Two weeks ago when my son was visiting we went out to fly (he never refuses to fly the left seat). A few minutes after taking off I felt my cellphone vibrated three separate times and I just ignored them. We did a few touch and goes at DeLand and one at Daytona Beach (talking to the approach too). After we landed and turned off the master we heard a beeping sound. I was puzzled for a few seconds before I saw the red light on the ELT remote panel. I turned off the ELT switch and checked my phone record. Yes, the air force search and rescue and two others have called. No, they have not sent rescue yet. They could see that we continued to fly. When I called back they just want to make sure that we landed safely.
We concluded that my son must have touched the on button on the remote by accident. I forgot to brief him that the remote for the new ACK E4 ELT is mounted on the engine control bracket between and below throttle and mixture control knobs. I choosed the location so in emergency I can reach it without moving my hand. I need to make a note to brief any person I fly with so this does not happen again.
Through this incidence I learned that my installation is working. Compare with my old ELT both the E4 box and the antenna are longer. The old installation locations do not work. I ended installing the box behind the pilot seat on the cover plate. I know it might not pass the crash test. the advantage is the easy access for turning it off.
My antenna is installed on the opposite side. I also have an oxygen bottle right next to it (again not an ideal location). During the initial test the unit beeped three times to indicate the low RF power. ACK tech support advised that it is due to the antenna location inside the baggage compartment. They could tweak the unit to make it less sensitive on reporting the RF power level. I sent the head back to ACK and afterward it no longer making the three beeps. Now it is confirmed that even with the lower RF transmission search and rescue still can receive my signal.
ACK E4 is proven to work in my 9A
Linear Mode
