Cell Phone Lanyard Pouch

Emergency Locator Beacons – How they work

If, when at sea, the worst happens and you need to abandon ship how do you think you will be located? It may be that you have time to use your VHF radio to notify the coastguard or a passing ship to your distress. However, it’s possible that you only have a matter of moments to evacuate into the life raft or jump into the sea; in which case there won’t be time to use your radio.

This is when the importance of having an emergency locator beacon on board can really be seen.  An EPIRB, or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon is an electronic unit which when activated sends a coded transmission on the 406Mhz distress wavelength, which is monitored by the nearest rescue coordinating centre via satellite. The system has pretty much universal coverage of the Earth, so no matter where you are located you will still be able to successfully send an emergency distress signal. Once the signal has been picked up the search and rescue authorities closest to it will initiate the appropriate action. So how do they know if the signal is the result of a hoax or an accidental activation? Once an EPIRB has been purchased it should be registered with the correct authority in the country it has been bought in. The registration details include who to contact in case of an activation, and these details are used before a rescue is initiated. The latest EPIRBs have built-in GPS which improves the accuracy of the location information which is transmitted. The EPIRB also transmits on the 121.5 MHz frequency which is monitored by rescue helicopters and boats who will use it as a homing signal.

EPIRBs always float and can emit a signal for at least 48 hours. There are two types of EPIRB, those which are manually activated by means of a switch, and those which are located in some kind of auto-housing and activate automatically when they are in contact with water.

An alternative to an EPIRB is the PLB or Personal Locator Beacon; this functions in exactly the same way as an EPIRB but it is much smaller, designed to be kept on the individual, in a pocket on a belt or on a wrist lanyard. A PLB is about the size of a small mobile phone or cell phone, it generally doesn’t float but can be made to float by keeping it in a flotation pouch. PLBs also will only transmit for a minimum of 24 hours. Finally an EPIRB will be registered to a boat while a PLB is registered to an individual, meaning that you take it with you if you moved about from boat to boat as a crew member.

About the Author

Kannad Marine manufactures EPIRB and PLB emergency locator beacons for use sailing, cruising, kayaking or diving.

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