While I truly feel sorry for those who have purchased Ameri-King products, I have to admit that, upon reading this news, my first reaction was "it's about time". From many of my posts here I may have developed a reputation as a bit of a proselytizer for ELT's. Ameri-King has been producing the worst, most unreliable ELT in the business for too many years. Sure, they were cheap. In many posts here I've warned that you get what you pay for. I'm so very glad to see Ameri-King products officially condemned.
Before anybody says it's fine for me to talk, but where's the colour of my money, let me say that I have been bitten by being an early adopter of 406MHz ELT technology and took a $1,000 hit to replace an early 406 ELT that did not perform reliably. Been there, done that, got the bill to prove it!
BTW, with respect to the question about our homebuilt airplanes, the wording of the regulations requires the ELT to be TSO'd (completely different than, for instance, the requirement for ADS-B to meet TSO performance levels). If the Ameri-King ELT in our aircraft was touched by Ameri-King after 28 December, 2015, it is officially an unapproved part and MUST BE REMOVED/REPLACED with an approved part.
This is a very unfortunate set of circumstances for owners of Ameri-King ELTs, however it is far better to have to bite the bullet and replace an unapproved part than to have that unapproved part fail to perform when you need it most.
Good bye and good riddance to Ameri-King and their awful ELT's.