As i mentioned in my post a couple weeks ago, I am installing a 430W in my 180. The avionics shop mentioned that there may be some interference between the GPS and the old ELT, (The antennas are kinda close). He was wondering if I wanted to install a new ELT during the problem, to avoid any problems getting everything working well.

Is the GPS worth it? What kind of units are you guys installing? I was planning on waiting for the ELT prices to soften a bit before I got one, but maybe this is the time.

Thanks, Lance

I can't say about the 430W, but I installed the 406 ELT (Ameriking 451) in place of my old 450. I have a Garmin 250 and I seem to have no problems.
HC

The avionics shop should have told you that the WAAS boxes are much harder to get certified than the non WAAS GPS's. Often times it is the antenna and cable from the 121.5 ELT that causes the problem. The signal that comes off the comm antennas goes into the ELT antenna and then it spits it right back out, overloading the GPS antenna and thus failing the test. There's about a dozen frequencies that your shop has to test the GPS with. One of them is 121.5. Try it yourself. Sit on the ground with engine running with everything setup like you're going to fly. Then key up 121.5 and hold for 10 seconds. If your GPS flags it fails. Something has to change. Remove the ELT antenna from the aircraft and try it again. If it passes now, you know what the problem is.

I replaced my elt with an Emergency Beacon Corporation EBC 406AP ELT WHIP ANT USA.

There is actually another GPS issue to consider and that is if you want an elt that gets the GPS coordinates from your 430 and spits that out. From what I could tell that would cost me another $1500 (hardware and additional installation). I decided a $300 PLB mounted to my vest would be a better use of the money.

I put 406AP behind the pilot seat like the previous EBC 121.5 ELT and therefore didn't need to install a remote panel mount. Antenna installation followed a drawing from Maule which has a ground plane installed behind the rear luggage area and the antenna mounted internally (advantage of fabric fuselage).

The Garmin 250 and 430 (non-WAAS) are still happy.

Bonanza man, I think that is basically what he was telling me, I don't remember his exact words. It was something to do with the interference between the two. He usually sells and installs the non-gps artek for about $1300. The GPS adds about another $1500.

If the ACK ever comes out, it seems like they will sell a ton:

http://www.ackavionics.com/

They will accept a GPS signal from the Garmin, so It seems like a low cost way to do the job.

It is my understanding the ACK 406 ELT, with GPS coordinates will be available the end of August, they now have FAA approval and have submitted for Transport Canada approval as well. I ordered one for my experimental through Aircraft Spruce for $582. The difference bewteen hooking up to your GPS and not hooking up, is something like w/o the gps input your location is narrowed down to a square mile or so, w/gps input location is narrowed down to 10 yards or so. The ACK price should force all the others to lower their prices as well for the gps capable units.

Don...

I think the GPS also speeds up the pinpointing of your location, by transmitting the last GPS coordinates.

Thanks for the replies!!