hanging portable GPS off saupport bars

[cj8vet]

any of yall mounted Garmin X96 or other GPS units off the support tubing and down to the left side?Im thinking either a yuoke mount upside down or some of the "bike" mouts with U bolts will work great,or RAM suction mounts from the left small piece of windscreen. any pictures? comments?
thanks
mark

[rjb]

I've got an Axim 51 AnywhereXM system that I velcro far right
when I use it. Have hated everything I tried on the yoke, none
made it past preflight. Carry a garmin 76 that downloads flights
to my PC and amuses passengers with towns and streets below.
Can't imagine sacrificing any left windshield visibility. Barely cope
with putting Zaon traffic warning stuff at the front V.

-Dick N9951

[rjb]

Here's a picture.

[img]http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee31 ... re_map.jpg[/img]

[a64pilot]

I use a RAM suction cup to mount either a 295 or 396 to the left windshield. I position the GPS just on top of the glare shield. I can't stand any thing hanging on the yoke and don't want to look down to see the GPS. It's yoke mounted on the companies 210 and I hate it there.
My primary is a Motion tablet PC mounted with a RAM mount from the far right unused instrument hole on the right side of the panel. It communicates wirelessly with a Garmin bluetooth GPS and an XM WX receiver mounted under the passenger seat. I run Flight Prep EFB software. http://www.flightprep.com/rootpage.php?page=HomeEFBSW More than you asked for, but for not much more than a 496, it's a whole lot better because all of the IFR pubs are there etc.

[a64pilot]

Come to the SE fly-in. I'm sure you will see many possibilities.

[Hottshot]

Here's a picture.

That is a nice panel..

[senoiaslim]

I like the mount. What is the FAA stance on mounting a portable unit in the cockpit? If you can disconnect it, can any type of mout be used? I know that some FISDOs where have a fit with the Gizzmos......

[rjb]

It's not obvious but the mount is attached with Velcro. Both the Axim
and the mount disappear leaving only one Velcro surface. A permanent
mount would be better because it would be easier to fight the sag of
the mount, but then I would have to explain/hand-wave permanent
mount.

-Dick N9951

[senoiaslim]

Sorry RJB, I was talking about the pic right above my post. I could not pull your pic up.

[donknee]

The compass in my maule is offset to the left, so that leaves the top of the panel in the center clear. I put some velcro on the mount and put my Garmin 196 there, the antenna goes forward against the windshield and the rest of the wiring lay in the seam of the windshield to the right for the 14vdc power plug. The mount tilts and pans and is low profile, so there is good visibility of the screen and minimal outside visual obscursion. The whole set-up can be removed in 3-4 seconds.

[cj8vet]

any issues with your compass and the gps? I tossed a handheld up there once and got about 45 degrees of error!
any pictures of ya'lls x96 mounted different places?
mark

[N9657]

I mounted a Garmin 295 on the right brace. Had to trim some of the mount in order to get the screen to swing enough to face me. It works fine. I would post a picture that shows some of it but I haven't figured out how to post an image in the message reply area

[donknee]

Mark- I did not notice any disturbance to the magnetic compass. The speaker in the handheld has a magnet (like headsets), so they will cause a significant effect.

[Ian]

Hi

I mounted my 295 by modifying the bracket it came with and also fabricating out of hardwood maple an adapter baseplate that conforms to the top deck then atached with four flathead AN screws (#10 size) . I had painted the plate black to blend in and did all this on the left - the unit hangs over edge slightly above txpdr- and it swivels a little right/left if you need.

[andy]

I have a metal plate in the middle of my glare shield as a result of removing an ADF, so I used an adhesive disk and a round RAM 1" ball mount there for my Garmin 396. A RAM cradle is attached to the 396. I fabricated a mount for the XM antenna using a steel lumber bracket with a 90 degree bend, which I painted flat black, then bolted the RAM diamond ball mount to the bottom with a 1.75" arm. This arrangement puts the 396 just above my audio panel and blocks a little of the windshield, but not too badly. It's easy to see the 396 even with the backlighting of the windshield and I don't have to look down or deal with the problems of clamping the mount to the yoke. The GPS and XM antennas work fine and signal strength is good. I've checked the compass which is on the left of the glareshield and it doesn't seem to affect it significantly - probably because the magnetic flux from the XM antenna mount is mostly contained in the metal lumber bracket. The XM antenna cable is wound around the lumber bracket and tie-wrapped in a couple of spots. I can remove the entire assembly and mount it on a similar RAM 1" ball in my car or boat - XM antenna included. The RAM components cost about $40 and the lumber bracket about $3.

Andy