I have an airplane that has the Ameri-king AK-450 ELT and an AK-350 encoder. There was a cease and desist on the Ameri-King products a couple of years ago and eventually an AD issued that required an inspection of these units on a 12 month basis. This was stated to be for 'type certificated' aircraft. Since this is an experimental aircraft, I realize I still need to do these inspections, but the cost of said inspection might just make it more feasible to purchase new units of a legal unit.

Anybody have a good option of what would be the better option? Sucks because these are NOS units in an aircraft that has not yet flown. Hopefully will be able to get the AW inspection done whenever the government gets back to work!

Here's what I have installed:

https://www.ackavionics.com/

And, that ELT can be connected to a GPS, so that it transmits current position with each burst of the 406 data stream. I highly recommend doing so.

MTV

Thanks Mike!!! I was just looking at the ACK and the Artex. Looks like the ACK has a retrofit kit so it's pretty much a plug-n-play type of deal.

I’m using the AKC unit connected to a puck gps like the Garmin 18x.

I purchased an Artex, but either is fine. The Artex should also have a tray which fits your AK hole pattern. I too have an AK-450 paperweight on my shelf, it's useless now (probably useless before) but is good for holding down reference sheets from blowing away when I have the hangar door opened up.

I replaced my Ameri-King with the ACK; I was able to use the Ameri-King bracket by fabbing an adapter. My bracket was riveted to the empennage skin, and challenging to rivet by my lonesome, so that was a plus. With the ACK, there’s no cost surcharge for GPS loc’n capability, which is also a good thing.

America-King bracket:



ACK Adapter:

For those upgrading to a 406 ELT, be absolutely certain that your MOUNT meets the installation criteria for ELTs.

My 170 had a mount to the aft skin, behind the baggage. My mechanic took one look, reached back and flexed the installation and said "Nope". We mounted a stiff bracket between ribs back there, reinforced with angle aluminum, to get it stiff enough.

If you read the installation criteria, there's almost NO flex allowed. Hard to get there in some places.

Here's the guidance: https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/med ... _CHG-1.pdf

And, note that this is not NEW guidance, it's been around for a while.. But, the FAA and mechanics have been finding a lot of ELTs that aren't properly mounted. And, some that failed to alert in accidents......not good.

MTV

Kannad does a plug and play replacement kit for the Ameri-King 450 units, subject to the AD. I found this to be a great solution at reasonable price. Smaller and lighter too.