New ELT 406 mhz

[Len Petterson]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Instead of the ELT as for functionalety Spot is good but if you left the wife in a bad mod and she say: P--- on you I let you sit there for a day. ops:
If no one reads e-mails and noticefies the search and rescue in time.
How is the unit for accidental activation?
It is missing notification to Search and Rescue, wish could be one e-mail address.
This are circomstanses to consider, but it looks good.
I think the new 406 ELT's also carry a yearly servis charge to the goverment.
Personaly I think a personal ELT of some kind would be suficent for most of us.
Should I plan a long cross country, longer when 1 day or so, why cant I rent a unit?
Personaly I would need it once a year if what was the case.
Spot looks good to me!(;f
I do aggree taxpayers should require us to have some kind of ELT but also anyone what goes on a long hike alone ,or in a group, in wildernes Canada or USA May the wilderness be New York city or some Provinsial park.
Many goes missing and lots of money is spent in searching for them.
A simple fall ot trip can result in incapasitation and you go missing
In other words it is not only aviation what needs this goverment servise and we, the aviation comunety, should not carry all the cost.
Taxi drivers would love it! For robbery prevention and call for police.
What about GM's onstar servise it is similar, can we by into it?
Their crash indication is from airbag acctivation. Some reliabable crash activation has to be designed for aviation, the present crash activation systems are not up to par. with 50% not working when needed.
Len

[Richard Boyer]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

How about this....

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=198200

It is kind of a poor mans spot........ (I think it's really cool!!!)

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

oops! I was way wrong.

$99 a year and up based on this page.

http://www.findmespot.com/explorespot/servicepricing.aspx

[flyguy]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Good backup for professional pilots, like bush guys. Possible luxury for most of us?

Question, what do the 406 units have in them that make them cost $1000? Built in GPS, $100 at most, what else?
Darryl

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

I thought I saw a $7.95 fee for search/resue and the $149 was for tracking also.

[GLB]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

The Spot thing is interesting and may develop into something, but I notice that there is a $150.00 annual fee to use the unit, this translates to in excess of $1500 over 10 years, I think I would be better of with a new ELT.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

This is fantastic! We proposed something much like this in the AGATE Project(NASA's Advanced General Aviation Transportation Experiments). I remember being laughed at because "you can't make that work". The second step was to use it to feed a "Poor Mans Transponder" followed by linking the device to a Pen-tablet which gives you a moving map display too. I am typing this on my prototype of the system right now. It is very useful for a LOT of fun things.
Congratulations to SPOT for finding a way to commercialize a great idea (not claiming they are using the NASA idea, it was inevitable the idea would be discovered multiple times. Some NASA managers just didn't believe it could be made to work. I retired from NASA and the project ended before anyone pushed it further.) :bravo:
Hank

[midniteflyer52]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Tribe,
After reading this thread, I brought the subject up at our latest EAA chapter meeting here in NE CT. As I was speaking, a guest arrived with one of our members. When had I finished he put as small device on the table, a little larger than a cell phone and proceeded to tell us about it. It is an amazing piece of technology that in my opinion makes traditional ELT's obsolete for a fraction of the projected cost. He was from Vancouver,BC and said that pilots up there are snapping these things up. Go to findmespot.com to find out more and come to your own conclusions. This fellow will be working with the company to improve it with an external antenna. I'm going to get one for sure.
Regards to all,
Glen Brodeur
TF #42

[flyguy]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Thanks Garry for the tips and references.
Darryl

[Garry Crookham]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

As of Feb. 1, 2009, satellites will stop monitoring 121.5 MHz, one of the emergency frequencies for ELTs. This has sparked concern in the aviation industry and has caused Transport Canada to propose a rule requiring aircraft flying in Canada to be equipped with a 406-MHz ELT. The FAA has not given any indication that it will mandate a switch to the 406-MHz ELT. So, at the present time those of us in the USA will not be required to install new 406 MHz ELT's. It is still legal to purchase and install a 121.5 MHz ELT in your aircraft (note: we are talking Part 91 GA aircraft operating in the USA) as long as the ELT meets TSO C91a certs. A review of the ELT rules (FAR 91.207) and TSO C91a would be wise if you are in need of an ELT. And don't count on your local avonics shop to be up on the latest requirements. During the last year I've seen a local high dollar shop: (1) install a new ELT and not install the required remote panel (2) replace an ELT battery with one that had an expiration date 3 months in the future (3) inform a customer that a 406 MHz ELT would be required in 2009. Everyone needs to become familiar with the basics so when annual time arrives I don't have to inform you that your ELT installation isn't legal or that your ELT battery has been out of date for 9 months.

