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ELT, anyone using the 406 Skyhunter? Pireps please.

flyboy1963

flyboy1963

Well Known Member
Pointer has a unit called 'skyhunter', my local avionics tech has it on his short list of recommended units.
Just wondering if anyone has used one.
I am converting from Ameri-King, so will need new 'everything', but hope it's worth it to have the unit send the GPS location along with 406.

http://www.skyhunter406.com/

if you're interested.
 
Perry - I haven't installed or owned a Skyhunter but have had more than a few conversations with the owner of the company and have had him come to our EAA chapter to give a presentation on the Skyhunter.

As part of that presentation, Bruce brought along several "stage props" including their flame test article as well as several other interesting bits and pieces.

Following his presentation I think we were all left with the impression that ELT's are supposed to be tested to the RTCA DO-160 standards as specified in the TSO document, but that Pointer had gone well beyond those test standards. The flame test item was a sight to see! The reports of low-temperature endurance, particularly important to those of us north of the 49th, were impressive, with operation beyond 200% of the mandatory minimum.

The other cool part of this ELT is the business model behind it. You buy directly from the manufacturer. It's also the only ELT which has the capacity for remote diagnostics. Pointer also has a far more open approach to approving service centres for their products. Plus the ELT battery is very competitively priced so you'll not get badly stung after your first five years of ownership when the battery life is expired.

Your local avionics tech is indeed wise to have the Skyhunter on his short list of recommended ELT's. It's a good box. If you really want a better discourse on the unit, call up Pointer and ask to speak with Bruce - he'll give you the straight goods on it and you'll likely end up buying one. He's not a strong salesman - the strengths of the product pretty much sell itself.
 
good news, bad news

thanks for the great report Mark.
I have no doubt its a well-designed unit, sadly, as you say, many that 'meet' the TSO are suffering frequent failures, and that's BEFORE they are put to the real-world test in a crash!
...reminds me of 1972-ish when we all had to equip....... and the batteries leaked, and died, and ruined the 'TC approved' units!:eek:

the bad news; I need a little GPS puck to send position to this unit, and Skyhunter wants $99 for it. okay, a little steep....but then $50 to ship UPS?...and taxes.....all in USD?
I sent an email to them, hoping they can fix their business model to match the quality of their hardware!
 
I looked at the installation manual on the web page and the unit looks nice. It has some advantages and disadvantages compared to other units. Advantages are: Ease of programming using either USB cable or dongle, and built in GPS receiver. Disadvantages are: Requires a stand alone GPS antenna if using whip antenna installation (does not have capability to interface with onboard GPS). Rod antenna installation requires a very large hole for mounting. Remote switch is not recessed in the mounting plate and looks cheap. Battery life is very short if conducting "406 burst test", only 10 tests allowed between battery replacements.

Overall it appears to be a nice unit that is functionally similar to the Kannad Integra ELT at a similar price.
 
Mike - the comment about "only 10 tests allowed between battery replacements" might need some additional context around it in order to paint a more accurate picture. The following quote from the Skyhunter installation manual is similar to statements made in all 406MHz ELT installation manuals. The ability to sustain a monthly self-test while retaining sufficient battery power to meet the minimum transmit endurance at the end of the stated battery lifespan (ie the battery must have sufficient juice left after 60 self-test cycles to allow the ELT to meet its full operational specification at the end of its 5 year battery life) is part of the TSO testing requirements.

"CAUTION: This Self Test uses battery power and as a result if you choose to perform more than the recommended monthly testing early battery replacement may be required."

The Power Test Burst which consumes so much battery power is recommended to be done only annually. This test is different from the standard self test, which as noted above, is recommended to be conducted on a monthly basis.

For Canadian installers, keep in mind the installation of an ELT which interfaces to an external GPS (doesn't have to be an IFR-certified GPS) is considered "specialized work" which requires an appropriately-rated AMO to sign off the installation. Yes, this rule applies to amateur-built aircraft as well - there is no exemption.

With respect to the Kannad Integra ELT, one of the primary differences with its design is that it contains an internal flat patch antenna which will allow for transmission of 406MHz signals if the external antenna is no longer present. This is the ELT I've installed in our current project aircraft, where it is well suited to the aircraft's composite structure.
 
everything you didn't want to know....and more!

gee Mark, this is a real learning experience!
....and somehow not surprising that TC mandates that you can build an aircraft, but not plug in a little puck antennae and Velcro it to the dash!
in addition to knowing it will work, and put out enough power, where's the test that shows it is transmitting the correct GPS coordinates?..might as well throw that in there for another couple hundred dollars a year eh?
 
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Yes, all TSO-C126 406Mhz ELT operational manuals state that battery power is used during self tests and they usually recommend testing no more that once a month to preclude using more than one cumulative hour of operation or depletion of 50% of usefull battery life, whichever comes first.

