Has anyone installed a 406 ELT yet?

03-26-2010, 03:32 PM

mike reibling | Has anyone installed a 406 ELT yet?

The 121.5 ELT is obsolete in Canada now so I am trying to find out what anyone is doing with the 406 system. What is a good system? Where to install the antenna etc.

Thoughts or comments anyone please.

Mike Reibling

03-26-2010, 06:55 PM

Mike

Nothing yet.....anybody else..?

03-26-2010, 09:21 PM

Tom Saccio | 406 elt

I've got the 406 in my plane. I installed it about a year ago. What do you need to know.

Tom Saccio

03-27-2010, 01:05 AM

mike reibling | 406

Tom

My current ELT is mounted under my dash. Can the 406 mount in the same way? Does the antenna require any special consideration as far as its location and position? Can the antenna mount horizontal under the dash as well?

Mike

03-27-2010, 02:42 PM

Tom saccio | Elt

According to the people that make the ELT It has to mounted on it's side with the wire connections pointing forward. As far as I know the antenna could be mounted almost ant place as long as it is clear of any interference.

Tom Saccio

12-12-2010, 06:14 AM

Mike

I just finished tHe conditional annual with a local a n p. Wouldn't u know the elt battery expired about 10 years ago, LOL, so now I begin the hunt for a new elt. I wonder if anyone has a good place to get the new with gps location?

12-13-2010, 04:32 PM

Robehouse

Hi Mike, I have the old ACK E-01 installed in GR and I'm waiting for the company to release their new retro 406 kit (E-04). They have been testing it for more then a year so far and their latest comment is as follows:

"We received an e-mail today with the tracking number for the final submission from the military lab, on its way to COSPAS. The submission should arrive on Monday for COSPAS to review. If everything goes right, we hope to be shipping the E-04 out by the beginning of 2011."

The kit should be around $560 and is sold by Aircraft Spruce. I also heard of a personel GPS PLB from McMurdo called "Fast Find" for about $200. It also sends a GPS position over 406 and must be registered with NOAA .. not perfact but a reasonable substitute until the ACK is available.

Jerry

12-13-2010, 06:37 PM

Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robehouse View Post

Jerry

Hi J,

The more I get into this stuff the more I think I am gonna replace the battery until the newer units are out on the market. The PLB's are not accepted by the FAA to be used in aircraft in the USA.

02-16-2011, 08:00 AM

Mike

Replaced the battery for $30.00........waiting for the new elts to drop in $$$

09-02-2014, 09:14 PM

Rusty | 406 Elt installation

I just bought 2 ACK ELTs @ Air Venture, one for my C182RG and one for the Seawind. Gotta pay thru the nose for the local A&P to install in the Cessna and sign it off. Picked ACK for the price & the fact they are located in my town.

Gonna put the ELT antenna on top inside the vertical fin. Dean Rickerson advised me to build in ground plane in the vertical tail 20yrs ago. Paying off now. Will put the Xpndr spike same place pointed down underneath. Putting the ACK battery where most folks have a header tank, cause it's heavy. Guess I'll pot in marker beacon tapes somewhere near--not sure why--too old & tired to ever earn an IFR rating. Probably put the TRIG remote Xpndr box near, too, doesn't weigh much, needs to keep antenna feed short. GRT magnetometer's back there too, on a little shelf off the slanted bulkhead of the vertical tail. Looks to be the only place at least 2 ft. away from electrical currents and ferrous metal. GRT EIS & auto pilots's back there too.

Living in the tail cone these days--mebbe wife could hand in meals on a stick.

09-03-2014, 07:13 AM

Mike

your gonna love the GRT....a few of us have them

04-18-2016, 02:47 PM

ttthunne | Elt

Just received a new Artex 406 ELT that are now about half the price of the older ones, about $500.00+ through my avionics shop. The bad news is the required ground plane size - 48" in Dia.! And it has to be perpendicular to the whip antenna which in turn has to be + or - 15 degrees of vertical.

Talked to Artex and they say no way around the GP size or orientation for a composite aircraft. I can't think of a composite A/C large enough for a convenient mounting of that size. All 406s' require this size GP to be perfectly functional and all of them flying in composite A/C, I think, cannot in fact conform exactly to this requirement

Artex will only say when you ask about alternatives that they have no data on which to base an opinion on anything but their recommended installation. Basically a product liability issue I am sure.

Tom Thunnell

04-19-2016, 01:35 PM

Mike

No don't need 48".... I made and mounted a spider looking antenna just behind the mixer in that open space. I will ask kevin to take some picts for me since the plane is in Fl. It's really not a big deal...

04-19-2016, 11:20 PM

tthunne | Elt

Mike:

The people at Artex told me I could utilize the spider pattern made either from

26AWG material or 1" foil tape but that each leg of the spider had to be as long as the antenna itself which is 24" so the effective diameter of the spider needs to be 48" and it would require 8 "spiders".

I asked them how their antenna could be installed in a Cirrus ,for instance, which for all practical purposes has no surface that would accommodate their exact installation requirements and they simply said they don't comment on specific aircraft types.

There is a local antenna specialist who has installed a number of them in composite, wood and metal a/c and has measured their performance which has been good so I will be talking to this guy and see what he recommends.

Tom T

04-20-2016, 03:19 PM

Mike

See enclosed picts... I didn't take a lot of time designing it however it works. I used the existing stubby antenna and added a 1/8" bracket along with 24" spider legs.. The ideal way would have been to imbed the spiders in the fiberglass; which I might do.

Not perfect but it works.. I need to finish it when I get back to fl

04-20-2016, 08:05 PM

tthunne | Elt

Mike:

I believe, like you, I'm more interested in what works than perfection. One of the guys' at my airport looking at the Seawind as we were talking about the antenna suggested that I just glass in the spider on top of the deck area which is a pretty big relatively flat space. Good to hear yours works so I won't be as limited as I first thought.

04-21-2016, 12:29 PM

Mike

you can glass it in almost anywhere. The back of the turtle deck would be a good place however the turtle deck does get a lot of ware n tear especially durning the annual

03-27-2017, 04:07 AM

Rusty

I purchased 2 406 ELTs from ACK here in San Jose-installed one in the vertical fin of the Seawind, had one installed in the Cessna by my I.A. @ annual.

Heavy rains and a leaky Cessna windscreen shorted the audio unit and netted me a call from an Airforce Officer. Proves they're paying attention!

Years ago I installed a large internal copper ground plane in the vertical tail structure at the suggestion of Dean Rickerson. Added lateral strips of leftover Jim Weir antenna stock externally under the removable fin. Not able to achieve width equal to ht. of whip antenna--plenty of length, though. Any thoughts on what this does to receiving envelope?