We have this issue with our SPOT Gen 3 and our new Garmin 175 . It appears to be just with the newer Garmin units only. Partially solved by relocating SPOT to the far side of the panel, but with the heightened requirements in the Garmin unit . This is old news , but new to us.. Our previous Garmin GPS worked fine.. Anyone else experiencing this? Cap **Urgent Warning to Garmin / Spot Tracker Users** 10/8/2015 10 Comments 
As many of you know, BCAV member Bruce Burley recently completed a complete upgrade of the avionics on his Cessna 210L. We received a message from Bruce this morning that his Spot Trace Tracker is interfering with the GPS signal on his Garmin glass panel displays particularly the GTN750 & G500. He describes that every 5 minutes when his Spot Trace transmits a GPS position it causes the GTN750 to lose its GPS position input to the aircraft for 10-20 seconds. This fault would seem like a benign nuisance in cruise or during VFR flight but could prove to be potentially catastrophic during an IFR RNAV approach. Bruce has contacted Garmin and Spot to seek a resolution even though the SPOT manual states that the device will not cause interference with other electronic components. He states that when the Spot Trace is on the dash it interferes with ALL other GPS inputs every 5 minutes and if he relocates the tracker to the aft window of the plane that it interferes with 1/3 components. According to a local avionics dealer, the Spot device is on a very similar frequency as Garmin. When it powers up or pulses (as defined by the user, in this case every 5 mins) the Garmin GTN 750 dumps ALL satellites and then quickly reacquires. Because the G500 gets its feed from the GTN 750 it also loses its GPS position. Now the GTN750 reacquires within a second or two but the G500 takes a bit longer and the synthetic vision returns about 10secs after the cycle begins. It is unknown if this issue is isolated to only his Spot Trace or if others may cause similar issues. It is also unknown if Spot Gen2/3 units will cause similar problems. The video in the link below demonstrates this phenomenon through 2 complete cycles. Please use caution if you are operating IFR with a newer Garmin installation and a Spot Tracker. 10 Comments Cynthia Prescott 2/14/2017 07:09:13 am Hi Bruce. We met several times at Ryan hangar for BBQ's. I have a C182 where recently I have installed the GTN 750 and I have exactly the same situation with the SPOT. GTN looses satellites every 2 minutes give or take which pretty matches the spot cycles. Have you found a solution for this problem ? Please let me know. If we establish a contact I will let you know what I am able to find in relation to this problem . Thank you so much for your attention to this matter. Cheers Cynthia R Prescott. Reply Mark Wescott 5/19/2017 01:06:28 pm Hi We had the same problem after we installed a Garmin GTN 750 in our Cessna 182. Have you had any satisfactory reply from Spot? I've had to stop using my Spot! Cheers, Mark Reply Les Kallos 5/29/2017 02:38:35 pm Hello I am having an issue with my G530W and G430W that lose satellite signal for a few seconds usually on final approach. Recently I have turned off the Spot Locator and the issue has not occurred again. I am wondering if the issue in the C210 has been resolved and how did they do it? I would like to use Spot if possible. Thank you. Reply BC General Aviation 5/29/2017 10:51:45 pm Message From Bruce, the original poster: ------------------ No update to offer. No resolution that I know of from Spot or Garmin. I just moved it to the luggage area and away from the panel. Not sure but heard it should not be near GPS antenna either. Reply Les Kallos 5/30/2017 02:38:09 pm Hello, I just received a reply from SPOT and they say that it being close to a GPS can cause interference. They recommend that the SPOT unit should be at least 3 feet away from the Garmin unit. For what it is worth. Reply Don 7/24/2017 08:11:46 am I have a Garmin 750 and on the previous 5 trips no problems. Spot was not on. On the last trip the Garmin lost gps every 5 minutes. I had the SPOT on the dashboard on this trip. Reply JT 1/19/2018 05:34:19 am We had the SPOT Gen3 interfere with the GTN750/650 enroute to Belize. We moved it away from the dash to the back seat. It was still interfering with the 650 but the 750 was not so bad anymore. Still lost signal though. Reply Wynand 8/5/2018 09:23:36 am This is a serious potential life threathening issue. I have not had any issue with a 530/430w but with a 750. Has anybody submitted a Service Difficulty Report to Transport Canada or the FAA? Reply Ian Carfrae 10/15/2018 12:57:58 pm I have spot 3 in an SR20. I upgraded my 430s to 430W at the same time as I upgraded spot 2 to 3. GPS dropouts all the time,. No issue with the 2 so I was blaming the avionics. But clearly now it is the spot 3 . The company is not helpful, and 3 ft is not far enough! Reply Bob 11/16/2019 08:42:26 pm I’ve had a spot2 for several years and upgraded to 650 gps. No problems until I upgraded to the spot X. Now the issue if lost satellites when sending the track every 5 minutes Reply |
