Garmin GDL30A User Manual

GDL™ 30A

owner’s manual

© 2008 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries

Garmin International, Inc.
1200 East 151st Street,
Olathe, Kansas 66062, USA
Tel. [phone] or [phone]
Fax [phone]

All rights reserved. Except as expressly provided herein, no part of this manual may be reproduced, copied, transmitted, disseminated, downloaded or stored in any storage
medium, for any purpose without the express prior written consent of Garmin. Garmin hereby grants permission to download a single copy of this manual onto a hard drive or
other electronic storage medium to be viewed and to print one copy of this manual or of any revision hereto, provided that such electronic or printed copy of this manual must
contain the complete text of this copyright notice and provided further that any unauthorized commercial distribution of this manual or any revision hereto is strictly prohibited.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Garmin reserves the right to change or improve its products and to make changes in the content without
obligation to notify any person or organization of such changes or improvements. Visit the Garmin Web site (www.garmin.com) for current updates and supplemental
information concerning the use and operation of this and other Garmin products.

Garmin® and GPSMAP® are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries, registered in the USA and other countries. GDL™ and myGarmin™ are trademarks of Garmin Ltd.
or its subsidiaries. These trademarks may not be used without the express permission of Garmin.

XM WX Weather and XM Radio are trademarks of XM Satellite Radio, Inc.

Garmin (Europe) Ltd.
Liberty House
Hounsdown Business Park,
Southampton, Hampshire, SO40 9RB UK
Tel. [phone] (outside the UK)
0808 2380000 (within the UK)
Fax [phone]

Garmin Corporation
No. 68, Jangshu 2nd Road,
Shijr, Taipei County, Taiwan
Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]

March 2008 Part Number 190-00930-00 Rev. A Printed in Taiwan

Introduction

Introduction

The GDL™ 30A Marine Weather/Audio Satellite Receiver provides
graphical and textual marine XM WX Weather™ information to
your Garmin® Marine Network chartplotters as well as XM music,
news, and talk programming. Operation of the GDL 30A requires a
subscription to either the XM WX Satellite Weather service, the XM
Radio service, or both.

This manual covers the XM weather and audio features of the
GDL 30A when viewed on a GPSMAP® 3000 Series Garmin Marine
Network chartplotter. To understand the XM weather and audio
features of the GDL 30A when viewed on a GPSMAP 4000 or 5000
series chartplotter, see the GPSMAP 4000 or 5000 series Owner's
Manual.

Product Registration

Help us better support you by completing our online registration
today! Connect to our Web site at http://my.garmin.com. Keep the
original sales receipt, or a photocopy, in a safe place.

[phone] or [phone], or go to www.garmin.com/

support.

Contact XM

To set up your XM account call [phone]. For XM weather
information, visit www.xmwxweather.com.

Important Numbers

For future reference, write down the important numbers associated
with your GDL 30A.

Serial Number

Unique XM IDs are associated with your GDL 30A. XM Satellite
Radio uses these ID numbers to activate and deactivate your XM
weather and XM audio. To locate the ID numbers on your unit,
see page 25.

XM WX Weather ID

Contact Garmin

Contact Garmin if you have any questions while using your
GDL 30A. In the USA, contact Garmin Product Support by phone:

XM Radio ID

(located on the bottom of the unit)

GDL 30A Owner’s Manual 1

Introduction

Introduction ..........................................................................1

Product Registration .................................................................. 1

Contact Garmin ......................................................................... 1

Contact XM ................................................................................ 1

Important Numbers .................................................................... 1

Unit Overview.......................................................................3

Packing List and Accessories .................................................... 3

Installing and Activating the GDL 30A ...............................4

Using XM WX Weather ........................................................5

Preset Weather Displays ........................................................... 5

XM WX Weather Features ...................................................7

Precipitation ............................................................................... 7

Atmosphere ............................................................................. 12

Sea Surface ............................................................................. 17

Main Menu ..........................................................................19

Weather Tab ............................................................................ 19

XM Tab .................................................................................... 24

Appendix ............................................................................26

Blink Codes ............................................................................. 26

Weather-Related Broadcast Rates .......................................... 26

GDL 30A Specications ........................................................... 27

Weather and Sea Surface Information .................................... 28

XM Satellite Radio Service Agreement ................................... 28

Software License Agreement .................................................. 30

Index ...................................................................................31

2 GDL 30A Owner’s Manual

Unit Overview

Packing List and Accessories

Before installing your unit, please check to see that your package
includes the following items. If any parts are missing, contact your
Garmin dealer immediately.

Standard Package

Power/Data

Connector

Unit Overview

LED Status

Indicator

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Weather Cap

Network Port

Antenna

Connector

Mounting

Holes

Audio Connector

See the Important Safety and Product Information guide in the
product box for product warnings and other important information.

Optional Accessories

GDL 30A unit

•

7-pin power cable

Garmin Marine Network cable

•

(6 ft.)

