyden]

Thank you for your explanation. After I Read The Fine Manual (GTR-200) I realized that I can't just push frequencies to the radio because the radio wants to talk back. I will configure the port to the radio for RX and TX, and leave the 496 talking to the ELT. In hindsight perhaps mounting the 496 was not really worth the time and effort.