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Throw away your 121.5/243MHz EPIRB's/PLB's they are now useless!!

Last post 30-01-2009, 3:36 PM by craig. 0 replies.
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  •  30-01-2009, 3:36 PM 4091

    Throw away your 121.5/243MHz EPIRB's/PLB's they are now useless!!

    From http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/old-beacon-frequencies-switched-off-2453584

    New Zealanders relying on older-style analogue emergency beacons will not be able to rely on satellite monitoring of signals on the 121.5MHz or 243MHz frequencies after Saturday.

    Only 406MHz distress beacons will be monitored by satellite from Sunday.

    The worldwide permanent switch to the 406MHz frequency was first announced nearly nine years ago.

    People using the older beacons from February will effectively be returning to the 1970s - relying on the signal being picked up by planes or ground-based radio receivers.

    "If anyone is still carrying the older style beacons, they need to dispose of them correctly and make the switch to the more modern 406MHz," says Rescue Coordination Centre search and rescue officer Neville Blakemore.

    "There are still old 121.5MHz and 243MHz beacons out there, and if they are activated after February 1 they won't be heard."

    The new 406MHz digital beacons are more expensive but can potentially pinpoint the site of a crashed plan, sinking boat or even an injured tramper better than the older beacons. The position of a stricken vessel can be pinpointed to within 100m using the new beacons.

    And where they have been correctly registered, the 406MHz beacons can provide the centre with contact information which will help to quickly sort out false alarms. About 93% of alerts from the older technology are false alarms, but searchers often have no way to know if a genuine emergency exists unless they go to the location and look.

    Police search and rescue liaison officer Sergeant Bruce Johnston says carrying a registered 406MHz beacon can save lives: "If you can't tell us you need help, we can't rescue you. And that's a realisation you don't want to hit you when you are lying at the bottom of a remote gully with a broken leg."

    Emergency location transmitters provide signals in about 90% of the cases of aircraft crashes in New Zealand where there are survivors, according to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.

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