The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Anyone switch out their ELT yet to the new 406? Seems as though there are a bazillion of them. What did you buy? What's the price? Where ya get it?

Thanks
Willie

Unless my old 121.5/243 ELT dies a sudden death, I do not expect to spend a dime on any ELT. By that time, I hope to have a good selection of less expensive units that have proven their relative quality.
For now the choices are slim, and expensive. The least expensive 406 beacon until recently has been the Artex ME-406. But it has recently be surplanted by the Ameri-King AK-451 for about $600. But be advised, it does not have GPS nav capability. It's merely a "barker"....it transmits a signal that must be located by search and rescue. Not much better than the standard 121.5/243 beacons that can be had for less than $200.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/a ... 451PLB.php

Most of us really don't need an ELT, and if that's your situation, I agree with George. But if you do any wilderness flying at all, you might think differently. The main difference with the 406 ELT, the user experience so far is that if it goes off, they'll be calling you within minutes. The reaction time is phenomenally fast, the responders will know exactly what aircraft is beeping, quite precisely where it is, and they'll already have emergency contact numbers for it. You decide if that's worth the difference in price to you.

Like George, I'm expecting the price to come down to something more reasonable, and I'm going to wait.

John

Try this web page
http://www.findmespot.com
Personel ELT.From what was said at OSH you can use these type instead of a hard mount elt in small aircraft as long as it is in reach of the pilot.$150.00 and up in price.One less antenna sticling out of the fuselage.I have not had time to research if this is correct.

I've used a SPOT tracker and posted quite a bit about it on this site. I hadn't heard that it's a legal substitute for an ELT as required by FARs or Canadian regulations. I'd be very surprised if that was the case, because it isn't fixed to the aircraft and it isn't automatically activated in a crash, and it depends on a private service for emergency messages.

However, as I pointed out elsewhere, this can be a very valuable adjunct to a flight plan. Essentially, it can send a position report every ten minutes, and if you've given FSS an emergency contact who can open up this information to them, it might narrow down the search area very substantially if you go missing -- even if you weren't able to push the "911" button and get an emergency signal out.

jrenwick wrote:...The main difference with the 406 ELT, the user experience so far is that if it goes off, they'll be calling you within minutes. The reaction time is phenomenally fast, the responders will know exactly what aircraft is beeping, quite precisely where it is, and they'll already have emergency contact numbers for it. ...

Not exactly. Personal locator beacons may have a response that quickly due to the registration (and if your wife is at home to pick up the phone to confirm you might be missing), but those do not qualify for aircraft. The ones that qualify for aircraft (at least the ones that cost less than several thousand dollars) do not have GPS locators and must rely upon multiple passes of satellites taking up to 3 hours before they get a "fix" on the ELT that qualifies it for search and rescue. At that point the SAR services are notified and launched. It might still take hours or even a day or so before you're found. (The 406 beacon also transmits a 121.5 frequency for homing because UHF is difficult to home with DF equipment. It is the 121.5 signal that still is used to actually locate the downed aircraft.)

George
This sounds like a typical government deal. Tell us that they will no longer use the 121.5 but yet that's how they are going to find me anyway???????
Who's in on the cut this time, some senator get another BMW on the side again??

Willie

George, you're right -- I was conflating 406 PLBs with 406 ELTs. My mistake.

When you talk about using 121.5 to locate the new ELTs, are you referring to the fact that CAP and other services use VHF radios and DF devices to pinpoint an ELT, rather than 406MHz equipment? I believe that's true. When I was in CAP many years ago we learned how to locate an ELT using an airplane's VHF receiver only. In fact, I helped a Canadian radio operator with that while on approach to Fort Nelson this summer. It works quite well.

But satellite-based ELT location using 406MHz is supposed to be more accurate than with 121.5 -- right?

It takes 3 passes of the satellite to determine that the signal is from a valid ELT from a crash. This is done in only 3 passes of the COS satellite because it is more directional. Pass one detects the signal and determines it to be from a registered aircraft. Pass 2 determines that the signal has not moved (such as it might in an aircraft that has not crashed but is in flight.) Pass 3 determines that the signal is from a location OTHER than an airport (indicating that it's not in an aircraft hangar somewhere.)
Then the SAR aircraft are launched toward the target and they use VHF DF equipment to search for the 121.5 signal sent out simultaneously by the 406 ELT.

The common error made by many is due to the mistaken belief that 406 ELTs broadcast their actual location to the satellite on the first pass. Not so, unless it's one of the very expensive/sophisticated models which also are tied to a GPS sensor. The models under consideration by most GA aircraft are less than $1000 and do not broadcast their coordinates, but only their registration info.

gahorn wrote:The common error made by many is due to the mistaken belief that 406 ELTs broadcast their actual location to the satellite on the first pass. Not so, unless it's one of the very expensive/sophisticated models which also are tied to a GPS sensor. The models under consideration by most GA aircraft are less than $1000 and do not broadcast their coordinates, but only their registration info.

And to think that $20 cell phones can determine your location to less than 50 feet and broadcast that to the 911 service.

