Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Looking for R-443B (Maybe)

No where near the avionics expert, and I'm still learning, so bear with me cause I might not be asking for what I really need, or might be asking in a way that is the "long way around the block"




Looking to add glideslope to "Ralph". From what I understand and have discovered is all that is missing is the Glideslope Receiver.

I assume the antenna is in place, I haven't dug that deep.

More intense IFR upgrade to come, this is just to get me started and do some cheap time building towards my ticket.

If anyone has the ARC-443B, or any receiver compatible to the MX300 from an upgrade (or anything else that my be useful) let me know!

It's been a few months, but last I browsed ebay there were a bunch of R-443b's for sale under $100.

I'd give strong evaluation to the end goal of the project, as labor costs for install/modifications may eat you alive (if you are paying for labor, that is).

Point taken.

It appears that everything is there minus the hardware.

Definitely plan on upgrading as time goes on so definitely trying to avoid “spending money twice”.

The r-443b is behind the removable cover on the very right of the photo (just above the "glovebox"). It sits back there on a shelf, just the the right of the hobbs meter. I've only had the plane a year, and I haven't spent enough time in the logbooks to see the avionics history.

It’s never that simple. Put in a 430w and a 106b. You will save some weight and have a solid avionics platform for IFR.

Nothing is saved by putting in a 430w. May as well just put in a GPS 175. The final prince will likely be very close.

I forgot to mention, the r-443b has a lot of wires going to it. Presumably the harnesses must be made by your avionics shop, because for some reason, nothing is every plug'n'play with avionics.

Lot of ways to get it done, I specifically suggested the 430w/106b combo because he said he was working on his “ticket” I assume that to be his instrument ticket and if he wants to take his check ride in his 150 the 175 alone will not work. The 430w/106b combo will work and allow the require diversity of approaches to be flown. Now if he’s not taking his check in the plane and plans to finish his training and check in another plane well the 175 might be a good option, still would need some coms. Now the 175 with a 215 and a 275 would be a nice combo. Like I said so many ways to get it done.

Sorry, I misunderstood your complete reason for the 430w, which I assume is that the 430w also includes NAV/COM. And yes, that would be a great option to get everything, but the labor cost is still there. Also, I haven't research aftermarket repair options for the 430w, but Garmin stopped supporting it. It would stink to spend all that $$ for install and then have the unit crap out and be impossible to repair due to lack of parts. However, I guess one could slide in an Avidyne unit???

The dilemma with the Garmin gps 175 or GNC 355 of GNX 375 is that you don't get the NAV. But how useful is the NAV? Or keep the MX300 and find the needed exta pieces off ebay for $200 total and get a nav/glideslope and go with GNC355.

For all the GPS navigators you will also need either a CDI or a GI275 or an HSI (hopefully AV30 HSI gets certified soon). This is the big decision I am having now, see my other threads. I think it may be cheaper to buy another airplane, lol

This is not correct. Garmin said they were running out of the screens to replace bad ones, everyone misconstrued this to mean they would no longer repair or support the units. Most of the time the issue with the screen is the anti glare cover and they have plenty of those and the rest of the unit is still repairable. Also support for nav updates will continue for some time, my guess is it will go on until so few are left that Garmin cannot make money with the updates …. That is a long way off.

I do not disagree that there are some newer options but to get a system that you can fly an RNAV, ILS and VOR approachs. Takes way more $$$ a 175, 215 and 106B combo is well over 11k. The same thing can be done with a 430w/106b combo for 6-7k. The install cost for either will be the same. Some dealer might charge you less for the new stuff because they are making some $$ on the gear. I’m not a dealer but either setup would run about 5-6k for labor to install if I did it on a 150/152.

I won’t be getting the check ride in the 150. Unless I find a 75lb instructor. I’m a “fluffy” fella.

So I was looking for something to be able to use the instrument ticket once I got it.

The route of a Garmin Comm only and keeping the MX 300 for now (assuming the low possibility that adding the glide scope won’t break the bank) and then replacing with GPS like a 430w and be done with it all.

If I can’t do that, what you suggested I do is exactly what my longer term plan is.

The hardest part is navigating through the thousands of ways to get it done. Outside of writing the check.

This is all going in Ralph the raffle plane. So it’s a blank canvas minus the Stratus Xponder with ADSB in and out.

It would be nice if I went Garmin GPS to be able to get traffic. But I plan on just using the iPad for that since the transponder won’t talk to anything Garmin I thought about just trading in with a shop, but I haven’t dug in that much about it yet.