Garry Crookham
N5112M
Tulsa
A&P/IA CFI

[flyguy]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

I didn't mentiion it in my mini rant because I thought everyone had the same information as me.

What I understand is that 121.5 will continue to be monitored by ground stations, aircraft enroute, what others I don't know. It will just no longer be monitered by satellite. They will still be able to look for your signal if you come up missing.

I suspect later they will discard that frequency completely, but they aren't doing that now.

Question, is there a bill/law/regulation in process that mandates a change for aircraft in the US? Anyone know?
DC

[Len Petterson]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

I understand we need this ELT's feb 2009.
but have anyone taken in consideration what many of us are not made of money!
I am not.
Yes I have a ACK 450 and it works well no craked housings etc, It works, as it went of accidently during instalaion last winter. I droped it into the baggege compartment. My bagege compartment is metal.
I have been told what in accidents only 50% of the exciting
elt's are acctivated by the impacts some models never work unless turned on manualy. My friend has one of them in his Thorp and it is mounted in the tail well out reach and you need tools to get to it. NO remote switch.
When I run out of gas or the A 65 quit for any other reason I will reach over and turn mine on.
I hope the new once will have better impact switches.
The expected price of the once canadain DOT and DND ( yes you are right Nav Canada have nothing to do with ELT's) are appoving cost 3000 plus. What is difference? Does anyone know?I think some have internal GPS some not.
Yes, searches are very expencive, most are false alarms.One good thing, we have well trained Herc pilots and navigator. Internal GPS and identification from the ELT is a good thing, it will save tax dollars no question there. .
Search and Recue can call the registred owner and check if the person is in truble or if it is a false alarm.ops:
They want us to pay a regestration fee to have an ELT, what about the PLD's and pleasure boats are they going be registred as well and pay their dues? I don't mind paying my share but let every body pay there share not just aircraft owners!
I have a Lowrance 600 GPS and if output cable to exteranal devises is as good as the power "treads" it will last 10 sec in a fire, if what long.
(The power "treads" is not wordy of the word cord)
Unless there is a memory chip in the ELT, what is constantly updated how will it know where it is? With a chip it will remember the last known possition.
ELT manefactures take note! (;f
We need you to make a good lowcost unit max $600 CDN ( including tax, please. Ops I hade a bad dream)
At $3 k+, I sell the plane or go UL ( LSA ) No ELT requierment and I by a PLD to protect my self and my famely. (;f
GARMIN and Lowrance, you both make good stuff get onboard here!(;f
(Good yes, except for the power treads)ops:
Len

[Pearson]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Attached is a letter describing the phase out of satellite monitoring of ELTs. I spoke with the tech rep for Artex ELTs in Aurora, Oregon, which is not far from me. I had hoped to be able to announce a discount if a bunch of us went together for a mass purchase. It is not to be. I did however gain some valuable information that I would like to share.

I was not aware of the requirement for there to be a switch with a monitor light installed. If you have a plane with no electrical system, you can get an ELT with the light & switch powered from the ELT. If your plane has it's own electrical system, you can get an ELT that uses a light & switch that use ship's power. For a plane like mine with no electrical system, he said to use an Artex ELT model ME405 Ace. If you have an electrical system, you should use model ME406P.

According to him the ME 406 Ace costs approximately $1500. However, I checked AC Spruce and they have an Artex ELT (not either of these specific models) for right at a grand.

The tech guy ALSO told me that these ELTs use a two foot long whip antennae that needs at least a 12" diameter ground plane. The antennae has to be mounted so that it points UP. I asked him if one could just put some adell clamps around some internal tubes and mount a piece of aluminum. He said that would work.


While on the Spruce site, I also found ELTs by EBC (Emergency Beacon Company) that were slightly less expensive than the Artex units. The battery for the EBC unit costs $155, so that is something to consider.

One thing I noticed while doing this research is that you need to make sure that the price includes the mount, the actual ELT, the antennae, and the monitor light and switch unit. If you see a cheap price, it probably is missing one of these parts and they are VERY expensive to buy individually.

If you don't feel like opening the attachment, the date that our old ELTs will no longer be monitored by the satellites is Feb 2009.

[astjp2]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Well I just paid 1600.00 for a MA3-SPA carb because the data plate on the one I had fell off and I needed to get a legal one. Paid 400 for a core, 1100.00 for overhaul and 100.00 for shipping back and forth. Tim

[flyguy]

Re: New ELT 406 mhz

Thousand here, 1800 there, pretty soon we'll be talking about real money. Next thing you know we will be required to put in Mode S collision avoidance and weather radar. Pretty stupid for a $12,000 airplane.
DC