As to my second statement today, from AVWeb:
I never thought that they were this stupid

Concerned that an exodus from old 121.5 MHz to new 406 MHz Emergency Locator Beacon (ELT) technology may translate into otherwise capable ELTs activating as they're tossed into dumpsters, AOPA and CAP have initiated a communications offensive. Feb. 1, 2009, marked the end of satellites' ability to notice your 121.5 MHz-specific ELT, while 406 MHz ELTs are satellite supported. Though responders still make efforts to monitor 121.5, 406 MHz is more widely supported and "switching to the new beacon is important," CAP said in a news release. It is similarly important that the people who would search for you and your downed aircraft aren't dispatched to spend their time digging through dumpsters and landfills to shut off improperly disposed of equipment. If you're changing out your ELT, properly disconnect the ELT from its battery or make sure that whoever does the work does so. Do not risk misusing search and rescue resources and personnel through improper removal or disposal of your old unit. The stories are already piling up.
AOPA shared one story of a California CAP squadron that searched through trash at a local recycling facility for six hours before finding an activated ELT that had nothing to do with a crashed aircraft. "Pilots can help save vital search and rescue resources," said AOPA senior director of regulatory affairs, Rob Hackman. Just properly dispose of your ELT.

Note:
Under FAA regulations, the aircraft owner cannot even change the batteries.

Don't throw away those old ELT's. If you have one that operates off of commonly available D-cells or other easy/cheap batteries, and if it has a self-contained antenna.... then it would be a valuable addition to a portable survival kit or pack. (Remember, a 406 can still be lost/damaged in a fire and fail to work.)

gahorn wrote:Don't throw away those old ELT's. If you have one that operates off of commonly available D-cells or other easy/cheap batteries, and if it has a self-contained antenna.... then it would be a valuable addition to a portable survival kit or pack. (Remember, a 406 can still be lost/damaged in a fire and fail to work.)

Having constructed a survival pack and put some thought into it, I think an old ELT would not be worth the weight and space it would take. A $250 investment in a SPOT Messenger that runs for a long time on a pair of lithium AA batteries makes a lot more sense. It can send your GPS coordinates to a commercial satellite system and summon emergency services right now.

Just my $0.02....

John

Yes, John. I"m not saying I'd want to pack an old Cessna ELT a long distance... but some of the lighterweight, self-contained ones can be seen as useful in some situations. Thinking about those little EBC ones, the size of a cigarette pack with a wire antenna. (They sometimes are mounted beside a cabin window, and easily slid out of their holders and taken along, weighing only a couple of ounces. I would not throw one of those away. I'd just buy/install a 406 in addition to the EBC.)

In 2003 I was called out on an ELT search to McKinley National Park that had been heard for 5 days. The Park Service had looked for it, the Alaska State Troopers had looked for it, and finally they called the CAP to come find it. We flew up to the Kantishna Airstrip and did a quick search up and down the valley. It didn't take long to pinpoint the signal coming from an old abandoned cabin by the river. When we landed and got a lift to the cabin it was in a shambles. Someone had ransacked the place and set off an old EBC ELT the previous occupant had left behind. It was under a pile of debris and had been transmitting for 6 days by the time we found it. The battery had written on it "Replace before May 1989". It was 14 years out of date!

May 30, 2008 I was called out on another ELT search in the Anchorage area. It had been heard from Anchorage Intl, PANC and Lake Hood, LHD to Birchwood, PABV, about 30 miles apart. It didn't take long to locate an ELT in a beat-up old Stinson that had not been flown or moved in 2 months. After turning that one off, I called Rescue Coordination Center, RCC to let them know it had been found and they said it was still going off at Lake Hood. I drove to Lake Hood and it took a little longer to find the ELT this time. There was a C-206 on floats that was the apparent offender. The doors were open so I crawled in to check it out. It had two ELTs in it but neither was transmitting and they made a definitely different sound when turned on. So, I got back out and tried to figure out where the signal could be coming from since it was really strong. I finally looked in a dumpster and after doing a little dumpster diving, it was found in a trash bag. A local aircraft dealer had cleaned out his office and simply put the EBC ELT in a trash bag and lobbed it into the dumpster which set it off. Another out of date battery by 8 years.

By the way, both of these ELTs and most of the ones we locate are found with a simple handheld aviation radio which is de-tuned off-frequency more the closer you get to the ELT. It is sometimes possible to walk straight up to it.

The moral of these stories is the batteries will last years longer than the tag says and please disable the battery if disposing of an ELT. I'm not going back into another dumpster! Luckily this one was all clean office trash and had no real garbage in it.

gahorn wrote:Yes, John. I"m not saying I'd want to pack an old Cessna ELT a long distance... but some of the lighterweight, self-contained ones can be seen as useful in some situations. Thinking about those little EBC ones, the size of a cigarette pack with a wire antenna. (They sometimes are mounted beside a cabin window, and easily slid out of their holders and taken along, weighing only a couple of ounces. I would not throw one of those away. I'd just buy/install a 406 in addition to the EBC.)

Well, maybe. You did mention ones with D cells, and they're much bulkier and heavier than the little EBC model. I'd still feel much better with a SPOT than an old EBC unit. Those are awfully easy to set off when not properly mounted in an airplane, as Richard pointed out. You'd have to remove the battery and insulate its leads before putting it in the survival pack, IMHO. Then be sure the little wire nuts and screws don't get away!

John