ACR Electronics MicroFix 2898 Bedienungsanleitung PDF herunterladen (Seite 3)

1 4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. avi a t i o n co n su m e r. c o m Jun e 2008

ton. A pictogram explains it all.

The 406 XS-3 GPS is the least-ex-

pensive of the units we tried, but is

among the heaviest. The unit’s heft,

however, inspires conﬁdence even

if we’re unconvinced that the plastic

shields covering the buttons will sur-

vive long in a ﬂight bag. They seemed

fragile to us. The plastic wrapped

around its circumference to store the

antenna is easy to grip, even when

wet. A good feature.

MCMURDO FASTFIND MAXG

McMurdo, based in the U.K., was one

of the ﬁrst companies to enter the PLB

market. At our deadline, its new-gen-

eration Fastﬁnd MAX-G hadn’t been

approved for U.S. sale by the FCC,

but approval was expected in May.

The Fastﬁnd MAX-G is packaged in a

curvy yellow-plastic case. Included is

a coiled lanyard, stretching up to two

feet, with a heavy-duty plastic clip on

the end for attaching to a belt loop,

life raft or personal ﬂotation device.

Its front is a ﬂip-up door used to

expose its control panel. The door’s

underside features two pictograms ex-

plaining activation. That involves ﬁrst

pulling off a red plastic cover, releas-

ing the antenna and powering up the

unit. The PLB’s antenna is narrower

spring-steel than others and is coiled

up beneath the red cover. Once the

red cover is removed, the antenna is

free to extend and could

smack someone who’s

holding it too close.

Some care is necessary

when deploying it. The

Fastﬁnd MAX-G is the

only PLB with a user-

replaceable battery, but

it also has the shortest

factory warranty. At 300

grams, it’s the heaviest in

our roundup, but it does

ﬂoat. It comes with a yellow fabric

case that includes a belt loop and a

ﬂap with hook-and-loop closure.

MICROPLB GX

Microwave Monolithics’ MicroPLB is

the smallest PLB we looked at, with a

form factor roughly the size of a pack

of cigarettes, but taller. It’s packaged in

international-yellow plastic with black

text describing the two-step process of

activating it: Remove the small cap at

the top, then withdraw an inch-long

plastic activator pin on a short lan-

yard. Be careful, though, since pulling

off the cap releases another spring-

steel antenna that whips out like a

jack-in-the-box, startling the unwary.

The unit’s cap remains nearby once it’s

removed, thanks to a lanyard adapted

from a shoelace and looped through

molded lugs.

While it’s not the lightest, it is the

smallest unit in our roundup and it

would ﬁt easily into a shirt pocket.

There’s no belt loop or carrying case,

but it really doesn’t need one and it

will hide just about anywhere in the

cockpit or cabin until it’s called upon.

The only mark against the MicroPLB is

price: At $898, it’s the most expensive

product in this group. And for that

kind of money, we deserve better than

a shoelace for a lanyard, in our view.

CONCLUSION

So, come next year, you’re facing a

dilemma. Legacy 121.5 ELTs will no

longer be satellite monitored so the

obvious question is why worry about

it? Just buy one of these PLBs and be

done with it. Is that a realistic way to

approach this? We think it is. But it’s

not without tradeoffs. A 406 ELT with

ELECTRONIC BREADCRUMBS

Another option to PLBs and 406 ELTs is SPOT, billed as “the world’s rst satellite

messenger.” Basically, SPOT (www.ndmespot.com, 866-651-7768) is a transmit-

ter capable of nding its lat-long via on-board GPS. When a user wants, it triggers

canned e-mail messages with that lat-long to anyone you pre-select. It also has

a 911 mode, which noties local authorities you need immediate assistance. It’s

oered by commercial satellite network Globalstar and—except

for determining position with GPS—depends on the company’s

network for communication. The devices retails for $169.99; you’ll

also need an annual service contract at $99.99, or $149.98, with

the live tracking option, which sends position every 10 minutes.

We took one aloft, placing it on the glareshield under ½-inch-

thick Plexiglas. It managed to nd itself and communicate with

its satellites just ne. We didn’t

notice any interference with the

magnetic compass, a Garmin

396 or installed avionics. When

we got back on the ground and checked e-mail,

we had messages plotting various locations

along our route.

Unlike a PLB, SPOT’s coverage area isn’t world-

wide. Most of North America—except Alaska,

notably—can expect 99-percent or better prob-

ability of successfully sending a message within

20 minutes of activation. There is no coverage for

Hawaii or the central Pacic, for the North and

South Poles, in Africa or in central Asia.

If you mainly stay in the CONUS, get outdoors

a lot and want others to track your whereabouts

with the possibility of emergency notication,

SPOT might be just the ticket. But PLBs oer a bet-

ter chance for quick rescue, especially if you’re out-

side the lower 48 or visiting other areas of the world.

ContaCtS

ACR Electronics

www.acrelectronics.com

800-432-0227

GME

www.gme.net.au

207-647-3300

Kannad

www.kannad.com

+33 (2) 97 02 49 49

McMurdo

www.mcmurdo.co.uk

+44 (0)23 9262 3900

Microwave Monolithics

www.micro-mono.com

805-584-6642

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