[Tom Martin]

I am trying to enter my user waypoints in a flight plan using the 430W. Is it possible to do this? The unit only seems to accept airports identifiers in the fields when entering data. I am trying to set it up for the Rocket 100 race. It is quite easy to do on my Garmin 496 but I am not having any luck with the 430W. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[scard]

Yes it is possible. There is a user waypoints page for entry. Big knob / Little knob until you find it. It isn't even buried in a menu I don't think.

 

[TCONROY]

You should be able to just press ENTER at any point on the map screen and it will ask if you want to save the current LAT/LON coordinates to the user waypoint database. This feature worked well for the point I used for eights on pylons

 

[SMO]

From page 118 and 131 of the Pilots Guide

To quickly select a WPT page:
1. From any page, press and hold CLR to select the default NAV page. (You may skip this step if you are already viewing any of the main
pages.)

2. Turn the large right knob to select the WPT page group. “WPT” will appear in the lower right corner of the screen.

3. Turn the small right knob to select the desired WPT page.

To enter a waypoint identifier:
(Note: it looks like you have to create the identifer (name) as per these steps before you can add the waypoint in the next sequence of steps)
1. Select the desired WPT page and press the small right knob to activate the cursor.

2. Turn the small right knob to select the first character of the waypoint’s identifier.

3. Turn the large right knob to select the next character field.

4. Turn the small right knob to select the desired character.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the identifier is selected, then press ENT.

6. To remove the flashing cursor, press the small right knob.

Creating User Waypoints
User waypoints may be created from the user waypoint page or the map page. To create a new user waypoint, simply enter its name (identifier) and position, or reference another waypoint by radial and distance.

To create a new user waypoint by entering its latitude/longitude position:
1. With the user waypoint page displayed, press the small right knob to activate the cursor.

2. Use the small and large right knobs to enter a name for the new waypoint and press ENT. Your present position appears in the position field at the bottom of the page. To create a waypoint at your present position, turn the large right knob to highlight “Create?” and skip to step #6.

3. Turn the large right knob to highlight the position field at the bottom of the page.

4. Use the small and large right knobs to enter the position coordinates for the new waypoint.

5. Press ENT to accept the selected position.

6. The cursor moves to “Create?”. Press ENT to add the new waypoint to memory.

7. Press the small right knob to remove the flashing cursor.

 

[Tom Martin]

I guess I did not make my problem clear. Yes I can create user Waypoints, I have them all entered. Now what I would like to do is enter those waypoints into the flight plan. It seems to me that the flight plan set up only allows the addition of airports, VORs etc. Perhaps I am missing something.
Thanks for the replies.

 

[pierre smith]

Do you have a "Route" page?

That's what I used in the 496 for the Fisk approach to Osh.

Good luck,

 

[Tanya]

Use the Identifiers You Created

Tom,

I have never had a problem entering user waypoints on the flight plan page in our 430W. The hard part for me is creating the dang things in the first place. If you are sure the waypoints are there, just enter the exact identifier you defined when the user waypoint was created - same as you would a VOR or an airport (there isn't a prefix like the K we use for some airports). We've done this using GPS coordinates, and if IIRC there isn't a 'name' that displays along with the identifier, which can be confusing. Also, I am very careful when naming the waypoints so that I give myself the best chance that they aren't an actual identifier already in the Garmin database.

 

[RV7Guy]

Yes you can

I guess I did not make my problem clear. Yes I can create user Waypoints, I have them all entered. Now what I would like to do is enter those waypoints into the flight plan. It seems to me that the flight plan set up only allows the addition of airports, VORs etc. Perhaps I am missing something.
Thanks for the replies.

Hi Tom,

I read your post earlier and was pre-flighting my helicopter for the shift. We have over 200 User Way points in the WPT section. I was able to create a flight plan using the User Way points.

Follow the advice above and create your way points in the WPT section. Always create a name to identify the points. Now hit FLP and then push cursor button. Enter the User Way point with the name you've created. Even if it does not automatically come up, once you have all the characters, hit enter. You may get a screen that gives you a couple of options. In your case, highlight the one that asks if you want to use a User Way point. Hit enter. In my test case, two way points came up with the proper identifier as it had been entered in the database. Two others gave me the option screen.

When all have been entered hit "menu." Highlight "copy flight plan." hit enter. It will provide you with a number, hit enter. You can activate it now or go back to it later.

To get it going from a new screen, hit FPL. Turn the big knob to get your list of FPL's. Highlight the one you want and hit "menu." Highlight "Activate flight plan," and hit enter.

On a side note regarding the 430, from the Nav screen you can also enter a way point, lat/long, apt etc... by simply pushing the Direct button and using the cursor to input data. I won't go into detail on this one now. We use this often flying medical missions in BF Eqypt when we are given a lat/long and have to enter it in flight.

The 430 is not the most user friendly piece of equipment. Not only do I fly one in the helicopter but I have one in my 7. Some of our EMS pilots bring along their own 396/496 because it is much easier to deal with than the 430. I treat the 430 as a challenge and want to master it

 

[Tom Martin]

Thanks guys, that is the information that i was looking for. I will give it a try this afternoon.

 

[w1curtis]

Tom,

I have never had a problem entering user waypoints on the flight plan page in our 430W. The hard part for me is creating the dang things in the first place. If you are sure the waypoints are there, just enter the exact identifier you defined when the user waypoint was created - same as you would a VOR or an airport (there isn't a prefix like the K we use for some airports). We've done this using GPS coordinates, and if IIRC there isn't a 'name' that displays along with the identifier, which can be confusing. Also, I am very careful when naming the waypoints so that I give myself the best chance that they aren't an actual identifier already in the Garmin database.

I have two tricks for entering waypoints. First, I always begin the name of the user waypoint with a "K" followed by a number. Many of my user waypoint names are just K with a single number--eg K2. No US airports and few fixes if any begin as such. When done this way, user waypoints are easy to pull up since on entry, it defaults to "K." Then all I have to enter is the waypoint number.

The other trick is to enter the waypoint as a reference to a VOR radial and distance. This is so much less knob twisting than entering LAT/LON coordinates.

Once, on the way to OSH, I was given a non published holding clearance. "..from MKG, fly outbound on the 296 radial and hold at 30 NM, left turns..." I was able to create a waypoint K2 (MKG 296, 30 miles) before reaching MKG. I then added the waypoint K2 to the flightplan following MKG and did the racetracks to and from the user waypoint. Beats chasing the needles. For those that are keeping up, yes, this is 30 miles over the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. I think I did about 3 circuits before release.