Tom McQuinn wrote:
: I'm into my first owner assisted annual right now with my Archer.
: You're having a better year than I am. I have a Narco ELT 10 that has
: gone toes up. My guy is trying pretty hard to steer me away from
: anything other than dropping $900 on a direct replacement or getting the
: current one fixed. And I already have a switch near the left armrest
: with (from memory....) off/arm/test positions. Has anyone ever replaced
: a set up like this with an ACK or an Ameri-King?
I installed it on a friend's PA-24. IIRC, it's an RJ-11 (i.e. telephone
cord) between the ELT and the front panel. It's not tough... just figure out where
you want to mount the front panel unit, and tear the guts out of the plane until you
can route the cable where you need...
$900 for a direct replacement??? We thought hard about this on our moldy old
Sharc7 that's in our PA28 1.5 years ago. The batteries are required replacement every
2, and for $5 worth of D-cells soldered together they bend you over for $35 IIRC. I
was tempted to just go for an ACK at that time to prevent overpriced battery
replacement (and to get a newer unit). The rest of the annual ended costing more than
anticipated, so we deferered the upgrade cost and just bought a new battery. Next
time, we may go the other route.
Too bad the 406MHz ones are still too expensive.
: I did find an AOPA link claiming the SARSAT coverage will be dropped for
: the 'old' units in 2009. -
:
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/regulatory/elt.html - They seem to think
: the units will still be legal but won't have sat. coverage.
That's what I remember as well.
: How about magnetos? Do you really just throw Slick mags. away after 5
: calendar years????
Apparently.... at least at the end-user/A&P level.
Bendix ones are big, old, and clunky, but at least they're rebuildable easily.
-Cory
: Jay Honeck wrote:
: So, our '74 Pathfinder (Cherokee 235) is back in for annual -- its fifth one
: with us -- and I spent the day working with my mechanic on my 8th
: "owner-assisted" annual inspection. A few previously known squawks have
: been addressed:
:
: 1. The ELT. It barely passed last year, and this year it didn't activate
: when subjected to sudden deceleration. (It's the original Piper part, so I
: think it has given its all...)
:
: I've ordered a new Ameri-King model from Spruce, at a very attractive price
: ($175) -- but I've found (much to my dismay) that a remote switch must be
: installed in the panel for ANY new ELT installed. The old one did not
: require this, and I'm a bit mystified as to why the new ones require ripping
: the panel apart to install yet another idiot light/switch, but oh, well.
:
: Apparently the new 406 mhz ELTs aren't going to be required until 2010 (?)
: now, so I've opted not to spend the $$$ on one right now. The folks at
: Spruce said that deadline is "soft" anyway.
:
: --
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************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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