Hello,
For decades, Garmin portable GPS units have been capable of listening to the Aviation RS-232 serial output from a Garmin navigator and display the series of waypoints which make up the flight plan or loaded procedure with a series of straight lines between the waypoints.
With the advent of the WAAS GNS/GTN navigators, a new, more powerful serial format called MapMX became available, but the portables couldn't listen to it - until now.
Beginning with Aera 660 V3.20, available now, the Aera 660 can display curved paths for enroute, terminal, approach, and missed approach procedures and holding patterns very similar to what is shown on the GNS/GTN display.
ILS33 at KLWC
To enable this support, just set the GNS/GTN serial port format to MapMX, and similarly set one of the two serial ports on the Aera 660 to MapMX. The device information shown on the Aera 660 page will confirm that the link is working.
With the Aviation format, customers would often install a switch in the panel to allow them to disable the GNS/GTN link to allow use of the flight planning internal to the portable GPS, but with this MapMX implementation, there is now a FPL Source button on the Aera 660 flight plan page that lets you quickly switch between internal and external (MapMX) flight planning.
In many installations, there will be no wiring changes to take advantage of this new feature. Simply switch a GTN link from Aviation to MapMX serial format, and select MapMX on the corresponding serial port on an Aera 660 using V3.20. It immediately works with no wiring changes.
Just a reminder that the Garmin GDU 450/460/470 series of high performance infrared touch screen displays can also listen to MapMX and display similar information to what is shown on the GNS/GTN display without a G3X system. The street price for the GDU 470 shown here is $2,995.
Thanks,
Steve
For decades, Garmin portable GPS units have been capable of listening to the Aviation RS-232 serial output from a Garmin navigator and display the series of waypoints which make up the flight plan or loaded procedure with a series of straight lines between the waypoints.
With the advent of the WAAS GNS/GTN navigators, a new, more powerful serial format called MapMX became available, but the portables couldn't listen to it - until now.
Beginning with Aera 660 V3.20, available now, the Aera 660 can display curved paths for enroute, terminal, approach, and missed approach procedures and holding patterns very similar to what is shown on the GNS/GTN display.
ILS33 at KLWC
To enable this support, just set the GNS/GTN serial port format to MapMX, and similarly set one of the two serial ports on the Aera 660 to MapMX. The device information shown on the Aera 660 page will confirm that the link is working.
With the Aviation format, customers would often install a switch in the panel to allow them to disable the GNS/GTN link to allow use of the flight planning internal to the portable GPS, but with this MapMX implementation, there is now a FPL Source button on the Aera 660 flight plan page that lets you quickly switch between internal and external (MapMX) flight planning.
In many installations, there will be no wiring changes to take advantage of this new feature. Simply switch a GTN link from Aviation to MapMX serial format, and select MapMX on the corresponding serial port on an Aera 660 using V3.20. It immediately works with no wiring changes.
Just a reminder that the Garmin GDU 450/460/470 series of high performance infrared touch screen displays can also listen to MapMX and display similar information to what is shown on the GNS/GTN display without a G3X system. The street price for the GDU 470 shown here is $2,995.
Thanks,
Steve
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