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testwest

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Posts posted by testwest

  1. Update all ***SOLD***

    Hi everyone

    Up for sale at 50 cents on the dollar is a small inventory of Nulites and UMA EL instrument lights. The first 4 pictures are the Nulites. Scroll past the Nulites for the UMA lights.

    Nulites: 14V, 3 1/8 instrument, one with cutout for Kollsman window (Altimeter) and one without cutout (Airspeed or VVI), 14 volt. $30 each plus shipping:

     

    Also have a complete setup for a UMA EL backlight system, with white EL lighting and 14V system. All NIB for half price of new, plus shipping.

    UMA 14V Light Inverter (PMA) p/n 10-700-14 $40 ($91.75 new)

    2 UMA 3/18" white light bezels with no cutouts p/n 2-31-W $40 ea ($77 each new)

    UMA 3 1/8" white light bezel with cutout for altimeter p/n 2-30-W $40 ($77 new)

    2 ea UMA EL Bezel Connector kit p/n 1G02, ACS p/n 10-02085 $10 ea ($19.50 new)

    UMA EL Light Strip white/blue 1.5" wide x 18" long for backlighting p/n 2-418-150W $50 ($114 new, and un-obtanium)

    UMA dimmer potentiometer 1K ohms 5W, p/n 1G01-1 $30 ($58.75 new)

    If you buy the entire lot of UMA items at once, the price will be $249 with free shipping.

    Please PM me, Zelle or checks accepted, thanks!

     

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  2. Update - ***SOLD***

     

    Hi everyone

    Up for sale is a new (new-in-box old stock, built Nov 2003) Airpath Magnetic Compass, overhead mount as used in Mooneys. The model number is C2400 L4VT, so it is a Northern hemisphere compass with 12VDC red lighting internally. The light bulb is a standard 12VDC 330 flange bulb, one could put in a 327 for a 28 VDC system if needed. The bulb may be removed from under the upper front cover quite easily. These are $384 new at Aircraft Spruce, so basically half price for this plus shipping ($17.10 - USPS Priority Flat Rate). Checks or Zelle accepted to my email, PM me!

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  3. Hi everyone

    Up for sale is a 2 1/4" turn and slip indicator, yellow tagged by Naples Jet Center, out of a Turbine Twin Commander. General Design brand, part # 850627-1"A", serial # 709, manufactured 4Q 1983, 28v input. Working well when removed for upgrade. $199 OBO plus shipping.

    Also for sale is an Aerosonic IVSI, part number 30860-0172, serial number 317837, as removed from a Twin Commander with yellow tag from Naples Jet Center, FL. $129 OBO plus shipping, thanks for looking.

     

     

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  4. Hi everyone

    I wanted to let everyone know N201JX has new owners, Gerald and Danita Prendergast of Long Beach, CA. Gerald's MS member name is @gtprend . The GT stands for Gerald T, but it also stands for something else:

    FullSizeRender.jpeg.6ab6b34c3e53e5b6ed699edf4faa2eba.jpeg

    This is what you call a megawatt smile:

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    Paint by Hawk Aircraft Painting in Zephyhills FL. SW Matterhorn White, Silver Metallic and a new blue color, Sherwin Williams Skyscapes, Pearl Sea Blue. First time they had painted this new color. It is stunning.

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    And Gerald is enjoying the heck out of his new bird, but refueling takes awhile due to visitors. I told him to get used to it!!

    N201JX has unique LED interior overhead lighting and dual-color LED glareshield lights. A shot from this evening on the way back to Long Beach.

    IMG_1232.thumb.jpeg.f1fb866f2898becc495c6e2543962a70.jpeg

    Congrats to Gerald and Danita! I could not have picked a better or more deserving successor for N201JX.

    I will still be around and am planning to speak at the Mooney Summit this fall. Thanks everyone.

     

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1
  5. In the paper entitled "Effect of 406 MHz ELTs and COSPAS-SARSAT Cessation of 121.5 MHz ELT Monitoring on Search and Rescue Duration for General Aviation Aircraft Accidents in the Contiguous United States", located here:

    https://works.bepress.com/ryan_wallace/7/

    Dr. Ryan Wallace (Embry Riddle) and Dr. Todd Hubbard (University of Oklahoma) found that in 139 missions reviewed, the mean search duration for 121.5 MHz beacons was 14.2 hours, 11.8 hours for 406 models, but only two hours for 406 beacons equipped with GPS position input. This paper was published before the MEOSAR capability was up and running. I would wager the time-to-search deltas are even greater in favor of the GPS-enabled units now.

    To see how difficult it is to find a 121.5 signal due to signal factors that are not in the control of the pilot or the installation view the CAP training video here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlB5u49FvzY

    In my opinion, it is far more important to make sure the OP (and others who are considering a new installation) installs the GPS interface to the 406 ELT than it is to worry that an approved antenna installation (on a unit whose 406 output is a 5 watt burst, while now only putting out .025 watt on 121.5 instead of .1 watt like the old 121.5 ELT units) will somehow be a negative determative factor in a rescue.

    Yes, there are older 406 ELT units that don't have a GPS position input. The OP is talking about a new 406 installation so the GPS input capability will be available in the unit. Yep, it is a pain to run the RS232 GPS input wires from the GPS in the panel back to the ELT unit (I did this on 201JX while the seats and left sidewall panels were out) but it's worth the effort, as evident by the citations above.

