gpsout with Garmin 496

[alvaro5]

Has anyone connected a Garmin 496 to fs2004 using GPSOut? Can it be done with the USB cable or do I have to buy the opcional serial one? I would apreciate if someone has connected it and can post the parameters in "gpsout.ini" and the configuration in the garmin "setup".

Thank you very much.

Alvaro

[Pete Dowson]

Has anyone connected a Garmin 496 to fs2004 using GPSOut?

There are reports of it being done with a 396. Is the 496 are newer model in the same line? If so it should be fine. See for example http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=42486 .

Can it be done with the USB cable or do I have to buy the opcional serial one?

USB is just another type of serial port. When connected, does the unit show as another COM port in the Windows Device Manager (Control Panel-System-Device Manager)? If so then it is using USB only in COM port emulation mode -- which seems likely if you can also get a serial cable for the same device.

Otherwise, it may be connectable using the more complex USB port name as mentioned in the documentation, though I've no experience of any of that.

If you have some sort of active sync program installed for map /route and other type info updates, you may have to kill that as it could be running in the background waiting to grab the device as soon as it is connected and switched on.

Regards

Pete

[alvaro5]

Thank you Pete, I'll try later, but I think that I need the serial RS-232 cable, as the NMEA may not be sent over the USB cable.

Alvaro

[alvaro5]

I just connected a Garmin GPSMAP 496 to fs2004. I'll post the settings, just in case someone needs it.

Thank you, Pete for gpsout. It works great.

First of all, you will have to buy the optional cable:

Part Number: 010-10514-00

Description: PC interface cable (RS232 serial port connector) for Garmin 496

The 496 comes with a USB cable, but I could not make it work. I think the GPS does not send the nmea data over the usb cable, only over the RS232 cable.

In gpsout.ini the settings are:

[GPSout]

Sentences=AV400

Interval=1500

Port=COM1 (or COM2 or whatever)

Speed=9600

In the garmin go to "main menu" then "Set up" and then to the "interface" tab. For "Serial data format" select "Aviation in"

Don't forget to put the GPS in "simulation mode" in the "system mode"

Regards,

Alvaro

[Pete Dowson]

I just connected a Garmin GPSMAP 496 to fs2004. I'll post the settings, just in case someone needs it.

Thank you!

Just one little correction. The AV400 protocol isn't actually "NMEA". Maybe that GPS range doesn't accept NMEA inputs, except possibly for waypoint or routing data --- not many Garmins seem to.

I hope you don't mind if I add your notes to the little bit of GPSout documentation that exists?

Regards

Pete

[alvaro5]

Of course you can add my notes to the gpsout documentation. I found the information in this page:

http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/04fsal/GPS.htm

Alvaro