Not sure that I follow you, Jim. You say "All those specific
requirements that we have to comply with are required by the
manufacturer to insure that the installation complies with the
TSO.....From what I've seen and read, most ELT failures are due to dead
batteries or improper installation, or even missing!"

Do ELT manufacturers specify how to mount the antenna and how to strain
relieve the cable to meet TSO requirements? From my reading, the choice
of antenna and the antenna mounting appears to be at the discretion of
the installer. You seem to confirm that when you say "most ELT
failures are due to ...improper installation...".

The example you gave of the Cessna 210 cut in two with the ELT still
working is remarkable, but that certainly wouldn't be typical. I've
seen a 70 pound instrument brought up short after an accidental 50 foot
drop to the end of a single RG-58 cable, and we found the electrical
connection still good afterwards. But I've also seen a two year old
circuit fail at a BNC connector when the attached coaxial cable was
gently moved sideways less than 3 inches. The point is that the
cable/connector interface is problematic, and is therefore a weak point
in what is arguably a critical system.

By the way, I sincerely hope you don't think I was criticizing you.
Your web site shows that your ELT is mounted in a very sound,
workmanlike manner. I was merely asking a rhetorical question as to
whether the regulating bodies had considered what appeared to be a weak
link in the ELT chain.

-John