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msar-riders - [MSAR] Personal Locator Beacons & SARSAT

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
  • To: "MSAR-L" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] Personal Locator Beacons & SARSAT
  • Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 13:29:45 -0700

Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are now legal and available for backpackers, climbers, backcountry horsemen, etc., effective today, July 1. Previously only maritime and aviation beacons were legal through the NOAA SARSAT (Search And Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking) system for nationwide coverage. PLBs have been in test use in Alaska since 1995 and, to date, have saved almost 400 lives. Federal agencies have also used PLBs for years, issued to agents in hostile environments to transmit distress signals. PLBs are now available to the public.
 
"PLBs are portable units that operate much the same as [maritime] EPIRBs or [aviation] ELTs. These beacons are designed to be carried by an individual person instead of on a boat or aircraft. Unlike ELTs and some EPIRBs, they can only be activated manually and operate exclusively on 406 MHz. And like EPIRBs and ELTs all PLBs also have a built-in, low-power homing beacon that transmits on 121.5 MHz. This allows rescue forces to home in on a beacon once the 406 MHz satellite system has gotten them "in the ballpark" (about 2-3 miles).Some newer PLBs also allow GPS units to be integrated into the distress signal.This GPS-encoded position dramatically improves the location accuracy down to the 100-meter levelÂ…thatÂ’s roughly the size of a football field."
 
PLBs are available through outdoor gear stores for $300-500. The PLB must be registered every 2 years with NOAA SARSAT.  When activated, the PLB is tracked by the SARSAT system. NOAA SARSAT then notifies the appropriate response agency with the location of the signal. Initial contact goes through the Coast Guard for maritime, or the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center for all inland SAR activities in the continental U.S. The actual search and rescue inland is normally carried out by the Civil Air Patrol or state or local rescue services. Obviously this is likely to include SAR / MSAR response.
 
In CA the contact from Air Force for non-maritime response currently goes through OES (CA Office of Emergency Services) who then contacts the appropriate local agency(ies) for call-out response. It is my understanding that in a few years each state will need to be set up to do their own beacon monitoring.
 
Regardless, all SAR response personnel will need to be competent in using the GPS coordinates or a device to track the distress beacon. And those who spend a lot of time in the backcountry may consider the PLB a good investment for personal safety as a method to "call" for help.
 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare Co, CA
SAR, MSAR, Swiftwater Rescue, US&R,
Hasty Team, ICP
www.CEOates.com/sar



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