New member with a question

The ELT needs to be programmed with at least a country code and using serial number, aircraft adres or ICAO technical adress.

In your case, your aircraft will be based in the Netherlands, The country code should be 244 in your case (Netherlands). It also should be programmed with the ICAO technical adress (24 bit code). That ICAO adress for your aircraft can be found on the FAA website. Any other programming formats are not allowed for country code 244.

Is it really the case that a US coded ELT will not get you rescued in say the Netherlands, or Mongolia?

I have an N-reg plane, UK based, bought an Artex ELT straight from the USA, US coded, installed it (A&P inspected and signed off), and registered it with the NOAA in the USA, using my N-reg tail number.

In their correspondence, NOAA gently suggest that – having noticed my postal address is outside the USA – I get my ELT registered with my local country’s reg authority, but I found the UK authority would not register mine, so I have no choice, and NOAA are fine with it.

I think this procedure is frowned upon here in Europe and I have heard dark tales from ELT sellers here (UK) that it will not work and I won’t get rescued, but I can’t see that is true because the alarm handling organisation (COSPAS-SARSAT) works internationally. They have to because e.g. a US reg plane could go down in Kathmandu…

Not true. Any elt alert will be acted upon world wide.

There are two different issue’s, which is the country code. This is the SAR organisation that will be the prefered contact, normally this would be the SAR active in the country you are based. They have better resources for additional information, which could speed up SAR.

Peter, In your case it should have been programmed with country code 232 for the United Kingdom.
Withing country code it can be programmed with either serial number, ICAO adress or aircraft registration. So using registration is fine for country code 232.

Using aircraft registration for ELT programming in combination with country code 244 (Netherlands) is not allowed.

Was your NOAA registration declined? If so it was likely due to your UK base. While the UK might not except it due to the wrong country code (USA).

Not true. Any elt alert will be acted upon world wide.

Well, indeed…

What one has to watch is that it is possible to buy an ELT which is not coded for any country.

It is possible because an installer who has the coding equipment (basically I think just a special cable which connects it to a windows computer) might want to buy such a bare unit. And I know one UK pilot who managed to buy one. When he powered it up, it flashed up an error code which, translated, said the unit had no coding. I told him to take it to somebody who can code it. I have not heard any more but I know he posts here occasionally.

The one I bought from the USA was coded for the USA, which was fine. They coded in my tail number (Nxxxxxxx) before they sent it; indeed they did not want to sell it to me until they did that.

Was your NOAA registration declined?

No; it was as I wrote: the NOAA just suggest that one registers it locally. But that’s all. They still do it. Free of charge.

It was the UK authority that declined to register it, but that didn’t bother me at all

As it happens I have two others registered in the UK, both 406MHz handhelds. The UK people send me fresh stickers every few years Not sure where I am supposed to stick them…

That is the good practice Peter, only the country code could have been better.

During avionics testing I quite often find ELTs programmed incorrectly. Especially even bought directly from the USA, when they are programmed with the aircraft registration, instead of the ICAO adress. Which is allowed in some countries, like USA and UK and is not allowed in The Netherlands.

The programming requires a special programming interface, which is different for every brand. It also requires a training, to help the customer pick the right settings. The programmed ELT data is stored at both the programmer and at the manufacturer. The programmer also updates the manufacturer database. It happens that ELT’s, PLB’s, EPIRB’s are not registered correctly by their owners. In such cases SAR can try to retrieve more information from those sources as well.

It is very important to always register the ELT, and keep the data up to date. NOAA even has a mandatory update interval for this.

Dutch coast guard is the SAR organisation which will get notified when a country code 244 ELT is been actived. Registration is done at Agentschap Telecom. They will also request you to register with NOAA for N reg.