Sport Pilot Talk

Good point. In this case, Garmin allows the installation to be done in accordance with part 43, which includes an A&P. I believe the installation manual or TSO would need to specify the subsection if a authorized repair station was required. In this particular plane, the manufacturer has approved the equipment and the Sting manual allows an A&P to do this type of work. Of course, the particular A&P would have to be trained and/or have done an installation similar to this.

dstclair wrote:....... Also, installing the GPS antenna is dead simple on a Sting. Just mount it on top of the panel.

This shop is taking advantage of you.

The GA-35 GPS antenna that is part of the GDL-82 requires a ground plane. Unless the area on top of your "panel" is metal and at least 15" in diameter it wont work adequately. I had a few signal issues after my initial installation and the placement of my GPS antenna. It wants a clear view of the sky with no possibility of shadowing and a large ground plane. I had a few failures on some of my PAPR reports during testing. I have since moved my GPS antenna to the top of the aircraft and it has worked PERFECT on every flight and PAPR report since them. ADS-B is not where you want a "marginal" antenna signal.

And yes, it can use your existing transponder antenna which already has a ground plane. But I would check the freq range of the transponder antenna you have to be sure it covers the 978 MHZ band. Mine didn't and again I didn't want a "marginal" signal so I installed the Rami AV-74. Just food for thought.