    I have to thank Philiplane, EricJ and others for motivating me to learn more on this. Having done so, I am even more confident in my recommendation to the OP. Also thanks for reading through this whole thread to those who have persevered!

    • Like 5
  6. "Satellite coverage depends on line of sight, and the satellites are rarely directly overhead. Most times, they are low on the horizon, and if your antenna has a blind spot in that direction, the satellite won't see the transmission. Signal bounce helps offset some of this, but it is not something you want to rely upon in an emergency."

    Well I just had to edu-ma-cate myself further on the subject!

    And actually, the Sarsat system is on multiple constellations of satellites. Originally they were on LEO satellites like the NOAA POLES system. These used frequency doppler shift to find the beacon. There are Sarsat packages on GOES-16 and 17, in geosynchronus orbit, double coverage over the U.S at all times. These see the encoded GPS information if you hooked that up to the ELT. And the latest packages on the medium orbit birds, like GPS and Galileo, can do sophisticated location using time and/or frequency direction of arrival and also see the encoded GPS information.

    GREAT info here for the curious: https://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/search-and-rescue-satellites/  

    And the number of fully operational Sarsat payloads is here: http://cospas-sarsat.int/en/system/space-segment-status-pro/current-space-segment-status-and-sar-payloads-pro

    Of course the US is the most conservative in declaring the MEOSAR loads fully operational. 18 fully operational Sarsat packages on GPS II birds and they won't say fully operational until the latest versions are up on the IIIF sats launching in 2026. Your tax dollars at work. Meanwhile, look at the Galileo coverage!

    My takeaway is that it's way more important to hook up the GPS location to the 406 ELT than to worry that an FAA certified installation method may be sub optimum for the old DF location methods that are being supplanted anyway.

    Also, reading the information in the link suggests the bolded assertion, above, would be well supported only if considering the first Sarsat implementation at LEO. The Sarsat system is far more advanced now. Please don't take it personally to anyone who has a stake in this discussion....we are all trying to learn and help one another. And intellectual debate is good for the soul and the noggin! :D

    • Like 1
  7. Also for WAFI, back in the battery area, make sure the bonding area for the battery ground strap to avionics shelf is corrosion free. I had corrosion in this area which reduced my starting voltage to the starter (under the high current conditions accompanying) by nearly a volt. 201JX was always a lazy starter no matter how good the battery was. I cleaned the attach point on the shelf with a stainless steel bonding brush and treated the bare metal with an alodine pen to keep any further corrosion from happening. And the starter motor spins it up quite nicely now.

    Before:

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    After:

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    Hope this helps!

    • Like 2
  8. The plastic may be removed by removing the six screws from the indicator as shown here:

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    This is from page 32-30-00 page 0 from the IPC. Remove the two screws #77 and four screws #78, but be careful to keep the shims and indicator slide in register.

    I did try using plastic polish initially just like 1980Mooney said, but the plastic was too far gone to polish out nicely. So the labor and cost to make a new one was a better choice personally.

     

    • Like 2
  9. I sure do like the aesthetics of the installation. That was the primary motivation to be sure. And the tests have passed correctly each time I did them. It was interesting to see how the satellites picked up all the 406 information including the location and N-number after only about two sweeps which was a transmit time of a couple seconds. The 406test site had all the data. For me, that was a sufficient demonstration of RF performance.

    Sharp eyes will notice there are no antennas on this airplane forward of the baggage compartment. The accumulated drag reduction is noticeable, not so much for speed as for going the same speed on a little less fuel. A few little drag reduction mods do add up, even though they may not be individually discernible without an instrumented airplane and very stable atmospheric conditions.

    Again, I did have some people (not here) say that the under-dorsal installation would not work at all. Mooney's certified installations and my experience suggest otherwise! B)

    So, to directly answer the OP's original question: "have you added a 406 ELT to your plane", the answer is yes, yes I did!

    "And kept the antenna internal WITHOUT using the kit called out for in the service bulletin?" yes, to that too, and as a bonus the installation was signed off with no problems whatsoever, and the installation passes its operational and continued airworthiness tests.

    The pictures and cited SI show exactly how it was done and should be able to be duplicated by an A&P or even a motivated and sufficiently skilled owner-operator under A&P supervision. Note I did not build an angled doubler, just mounted the base to the skin and bent the antenna forward under the dorsal, it does come up vertically for a short bit before the bend.

     

     

    • Like 3
  10. I successfully did this very thing on N201JX and used SIM20-116 as the authority to do it. Tested the installed antenna for VSWR using the internal 406 ELT diagnostics and then ran the tests here: https://www.acrartex.com/406test/ .

    I ran about two sweeps as stipulated and the satellites reported back through the 406test system in under two minutes with good results, with the fairing clecoed back in place in case the tests did not work. Note the clecos were omitted in the area of the antenna so as not to corrupt the results. Of course with that caution the tests ran great!

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    Anyone who says a 406 ELT won't work under a dorsal has no idea what they are talking about.

    Here is the dorsal removed and the detail of the ELT mounting hole. Note the diameter of the antenna base on the skin has been propped for electrical bonding and corrosion proofed with an Alodine pen.

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    The ELT tested perfectly again under the new paint:

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    • Like 3
  11. Also very important, go ahead and replace the rubber hose couplers coming from your fuel tanks while the side panels are off. If they are original it is a big fuel leak waiting to happen. Mil-H-6000 hose, buy a foot of it from Aircraft Spruce for under $10: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/6000-6.php

    Points if you cut the hose and install so the cure date shows to remind you when to replace it again:

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    • Like 4
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