Free ELT 406 Verifier Tool

May 2019 - The last item on my RV-8's annual inspection checklist is the Canadian Beacon Registry (CBR) test, and again this year it proved itself worthwhile.

What is this tool? Obviously, most of us are aware and do this test every year, right?

Since we bought and installed our ELT 406, every two years we send it out and pay for recertification, and then every five years we pay for a new battery. But what happens when we install it back into our amateur-built aircraft. Are the antenna, the connectors, and wire winding its way through the fuselage secure?

I installed my ELT antenna under the fiberglass empennage fairing. It’s pointing horizontally at an angle toward the ground, hoping my taildragger will, in a crash, roll forward making the antenna point somewhat vertically.

Just before my annual inspection test flight I activated the "self-test" of my ELT 406, and by the time I buckled up and started the engine, my cellphone vibrated. The CBR returned confirmation that it received my self-test.

Email sent by the CBR ELT 406 verifier tool.

I wrote a more detailed article about the CBR verifier tool in 2014.

If you are paying for it, why not do an end-to-end operational test — it's free, after all. Check your ELT 406 owner's manual for instructions.