The manual for the Pointer SkyHunter states that there are three tests that can be performed "Arm Test" "Power Test Burst" and "GNSS Self Test". The Artex and Kannad units radiate a 406 Mhz test coded burst during the standard yearly functional test that is similar to the "Power Burst Test" and do not specify the maximum number of tests that can be performed. It is possible that all of the mentioned ELTs have similar batter capacity available for testing purposes, but I cannot recall getting a battery life error code while testing any of the Artex or Kannad ELTs unless they were brought into the shop after being accidentaly left on.
 
Mike - excellent info being shared here.

The Kannad battery definitely will survive to the full 5 year (now 6 years for that product) service life. I just replaced one that had lived a full life. The on-board usage monitor records on-time which has more than sufficient margin to support monthly tests for six years.

I believe it was in the interests of better diagnostic granularity that Pointer opted to make the tests separately accessible by the user.

As for the question around whether or not the GPS position is being properly coded, there are only two ways to do that. One is to use a beacon test set, and the other is to use one of the subscription-based over-the-air beacon test services. The down-side with this latter approach is that you really can't test the GPS function because its Time to First Fix is greater than the duration of the ELT test cycle. That brings us back to using a beacon test set.
 
Canadian_JOY said:
Mike - the comment about "only 10 tests allowed between battery replacements" might need some additional context around it in order to paint a more accurate picture. The following quote from the Skyhunter installation manual is similar to statements made in all 406MHz ELT installation manuals. The ability to sustain a monthly self-test while retaining sufficient battery power to meet the minimum transmit endurance at the end of the stated battery lifespan (ie the battery must have sufficient juice left after 60 self-test cycles to allow the ELT to meet its full operational specification at the end of its 5 year battery life) is part of the TSO testing requirements.

"CAUTION: This Self Test uses battery power and as a result if you choose to perform more than the recommended monthly testing early battery replacement may be required."

The Power Test Burst which consumes so much battery power is recommended to be done only annually. This test is different from the standard self test, which as noted above, is recommended to be conducted on a monthly basis.

For Canadian installers, keep in mind the installation of an ELT which interfaces to an external GPS (doesn't have to be an IFR-certified GPS) is considered "specialized work" which requires an appropriately-rated AMO to sign off the installation. Yes, this rule applies to amateur-built aircraft as well - there is no exemption.

With respect to the Kannad Integra ELT, one of the primary differences with its design is that it contains an internal flat patch antenna which will allow for transmission of 406MHz signals if the external antenna is no longer present. This is the ELT I've installed in our current project aircraft, where it is well suited to the aircraft's composite structure.
Click to expand...

Just Checking....

Is a reader able to interpret from the above that a NON gps 406 ELT like an AK 451 may be installed by the builder in Canada?
 
Looking at the list, it's out of date, but it still shows the AK 451, and other models without GPS feature, as approved ... notice the Pointer 406's aren't there, looks like the list is from 2012 ...
 
JF - it's important to note that "approved" doesn't mean "approved for installation by other than an AMO". That list is the device approval only.

It's also important to note that installation of a 406MHz ELT with a self-contained GPS receiver is NOT deemed by Transport Canada to be specialized work and can be accomplished by other than an AMO (can be done by AME in certificated aircraft or the owner in an amateur-built). It is only the ELT which interfaces to an on-board GPS which needs an AMO to carry out the installation.

Yeah, I know, the rules don't always make sense...
 
The question was this:

"Is a reader able to interpret from the above that a NON gps 406 ELT like an AK 451 may be installed by the builder in Canada?"

So I think I answered that correctly ... You absolutely can install a non-GPS aware ELT 406 unit.

As to who can do it, the exemption letter can be found here:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/Regserv/Affairs/exemptions/docs/en/2052.htm

This letter allows AMEs, and non-avionics AMOs to work on TSO C126 ELTs, given certain conditions, one of them being like you said that the unit must not interface with other systems.

Says nothing about owners though.

For owners, the regular 571.04 reg always applies anyways:

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-433/FullText.html#s-571.04

"571.04 No person shall perform the specialized maintenance set out in Schedule II to this Subpart on an aeronautical product other than an aircraft operated under a special certificate of airworthiness in the owner-maintenance or amateur-built classification, except in accordance with ..."

Where Schedule II is full of goodies, and includes many many things that home-builders do all the time (Like working on your wings, or engine mount, or installing a full EFIS suite, etc.), and said home builders are exempt from that rule at all times anyways (You wwouldn't get very far if you didn't, as it's pretty broad ranging).

So it seems that amateur builders can not only install and certify their C126 installation, they can do so even if the ELT interfaces with other systems, since that restriction only applies to those specially exempt from 571.04 by that letter, which isn't you guys (I won't say "us" since I'm not building yet! :p), because you always are.

Found you a rule that gives you MORE freedom that you thought you had, how about that ;)
 
JF - Good references. Keep in mind the exemption does not apply to ELT's which are interfaced with any other aircraft system - that's still specialized maintenance when considered in respect of aircraft operating with a CofA other than amateur-built or owner-maintenance.
 
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