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I am self insured. Your points are biased to your own situation and values, but well taken. Each must make their own. I am still waiting to hear about the ELT that saved somebody's bacon in an RV, or even one that located a crash site. Are there any? There has to be some. Sorry Bret - Hopefully this discussion gets you closer to your own decision. I will bow out now, listen and learn. (Would it surprise you that I haven't upgraded my ELT? ;) |
I am leaning towards Kannad, I am working with a Local Dynon dealer friend who is helping with my install and he suggested using the Dynon GPS for location, do you know if this brand will accept external GPS input from the Dynon GPS?
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So I guess the 406 units have built in GPS? looking at this one 11-09927
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crickets.....I hear crickets.......where is everyone.......Oshkosh ? ok, wish I was there but any way, another question....on this Kannad I see an internal GPS antenna, so does the unit need to be mounted with a clear view of the sky? anyone.....Bueler?
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"I am still waiting to hear about the ELT that saved somebody's bacon in an RV, or even one that located a crash site. Are there any? There has to be some."
This is a common perception, that ELT's are a miserable failure. Unfortunately we often hear only about the failures, and not the 'saves'. I wouldn't expect you to take my word concerning the 406 "saves", so instead I'll refer you to a more official source. Sorry I wasn't able to find more current info in my quick search. https://www.cospas-sarsat.int/images...L-v-091015.pdf In particular, look at the first page of the document where the summary indicates more than 39,000 people saved by 406MHz emergency beacon technology since 1982. Keep in mind that includes ELTs, EPIRBs and PLBs. Since we're interested particularly in ELTs, take a look at page 6 where some "Notable Saves" are highlighted. The first two "saves" are aviation/ELT activations. With respect to the concept that RV accidents are either survivable or not, let me suggest you give some consideration to the risks taken by those who perform Search and Rescue. If you happen to be the subject of a search effort, many people will be putting their lives on the line to go looking for you. Often those searches take place in poor weather, over inhospitable terrain, and sometimes the searchers themselves come to grief while doing their darndest to bring aid to a downed aircraft. Sure, you might have gone into the side of a hill in your RV and perished hours ago, with no more earthly cares. But those SAR folks all have families waiting at home for them. Why needlessly endanger them? Sometimes we need to span our thinking out a bit and realize it's not just about us. Sometimes we need to consider those who are left behind after we've gone west. Think about it... |
"crickets.....I hear crickets.......where is everyone.......Oshkosh ? ok, wish I was there but any way, another question....on this Kannad I see an internal GPS antenna, so does the unit need to be mounted with a clear view of the sky? anyone.....Bueler?"
The short answer is the Kannad Integra's internal antenna (both GPS and 406) have to be able to "see the sky" to function. As many RVs install the ELT in close proximity to the cockpit, a view of the sky isn't entirely impossible. I'm building an aircraft with a composite hull so this requirement is much easier to meet, but again, it's not impossible or even that difficult in a typical RV. To answer your earlier question, some ELTs are capable of accepting GPS data from an external source, via NMEA0183 or similar RS-232 serial interface. Some ELTs require an interface box to make this work, and often the interface box costs as much or more than the ELT itself. In Canada, the connection of an external GPS to an ELT is considered "specialized work" and must be done by an appropriately-rated Approved Maintenance Organization (avionics shop). One ELT that springs immediately to mind that features an interface to an external GPS is the ACK E-04 - its interface is included in the basic unit. The down-side to this device is that its connectors have a bit of a history of reliability challenges. Nuthin's purfect! LoL |
A ha! so digging into this deeper, Vans sells the ELT bracket that gets installed behind the baggage wall on two J channels, totally enclosed in the aluminum fuse. So this was probably originally designed for the 121 and not the 406. The 406 needs to see the sky, so even if we put it in the baggage area, it is not going to see sky if and when most of the accident end up upside down......where is everyone putting this box? if the GPS antenna is on the unit, and folks are installing them incorrectly, maybe that's why we get the negative reports? I will be traveling Through the Sierras often and would like to be found if the unthinkable happens.
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So with a "standard" 121.5 old-school brick of an ELT in the back, and a PLB attached to me (my harness, actually), I have redundant systems and alternate actuation mechanisms. Unless I do something truly stupid and plow into a mountain while in IMC, and thus have no time to activate an emergency checklist, I can manually activate the PLB as part of my checklist activities *prior* to landing/crash, right? In fact, this combination may be *more* robust than a single unit which combines GPS/satellite signal broadcast, since if that fails (gets destroyed on crashing), no signal will be sent. The PLB is also much less bulky and more portable, should I have to leave the site of the crash for whatever reason. So, IMO, you get essentially all of the benefits of a 406 unit, plus redundancy via separate devices and different activation mechanisms, with a 121.5 + PLB, at far less cost. (ETA: Given the increasingly solid coverage of the country by ADS-B, I wonder if that wouldn't also increase the odds of finding wreckage, if the aircraft is ADS-B OUT equipped?) |
That's a good point, maybe I'll look in that direction also. Is there anything in the pipes coming down that is going to require us to have a 406 in the Experimental.
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My opinion is that an ELT with built in GPS should have a dedicated antenna with a clear shot at the sky - which is useless if you end up upside down. Most seem to be installing with the Vans or similar bracket behind the baggage compartment and putting the antenna either under the tail cone cover or in the baggage compartment - bending the whip to contour with the airframe sides. The Kannard unit you referenced above could be mounted in the baggage compartment with a fiberglass or plastic shield to keep it from being banged around. The PLB is a good backup and we all like to have backup equipment. |
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