Regarding U.S.A. NOAA announcement at www.noaa.gov of HIKERS AND OUTDOOR ADVENTURERS TO HAVE SAME SATELLITE PROTECTION AS PILOTS AND MARINERS; NOAA AND ITS PARTNERS CELEBRATE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL SEARCH AND RESCUE SATELLITE AIDED TRACKING PROGRAM and the full article http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s1055.htm may I assume this is the equipment as EPIRBs that some of the sailing crowd carries and uses infrequently? A local newspaper stated these devices would be starting at $300 and up. Where can one purchase a EPRIB for $300 that is reliable. I had been looking at boating stores as a curiosity last year Their prices start around $800 and up. And in the announcement The action follows a highly successful experimental program that permitted the use of the 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacons carried by hikers in Alaska What brands and models did the Alaskans use in this experimental program? There is a yet another gadget for next year (2003) at least for me. I will first need to decode the specification, type I, type II, class B. I assume any unit needs to transmit on the 406 MHz frequency. There are units on eBay that list other frequencies, but not 406 MHz. Since EPRIBs are relatively expensive and I need to work on my kayak skills, I have not yet traveled in the more remote areas. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Regarding the 'hikers in Alaska' section of this... I am a member of Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, and am unfamiliar with said locaters and their collective use within the hiking community. I will ask around the other Rescue folks and see if I can provide an answer. One thing is for sure - if they work, the hikers up here should sure use them much more frequently...as the population and 'extreme sport' crowd in Alaska grows, so do the amount of hiking rescues. This is still a VERY unforgiving state, and too many people wander out into the backcountry woefully unprepared. Scott Simpson Anchorage Alaska "There is always one more thing you can do to influence any situation" Lt. Gen Harold Moore, USA (Ret) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hey, check out http:\\www.cospas-sarsat.org Itīs the side of this programm, the NOAA is part of it together with Russia, France, Canada. I would prefer the Fastfind (Plus) by McMurdo (scroll down to the end). EPIRB only means Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, other type of beacons are the ELTīs (emergency location transmiters) and PLBīs (personal loc. beacons). The type (epirb, elt, plb) depends on how the beaacons are coded (406) or on the transmitter-output (from few milliwatts up to 1-5 Watts). The size vary between "Champagner Magnum size" and normal watch-format (newest ones by McMurdo). There is another system by Inmarsat-E, but kind of extreme huge, only for bigger ships... There are different Radio Beacons on the market, all are part of this Cospas-Sarsat programm. The frequencies are 121,5, 243 and 406 Mhz. 121,5 is the oldest, non-coded, for civil use and is fixed in almost every 406 Mhz Beacon as a "homing signal", it is not the idealst for location via satelit but great for airplanes and SAR-ships.. 243 is the military frequence and only in few beacons, its nearly the same like 121,5 but SAR-Unit only check out the 121,5 in short range areas. The 406 Mhz Beacons are the "newest" ones. On this frequence the beacons became a unique code, so its possible to check out Whoīs the owner of the beacon, which ship aso. Some newer and expensive beacons got a GPS option, internal oder via external put-in, they use the newer satelites GEOSARīs, also. The alarm time vary between 3 Min (via Geosar in most areas), 20-40 min (without GPS-Option) and up to 90 min (polar and less covered areas or by worse weather). Normally all beacons get located via Lowsar Satelites by Doppler effect (satelite ground track), the 406 Mhz beacons are better because the position, found by this Doppler effect is better than by 121,5 beacons. The located are, found by sat. ground track vary from 1,5 up to 6nm (??). If you can afford the money, take a 406 beacons, but never get the Plastimo Kannad 406, its expensive trash. This beacons got no homing-signal, no strobelight a onetime activation function, its cheapcheapcheap. Better and more expensive are the ones by www.pwss.com and www.acrelectronics.com A big problem was and still is for most countrys, you canīt use the 406 beacons as a PLB, would mean you donīt put in your MMSI code (from DSC VHF transmitter), but a personal code, its great that Alaska is now on the way for this option. Here in Germany you have to use the beacons as a EPRIB (means for a ship, not for a single person) and you canīt be sure an alert, positioned in mountains i.e. would start a SAR-action, because ships are normally not to find in the mountains... and it would be illegal. Great Britain got this option to, the use of a 406 beacon as a PLB, but it is nearby illegal or impossible to get a personal code in Britain without beeing british... Here in Germany the authorities are unable to start up a data base (who spends the money?? responsibilities??) so we canīt use these great new 406 Beaon from McMurdo Fastfind and Fatfind plus (ointernal GPS) in this great paddler-size (784x146x485 mm) format, not bigger than a normal handheld VHF !! Further questions? Hope my english is quite understandable :-)) bye Jochen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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