ELT Information

With the discontinuation of alerting on 121.5 MHz ELTs, what should aviators do?

Few people have ever had to DF a UHF (243.0 MHz) beacon. This page gives you some reasons why you should practice these techniques and offers some suggestions on how to do so with existing equipment.

DF Unit Interference

Many people don't know that the L-Tronics DF unit can interfere with VHF communications on your aircraft radio. Please refer to this chart to find out which frequencies are affected.

ELT / EPIRB Gallery

ELTs and EPIRBs can come in all shapes and sizes. This page attempts to catalog as many of them as possible.

DF Unit Gallery

While some are much more popular than others, there have been many different direction finders seen in the field. This page catalogs many of them and gives a short review of each.

Practice Beacon Modifications

Practice beacons are intended to simulate actual ELTs or EPIRBs. This page gives some ideas to increase realism in certain scenarios as well as gives some ideas on how to operate your practice beacon more cheaply.

Jetstream Radios

The Jetstream radio is an excellent companion to any direction finder. This page details how they may be used and how one can be obtained.

Underwater ELTs

This page details the hows and whys of hiding a practice beacon under water.

Evil ELT Hiding

This page lists practice beacon hiding techniques for advanced personnel.

Build A DF #1

This page details how to build a simple direction finder.

Stupid DF Tricks

This page explains direction finding techniques that may not be obvious to the casual observer. A worth read to add some knowledge to your "bag of tricks."

Radio Resources: Personal Locator Beacons Upload PGS Positions!

Reprint from Popular Communications magazine, September 2006.

Build A DF #2

This page displays a direction finder that is incredibly easy to operate.