Methinks you are treading on thin ice with the phrase
'my interpretation.' My recollection is that there
was a ruling that allowed only a ballistic chute to
move the weight beyond 155lbs. I might be wrong, but
I question whether 'batteries, transponders and oxygen'
[seat belts, navigation lights, fire extinguishers,
etc.] are allowed. The regs might well be out of date
as compared with those of another country, but certainly
such a fact gets no consideration in a discussion of
legality.

There is possibly a way around this problem. If some
of these items are mounted to your person rather than
to the aircraft you might satisfy the letter of the
law. This conforms to the first law of fudging.

At 18:06 11 January 2008, wrote:
Your interpretation of the FARs is incorrect. To
be compliant with
Part 103 the basic weight of an unpowered ultralight
vehicle (FAA
wording not mine) must be less than 155lbs excluding
safety equipment.
What is safety equipment? My interpretation is radio,
transponder,
battery for such, ballistic parachute, necessary instruments
for safe
flying (altimeter, air speed indicator, vario etc.)
and oxygen and so
on. This brings the weight of my SparrowHawk up to
about 195 lbs. This
actually makes sense when you think about it. You wouldn't
want to
discourage the use of safety equipment. The other weight
issue is the
max gross weight set by the manufacturer which includes
the pilot
weight etc. With me flying the SparrowHawk I am below
that limit.
As I posted previously the US FARs are out of date
in many important
areas. If this subject interests you, check on the
ultralight and
glider rules and regs in other countries around the
world. What you
will find might surprise you.
Dave

You wrote:

I went to the Sparrowhawk web page where it
shows the empty weight as 155 lbs. Are you saying
that with a transponder, radio, batteries and oxygen
system installed the Sparrowhawk still weighs only
155 lbs?