A BE1900 FLC BATTLES WITH AN ELT THAT KEEPS ACTIVATING; FINALLY STOPPING IT AT CAK; OH. THE TWR DID NOT NOTIFY CLE TRACON WHO THEN STARTED A SEARCH AND RESCUE EFFORT.

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THE FO AND I RECEIVED ACFT AT AM05 LCL TIME AT CLE ARPT. THE ACFT OVERNIGHTED IN CLE. THIS FLT WOULD BE ITS FIRST FLT OF THE DAY. WE DID NOT FLY THE ACFT PRIOR TO THIS ON DEC/XB/99 OR ON DEC/XA/99. WE BOARDED THE ACFT AT AM05 AND I NOTICED THAT THE ELT WAS XMITTING ITS DISTRESS SIGNAL. I CALLED MAINT TO NOTIFY THEM. I RESET THE ELT WITH A COCKPIT SWITCH. THE ELT STOPPED XMITTING. MAINT WAS SATISFIED. AT APPROX 1 HR LATER WE DEPARTED TO CAK. ON APCH INTO CAK; I NOTICED THE ELT WAS XMITTING. I RESET THE SWITCH AND THE ELT STOPPED XMITTING. AFTER LNDG AND DURING ENG SHUTDOWN; THE ELT STARTED TO XMIT AGAIN. SEVERAL ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO STOP IT FROM XMITTING. THEY FAILED AND THE ELT CONTINUED TO XMIT. I IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED CAK TWR BY RADIO AND TOLD THE GND CTLR THAT OUR AIRPLANE WAS XMITTING AN ELT SIGNAL. WE NOTIFIED OUR COMPANY'S MAINT BY TELEPHONE AND THEY SENT A LCL CONTRACT MAINT COMPANY TO LOOK AT IT. THEY ARRIVED APPROX 1 HR LATER. THE CONTRACT MAINT RESET A SWITCH IN THE TAIL OF THE ACFT. IT STOPPED XMITTING. A WRITE-UP IN THE LOGBOOK OF THE PROB WAS PROPERLY COMPLETED AND MAINT CLRED IT AND SIGNED OFF ON IT. WE WERE DISPATCHED FROM CAK TO CLE. THE ELT SIGNAL DID NOT ACTIVATE. UPON LNDG; WE WERE ADVISED TO CALL THE CLE TRACON SUPVR BY TELEPHONE. I CALLED HIM WITHIN 15 MINS OF LNDG AND RELAYED THE ABOVE STATEMENT. THE SUPVR INFORMED ME THAT CAK TWR FAILED TO NOTIFY CLE TRACON OR CTR THAT THE ELT ACTIVATION WAS AT THEIR FIELD. HE TOLD ME THAT THIS MISCOM LED HIM TO START A POSSIBLE SEARCH AND RESCUE OP.