GA 32 Antenna with cable

Audio cable

Grommet

Installation Instructions

Owner’s Manual

GMS 10 Network Port
Expander

Garmin Marine Network
cables (20 ft. and 40 ft.)

GDL 30A Owner’s Manual 3

Unit Overview

Installing and Activating the GDL 30A

Step 1: Install the unit

Use the GDL 30A Installation Instructions to complete the

appropriate wiring connections.

Step 2: Set up the XM account

Ensure that your XM Weather ID and your XM Radio ID are readily

available. Contact XM Satellite Radio by phone at (800) 985-

9200. After receiving the required information from you, the XM
representative activates the account and sends out an XM signal
to activate the GDL 30A.

To answer other XM questions, call the above number or visit

www.xmwxweather.com.

Step 3: Conrm all components of your service package

XM WX Weather: Ensure that the Garmin Marine Network is

turned on so you receive the XM signal. When the components of
the selected service package appear in the Weather Products list,
the XM signal is working correctly. To see the Weather Products
list on a 3000 Series chartplotter, open the Main Menu, scroll to
the XM tab, and then highlight the Information sub tab. Do not turn
the chartplotter off until the name of the selected service package
appears in the Service Level eld (see page 25).

Note: On a GPSMAP 4000 Series or a GPSMAP 5000 Series

chartplotter, your service package appears on the system information
screen (Congure > System > System Information > Weather

Subscription)

XM Radio: From the XM tab, highlight the Audio sub tab and

verify that channels 7, 9, 47, and 122 appear (see page 24).

This indicates that all channels on the XM basic radio service
are working correctly. If the XM WX Weather and the XM Radio
service have not activated within an hour, call XM customer care
at [phone] and ask an XM representative to refresh the
signal.

Step 4: Save the service package

After the service package name appears, turn the entire Garmin

Marine Network off.

Step 5: Use your new XM services

When you turn the Garmin Marine Network on after completing

Step 4, you are able to view weather features on the chartplotter
and to customize the new radio stations.

4 GDL 30A Owner’s Manual

Using XM WX Weather

Using XM WX Weather

This manual describes the use of XM WX Weather and XM Audio functions on a GPSMAP 3000 Series chartplotter. If you have a
GPSMAP 4000 Series or a GPSMAP 5000 Series chartplotter, please use your chartplotter Owner's Manual for instructions on using XM WX
Weather and XM Audio.

WARNING: The XM Weather Radio data is merely supplemental and advisory in nature and is not intended to be relied up on as safety-critical information. You should
always exercise caution and common sense when confronted with severe weather conditions.

Preset Weather Displays

Use presets to quickly view different types of weather information. There are three preset weather displays: General, Sea State, and Storms. The
name of the selected preset appears in the lower-left corner of the screen.

To select a preset weather display:

1. Press the Wthr Options soft key.

2. Press the Next Preset soft key to cycle through the three presets.

General Sea State Storms

GDL 30A Owner’s Manual 5

Using XM WX Weather

Customizing the Preset Weather Displays

You can customize the weather displays. Each preset has three subcategories: Precipitation, Atmosphere, and Sea Surface. Each category
contains display settings for that topic. You can also change the name of the presets and customize any of the weather features. For detailed
information on customizing the preset weather displays, please see the chartplotter Owner’s Manual.

Precipitation

Atmosphere

Sea Surface

6 GDL 30A Owner’s Manual

XM WX Weather Features

XM WX Weather Features

Following is a brief description of each weather feature. The weather features are divided into three subcategories: Precipitation, Atmosphere,
and Sea State.

Precipitation

The Precipitation category provides NEXRAD/Cloud Top, Storm
Cell, Lightning, and Hurricane data. Each feature can be turned on
or off, or set to display at a selected zoom range.

NEXRAD

NEXRAD is an acronym for NeXt Generation Weather RADar. The
NEXRAD feature displays precipitation, from very light rain and snow
up to strong thunderstorms, in varying shades and colors.
showing the colors for Rain, Mix, and Snow can be displayed by
pressing the ADJ key and selecting Weather Legend. NEXRAD
can be displayed independently or with Cloud Tops.

A legend

NEXRAD Legend

NEXRAD

GDL 30A Owner’s Manual 7

XM WX Weather Features

Cloud Tops

Cloud Tops are shown in shades of gray. Cloud Tops can be displayed independently or with NEXRAD information.

Cloud Tops Legend

Cloud Tops

Cloud Tops with NEXRAD

8 GDL 30A Owner’s Manual

XM WX Weather Features

Storm Cells

The Storm Cells feature displays storm cells and the projected path of storms in the immediate future. The direction the red cone is pointing
(from the narrow end to the wide end) indicates the projected path of the storm cell. The red bars that span the cone indicate the projected area
of the storm. Each bar represents 15 minutes.

The storm icon indicates the current

location of the storm cell. The red bars that

span the cone in this storm indicate where

the storm will be at 15-minute intervals in the

next hour.

GDL 30A Owner’s Manual 9