ELT 406 MHz upgrade

WannFly

WannFly

Final Approach
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i have a traditional 121.5 ELT, planning to upgrade to a 406 MHz ELT. looking at ARTEX ELT 345 vs ELT 1000

there is substantial price difference between the two and i cant find what the feature differences are. what am i missing with ELT 345? i already have a GPS WAAS position source (Garmin 480/ Apollo CNX 80)

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/artex11-13989.php - $ 549 (with antenna)

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/artex406elt1000.php?clickkey=1528728 $1024 with whip antenna
 
I've looked at them for 15 minutes and didn't see a glaring difference other than metal vs plastic mounting tray.

Maybe the cheap one was certified to use only the low speed whip antenna.
 
bnt83 said:
I've looked at them for 15 minutes and didn't see a glaring difference other than metal vs plastic mounting tray.

Maybe the cheap one was certified to use only the low speed whip antenna.
Click to expand...
yah i tried to find something everywhere, cant find any...

on a diff note, reading the book in your sig line and cant put it down
 
I'm pretty sure that's the case, the 345 can only use the cheaper whip, that's all that is allowed in the manual. The 1000 can use several, whip, rod, and blade, also available in different colors.
 
Wasn’t there also a recent notification from FAA that one of the 406 ELT makers models had an unholy high number of false alarms or something like that?

I’m searching my reference material but haven’t found it yet.
 
Make sure the adaptor to hook your 480 to the ELT physically exists. Unless you have it in hand, I would not order the ELT itself.
 
weilke said:
Make sure the adaptor to hook your 480 to the ELT physically exists. Unless you have it in hand, I would not order the ELT itself.
Click to expand...
Good point, thanks. Let me find the adapter first then. Think it's RS 232.... but will confirm

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
WannFly said:
Good point, thanks. Let me find the adapter first then. Think it's RS 232.... but will confirm
Click to expand...

I still have a worthless brick of 406 elt on the shelf. For 5 years the manufacturer and multiple avionics shops told us that the the RS232 interface is 'just on backorder'.
 
Worthless brick? A non-gps enabled 406 is exponentially better than any 121.5. I don’t believe there’s any data to support that gps enabling has saved lives. It does allow the location to be transmitted in the first ELT burst but that alone isn’t very significant unless the ELT survives less than 15 minutes. If the ELT remains active the MCC will have a location solution before any rescue is launched.
 
ACK’s E-04 is the most popular 406 I see being used. It’s the least expensive 406 I know of and has very simple GPS connection. I have a non-enabled Artex in my Cessna and now an enabled E-04 in my Cub, and the new E-04 cost way less than half of the Artex that I installed 10 years ago. I don’t think enabling is reason to scrap my Artex but obviously I didn’t buy another Artex when a less expensive and more complete product is approved and available.
 
WannFly said:
Good point, thanks. Let me find the adapter first then. Think it's RS 232.... but will confirm

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

And Garmin will “love you long time” if you have to buy it from them. LOL. The G1000 official serial cable to the ELT costs hundreds of dollars. For something you could make for less than $5 in cable and connectors.
 
Stewartb said:
Worthless brick? A non-gps enabled 406 is exponentially better than any 121.5. I don’t believe there’s any data to support that gps enabling has saved lives. It does allow the location to be transmitted in the first ELT burst but that alone isn’t very significant unless the ELT survives less than 15 minutes. If the ELT remains active the MCC will have a location solution before any rescue is launched.
Click to expand...

Yesterday we had a 406 MHz ELT search. The coordinates given by AFRCC were off by a mile. Not a problem in this case because it was in open prairie a mile from the airport and the ground team just walked into the maintenance shop to turn off the unregistered ELT. In the mountains or just forest, a mile can be a big area to search. GPS coordinates narrow it down further.

It's a brick because nobody wants to buy it from me when a new one is just a couple bucks more.
 
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