Do not buy your ELT from the USA unless it's already coded for Australia.
Mr. Fanelli:
Why does Australia require different standards for this?
Once again Australian users will be required to pay more because they will have to buy models unique to the Australian market
They don't. It's a common international standard.
The 16 digit hexadecimal code which is pretty much hard wired into the unit includes a country designator and that indicates to the Satellite and ground station system exactly which country database to search for your details.
...So if you bought a US coded ELT then when you set it off in Outback Australia the system will route that event To Washington DC or wherever and the U.S. database will be searched for your details......good luck with that.
I'm not even sure AMSA will accept an American coded ELT into their database.
By the way, you should have changed your ELT last year shouldn't you?
Meanwhile a PLB will, I seem to recall, is an acceptable substitute for an ELT. I recommend carrying both. The AMSA database allows you to specify primary, secondary and tertiary uses for the beacon (Aircraft, car, boat)