At 20:00 14 November 2003, Buck Wild wrote:
I've said it before, though I haven't done an
extensive web search on it, There's gotta be
an elt available that sends one short burst
with your exact GPS location to a satalite

What you are looking for is a 406 MHz ELT. They transmit
a message burst every 50 seconds, rather than emitting
a continuous signal. The reason a priodic message
is required is that the primary emergency receivers
are on polar orbiting satellites, and there may not
be one overhead at any given moment. The aircraft
versions also supports broadcasting position info using
an external GPS connected via an ARINC 429 bus.

Why don't we all have these?

Most because a TSO'd 121.5 MHz ELT costs around $200,
whereas a TSO'd 406 Mhz ELT costs $5000+ (a GPS with
a 429 bus will cost you a few thousand more). You
can get a marine 406 MHz ELT for under $1000, but they
don't have a G-switch...

Marc