Ovation ELT upgrade

[M20R]

It looks like my Ameri-king ELT has stopped working. So now I'm looking to upgrade. Also the antenna appears to be buried inside a fiberglass fairing that will have to be drilled off for replacement. Anybody have a ny suggestions?

[PT20J]

The previous owner of my plane had an ACK E-04 installed with a new antenna. They just left the old antenna unused in the dorsal fin.  I had the ELT connected to the GPS.

[hypertech]

Same experience.  Shop that did mine either couldn't (or didn't want to) get it under the fin so the new one is in a different spot and the old one is abandoned.

[0TreeLemur]

Considering ELT upgrade in our "new" J as well.  ELT in a/c seems the original 121.5 Dorne & Margolin unit.  Same issue.  ELT antenna located under the fiberglas fairing.

A couple of years ago we installed a Artex ELT in our C, but it came with an antenna that was ugly as a hot dog.   The ACK at least comes with an antenna that looks like it belongs on an airplane, but with the added hassle and expense of requiring two specialized batteries in addition to the main ELT battery- one in the cockpit switch, and another in the noisemaker.

Hard to see how either of the antennas that come with these units would work in a horizontal orientation.   Ground plane issues?   Polarization?  The ACK antenna would be really challenging to mount because it is intended for vertical mounting and includes a 20-degree swept-back profile.

The ACK using its own antenna seems the best option to me at this point.

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, M20R said:

It looks like my Ameri-king ELT has stopped working. So now I'm looking to upgrade. Also the antenna appears to be buried inside a fiberglass fairing that will have to be drilled off for replacement. Anybody have a ny suggestions?

Mooney SI M20-116 cover ELT upgrade.

[pwnel]

Yeah same.  Pulled the D&M in my 231 and just installed a new ACK-04 with its own antenna.  Looks fine.  I imagine the D&M antenna is still inside the dorsal fin - just left it.  ACK-04 connected to IFD440 and new switch installed on panel.

Edited January 23, 2023 by pwnel