Where is the best place to procure a practice elt??

[capchiro]

Good morning everyone.  Our unit recently procured a DF unit, the new L'per, and we are now trying to find out where to purchase a practice elt unit so we can begin to train our personnel.  I appreciate it as always, thanks.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Call your Wing Logistics guy.  He may have one you can have for free.

[BigMojo]

I use this one from Tracker: http://tinyurl.com/6d8u7o

I made a "water tight" case for it, and works great for us. The only downfall is the replacement batteries are VERY expensive.

[JoeTomasone]

Pointer sells them for $275.00.   I've converted mine from their $40 battery packs to C-Cell batteries.
http://www.pointeravionics.com/product.php?pid=138


Many times, your Wing/DC may have them - worth asking before paying for one.


(EDIT: Found a place that is a bit cheaper...)

http://www.skygeek.com/trainer-6000.html - $192.50

[capchiro]

Did you have to have it retrofitted to 121.775?  If so, how much was that and how hard was it to convert to the C batteries??  Thanks.

[JoeTomasone]

Mine was already on 121.775 and the C-Cell conversion was easy and cheap - $5 or so in parts.   If you have basic (de)soldering skills it is a piece of cake.    I'll start a new post with the procedure.

[notaNCO forever]

 I would see if your wing has one you can use and spend the money on something else.

[SarDragon]

And let us not forget that we should be referring to this piece of equipment as a practice beacon, or just beacon. This assures that folks listening on a radio won't get the mistaken impression that there's a real one going off out in the field somewhere. Let's save ELT  references for the real thing.

[capchiro]

Dave, while we always appreciate the political correctness, we are not on the radio and the manufacturers refer to them as practice ELT's and since that is what we are trying to purchase, that is what we are going to call them..Carry on..

[arajca]

It's not a matter of political correctness, it's a matter of habit-forming. If we call them "practice elt's" everywhere except on the radio,  people will start calling them "pratice elt's" on the radio because, as far as they are concerned, that's what they are called. Shortly afterward, people will start dropping the "practice" part and then the fun starts...BTST

If they're constantly called "practice beacons" on and off the radio, when the "practice" drops, there is no confusion about what you're tracking or have found.

[capchiro]

You do of course realize that if one types practice beacon into google one does not find practice elt's for purchase, which was the goal of this whole project.  It would appear that the only ones calling practice elt's beacons are in fact CAP personnel.  Why do we think we have to muddle the waters by making up our own terminology.  I have been doing ELT searches for over 30 years and have not had a problem because someone was eavesdropping on our channels and did something inappropriate.  Is this an answer without a cause??

[JoeTomasone]

Quite frankly, if someone dropped the "practice" and said "beacon" on the air, I'd think it was a real mission.

Of course, since I wasn't called out for it, it wouldn't affect me much.

The dropping of the word "practice" is the corrective issue here, not choosing "ELT" or "beacon".

[notaNCO forever]

Quite frankly, if someone dropped the "practice" and said "beacon" on the air, I'd think it was a real mission.

Of course, since I wasn't called out for it, it wouldn't affect me much.

The dropping of the word "practice" is the corrective issue here, not choosing "ELT" or "beacon".

I have to agree as long as you say practice before beacon or ELT there will be no problem its when people forget to say practice that the issues arise.

[SarDragon]

You do of course realize that if one types practice beacon into google one does not find practice elt's for purchase, which was the goal of this whole project.  It would appear that the only ones calling practice elt's beacons are in fact CAP personnel.  Why do we think we have to muddle the waters by making up our own terminology.  I have been doing ELT searches for over 30 years and have not had a problem because someone was eavesdropping on our channels and did something inappropriate.  Is this an answer without a cause??

I was thinking more about CAP members who monitor their radios all the time, hear incorrect terminology, and get in the Real ES mode, when it is, in fact, just someone's exercise. It has happened in my part of the world several times in the last year, and we have been strongly encouraged to use the correct terms. It's not a case of PC at all, it's getting the right info to our people assets.

[JoeTomasone]

I was thinking more about CAP members who monitor their radios all the time, hear incorrect terminology, and get in the Real ES mode, when it is, in fact, just someone's exercise. It has happened in my part of the world several times in the last year, and we have been strongly encouraged to use the correct terms. It's not a case of PC at all, it's getting the right info to our people assets.

There's no "Real ES mode" to get into since you wouldn't deploy unless activated.    Even if I were to hear of a group actively and obviously tracking an ELT on the repeater it wouldn't mean a whole lot to me since I have not been requested to respond.    If I were to hear that there is a likelyhood of an actual crash, I might double-check my gear, but I wouldn't be in any "real ES mode".

Now if you've got someone who is waiting by the radio for a plane to fall out of the sky, that's a problem in itself..  Overeager members can be as much a liability to a team as an asset.   

[arajca]

It's really no different than a volunteer firefighter. Many carry radios to listen in and when they hear something that sounds signicant, they start making plans - even while they're waiting for the official call out.

There are certain keywords that draw attention to the what is being said on the radio, such as a member's call sign, "ELT", "FIRE", "CPR in progress", "Extrication required", "Smoke and flames showing", "Methyl-ethyl-tri-butylane-bad-stuff", etc. that change the member's mindset and alert them to a possible call-out.

A good example is what happen by me last year - a fire dept and ski area were conducting their annual disaster drill, but didn't want to invite everyone to come play. They wanted to keep it somewhat real, so the county dispatch was used to call out the fire dept. The dispatcher paged out the call as a real lift collapse with lots of victims, not an exercise of the scenario. Every fire, EMS, LE, and ski patrol agency went to alert mode for about a half hour until the dispatch supervisor broadcast the clarification. Alert mode meaning only doing tasks that can be dropped at  moments notice without impacting them. Many of these folks are volunteers, as well.

[MIKE]

Off topic:  IIRC, whenever I was on a SAREX etc... We would include "This is an exercise." at some point during each transmission... Usually at the end, or anywhere where the traffic could be misconstrued as Real World.

[lordmonar]

Okay....you guys are taking this a little bit too far.

If you are on a SAREX....everything is "practice".  So if the ground team were to say...."we've located the ELT".....no one is going to think that they are suddenly in a real world mission.

If your practice mission suddenly turns real (this happened to me) you clear the net of all non-mission related traffic and deal with the real world operation.

Anyone listinging in but not part of the operation....is just that....a spectator...and what they thing is a non-issue.

[DG]

ELT is an abbreviation.

What is the E in ELT?

Do we want to use an expression of "emergency" on a practice SAR mission?

Do we want to use any expression of "emergency," when it is not an emergency?

Use the term "practice beacon."

[SarDragon]

Thank you.

[0]

Off topic:  IIRC, whenever I was on a SAREX etc... We would include "This is an exercise." at some point during each transmission... Usually at the end, or anywhere where the traffic could be misconstrued as Real World.

We still do that.  Although some people forget to say it. 

[DG]

The NESA MAS position is (unequivocally and emphatically) to use the term "Practice Beacon."

And never ever to use the term ELT except in an actual search mission.

[BigMojo]

We have so many Super Squirrels around here that we just use the term "target" or "objective" in all radio traffic we never use the term ELT, EPIRB, PLB, Practice Beacon except in person, and when describing the found unit to the IC.

[KyCAP]

http://www.seimac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=51

http://www.cmcelectronics.ca/Pdfs/satfind.pdf

This is the last round of "practice targets" that I am aware of NHQ procuring and distributing.