12/8 Garmin 496 audio hookup

When I went to the airport last Sunday to fly, the Dynon EMS would not boot up. So I overnighted it to them last Monday. I am expecting it back this week so we should finally be able to get 53L back in the air.
I decided to hook up the audio output from the Garming 496 to the intercom while we am waiting. The Garmin 496 outputs a stereo signal through a 1/8 " stereo female connector on the back of it. Since my PS1000 II intercom is mono, I needed to adapt to it.
This required a trip to Radio Shack to pick up a 1/8 stereo male to male extension and a 1/8 female stereo to 1/8 male mono jack.


















Its only a short distance from the Garmin 496 to the aux jack for the intercom so I didnt need a very long cable. Radio Shack had a 1 ft connector so I was in luck.


















The "Sound" setup menu for the Garmin controls the sound options.
I turned the Audio Volume up about 3/4 of the way and turned the Terrain Audio to On.
I left the TIS Audio off since I dont have a mode S transponder connected yet.
The Audio Jack option has two settings Headphones or Line Out. I used the Headphones settings and a set of Sony Walkman ear buds to test the sound, but changed the setting to Line Out for the connection to the intercom.




















The next screen shows the "XM" setup. We havent activated the XM music subscription yet, but there are still 4 channels that you can receive without a subscription. A preview, news, sports and emergency alert channel. These channels work real good to test the audio output.
When you press the "Menu" key while in this screen, an option pops up that lets you mute or enable the sound.



















The audio output worked great on the PS1000 II intercom. Whenever a radio transmission is received it mutes the audio from the GPS and then gradually increases the volume back to the original level after the radio transmission ceases.
Alerts will also sound through the intercom. Garmin uses a female voice to announce the alerts as well as a tone.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your blog. There is really nothing in the Garmin Manual letting you know how to use your XM radio. Hopefully my plane has an input aux jack for the intercom. I'll find out this afternoon. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

I have a Cessna 182 Model 1982 with the King package on it. I took the plane to the radio shop and they hard wired the power and also wired the 496 XM (using the cable) the the "TEL" buttons on my KMA 24. I can hear the music but with the volume all the way up on the 496 is not tool laud and is scratchy. I am going to check what is on the output.

Thanks for your blog.

Juan

Anonymous said...

I subscribed to basic XM for my 496 before a long drive from Reno to Yuma. I found nothing in either Garmin manual for 496 XM.

I was very disappointed to say the least. Tonight I stumbled upon your blog, grabbed the 496, went to the sound page...thank you very much

Garmin has no excuse for failing to provide info on basic use..shame on them

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

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