Yes Brian, pretty much true. My device is guaranteed for 48 hours
transmission after activation as it's intended for off-shore use, but no
GPS interface. But it doesn't need it - the satellite(s) works that out to
within 6km radius within an hour or so and then the inbuilt 121.5 MHz
secondary homes the aircraft in on the signal. That's how most of the
deep-water sailors (think British Ocean Challenge, Whitbread Round the
World, etc) get home when things go pear shaped. We've got some very good
maritime search aircraft that can damn near reach Antarctica if they've got
an EPIRB report. As indeed do your people. So why re-invent the wheel each
time when there's a perfectly good spare in the shop next door?

Unfortunately it's been a long time since I had the prop in front of me, but
I've kept an interest.

Cheers ... MikeW


"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
I reset my search to PSBs: personal Survival Beacons.
I think this is the style of device that you are using.
These are more reasonable. $300-$400 - but the ones with GPS built in seem
to run $600.
They seem to come in two flavors: those with built in GPS, and those with
an interface to an external GPS source which are cheaper.

Some beacons feature 121.5 AND 406.1xxx because a coordinate transmission
gets rescue in the near ball park but (for aircraft at least) a 121.5
transmission can be homed right to the (hidden by trees?)site.

However, the climber/backpacker version PSB/EPIRB is probably not approved
for aircraft use - it's duration is certainly more limited.
The revised regs DID say a survival 406 ELT may be used for light aircraft
though.

Brian W

MikeW wrote:
Hi Brian,

I've just bought a new 406MHz EPIRB for the boat, cost me AUD400, so
about $350 of your variety I think. The "real" problem is that the
COSPAS/SARSAT constellation of satellites had the 121.5/243MHz capability
turned off at the beginning of this year, which suggests that the 20 inch
whip is basically useless unless there's an aircraft monitoring 121.5
within line of sight. We've all had to re-equip during this year to cope
(I've managed to leave it until the beginning of our summer, when new
stocks became available). Incidentally, just measured the antenna: 175 mm
from the top of the case so rough approximation not too bad in this case.

Cheers ... MikeW