Friends.
Besides the also pricey options of a handheld device, I see the 406 MHZ transponder that Artex offers as an alternative. It is part of a line of transponders that are priced around the 1000 Dollar mark that several manufacturers are developing. http://www.skygeek.com/455-6605.html http://www.artex.net/products/products.php?categoryid=15 To my surprise, I find the same package priced double as high at Aircraft spruce: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/artexme406.php In any case, I think if you are ready to spend 500 bucks on a hand held device, why not spend another 500 and you have the optimal unit? We folks are willing to spend over 1 k on a color GPS, we crank out 5k for a glass panel without questioning the value for a daytime VFR pilot, but we hesitate to spend more than a few hundred dollars for a state of the art ELT. Sure you can show off at the airport with the new color screens at the airport and it gives you a kick when you look at your colorful screens of your new toys, but what does that give you when you laying in the woods with broken legs and a lousy handheld device as an ELT? Why lousy? The devices I looked at are only good for a transmission for up to 24 hours. Now we all hope that your signal is transmitted to the system in the first few minutes after activation. Then all you need to do is wait. But you are not getting any feedback from the satellites that the signal had been received, so you are better advised to leave the unit on. 24 hours with a weak signal. The antennas of the handheld devices are not great. My current ELT is an Artex Pointer 3000. If the need arises, I'll replace it with a real ELT. But here in Europe, ELTs are not that hot of a discussion point anyway. Hartmut To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 01:04:55 -0800 Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Re: !21.5 Emergency Freq Ooops; my mistake. Thank you to all who corrected it. Antenna on the belly is transponder; ELT antenna is on the ELT itself which rides in a little cage on the wall of the baggage compartment inside the plane. (But it was worth making the goof to evoke the detailed lesson on emergency SAR from Jim Truxel that resulted -- thank you! And, like Ed, I'm wondering what the best alternative to the expensive new installed-ELT would be, from the point of view of the CAP folks who do the searching. What do you think, Jim? Assuming we leave the old 121.5 ELT in place, is a hand-held PLB or something like Find-Me-Spot a better addition?) Linda N3437H (Sky Sprite) L.A. 2e. Re: !21.5 Emergency Freq Posted by: "Syd Cohen" [email protected] Date: Mon Feb 2, 2009 5:58 pm ((PST)) ELT antennas are rarely mounted on the belly of an airplane. If you see an antenna on the belly most likely it is the transponder antenna. Syd _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/
