In my effort to get the details of the rear fuselage tied up so I can start riveting on the top skins, one of the items I needed to cross off was the ELT. I knew I was going to need to ramp up on some wiring supplies in the near future. Stein has a wiring kit that I was considering purchasing as I knew it would satisfy pretty much everything I would need. Since I had already purchased some electrical tools and knew that because I plan to install a Vertical Power system I wouldn't need as much wiring. So I pared down the kit somewhat to tailor it to what I thought I would need. While I was at it, I figured I would browse through Stein's web store for other items. I ended up getting his Ameri-King ELT along with some LED cockpit lighting.
I saw the ELT for $200 and thought, wow, that's a really good price so I jumped on it. Well, after it showed up and I was halfway through the install it dawned on me that I had unwittingly bought an "older" style 121.5MHz ELT! Since 2009, satellites no longer monitor 121.5, only ground based systems. Dang, that was not my intention...I wanted the newer 406MHz. So I was faced with a dilemma...send it back for a refund or install it anyway, its still legal after all.
Sending things back is a pain because you get whacked with shipping costs AGAIN! At this point in the build, I am getting worn out by shipping costs. And I had already started the install which included filing a couple sharp edges on the mounting bracket and up sizing the mounting holes. I wouldn't feel comfortable sending it back to Stein with mods like that.
So, of course, I turned to VAF to do some research to see what others have done. I found quite a few instances where the strategy was to install the cheapest 121.5 MHz ELT to be legal and then supplement it with a PLB and/or a tracking device like SPoT or APRS device. Quite a few pilots share my philosophy that I don't trust these ELT's with my life...very few accident reports I read ever have them working as planned. They either don't activate in a crash or are not effective. Since I had planned on a PLB and a tracker anyway, this made sense to me.
I have installed the 121.5MHz (I'm sure my friend Bryan Raley, a SAR pilot for CAP, is going to chastise me for this decision!! haha). If I had it do over again I would buy the 406MHz, but since I have this in hand I'll install it...knowing full well, that I will probably have to swap it out later and lose my $200 and have an orange paper weight. Maybe the new ones will come down in price by then?...I couldn't find one less than $700!! Tell me, why in the world those are so much more expensive?? Are the electronics much different? Ever feel like you get gouged in this aviation world?? PITA!
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