First I had to go back to the manual that references the ELT bracket installation (31B-13). I couldn’t install it back then because it wasn’t included in the finishing kit. Instead it came with the Avionics. So with that painted and the fuel tank out of the way I riveted that in place. Easy enough to do without the ELT tray installed (more on that later). The antenna and mounting plate were fairly easy to install. I made sure to polish the paint away on the underside of the antenna and the screw holes to make sure I could get a good ground contact. The next part wasn’t so easy. The manual calls for you to install the wires per the ELT included instructions, which require some soldering. Not too big deal or so I thought. The plug is extremely small and has 4 posts that each get a different wire. I had to go out and get a needle point soldering gun to get into the tight space between the contact points. The new gun worked fairly well along with the use of my harbor freight alligator clamp holder and magnifying lens. I started with the two wires that weren’t attached to the plane (test and ground wires). Then I added some heat shrink over the connections. Next I slid a couple heat shrink tubes over the wires in the aircraft (power and GPS). I taped my little holder to the longeron and pulled up a stool to solder these wires in place. This was a little more tricky…space was limited but I managed to get the both stuck in place…it sure would have been nice if a better connection was available. I prefer a mechanical hold and then I come back and solder it in place. Now all I have to do is slide the heat shrink down…but wait, while I was fooling around to get the wires and connector in the right place the heat shrink tube fell off. Ok, I’ll re-heat and try it again. This time I actually got the heat shrink shrunk to size before realizing that I left the connector slip cover off…that has to be slid in place before I can attach the wires. After a few more rounds of reheat and reshrink, I was able to get it.
