One alternative to buying a new 408 MHz ELT is an APRS (plus your old ELT to keep you legal). The Automatic Position Reporting System is a ham transmitter/GPS combination that is mounted in your plane, and sends signals to the internet, which are then plotted realtime to Google Maps and Google Earth. Some of them have two switchable configurations, and you can set the second configuration to broadcast "emergency messages" which are automatically monitored across the world. When you go down a bunch of people know it almost immediately. Even if you didn't flip the switch before you went down, it wouldn't take long to find your last known position, which will likely be very close to your last transmission (depending on your location). The beauty of this system is that your plane and ELT can be ripped to pieces, but finding you (or your remains) would be dirt simple.
Sam Buchanon wrote a Kitplanes article on this 2-3 years ago. The web version of that is at http://fly.hiwaay.net/~sbuc/journal/tracker.htm . Mark Langford N56ML "at" hiwaay.net website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
