[Milsurplus] Re: why so many similar ELT xmtrs?

[BOEING377 at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/12/2004 3:31:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
milsurplus-request at mailman.qth.net writes:

> Is there anyone out there who knows the whys and wherefores about the
> existence of so many similar looking ELT transmitters like the AN/URT-21,
> 27, 33, 33A, 33C, 33C/M, .......?
> 

I was told that the reason had to do with the design of various ejection seat 
systems. The ELT had to be part of the chute rig yet automatically deploy 
upon ejection and that imposed constraints that made a one size fits all solution 
impossible. Good news for ELT mfrs. Some scary tales from B 52 crews in Viet 
Nam, SAMS coming up and then lots of ELT sigs on 243.0 as crews ejected from 
stricken BUFFS. I wonder if combat crews had ways to shut off the autodeploy 
feature on ELT so as not to alert the enemy that chutes were coming down?