E-pirb

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Larry Patrick

New member
I plan on having one on boat. How do they turn on? Is it when they are in water? What about getting wet possibly on boat,rain or something.Does anyone have two incase one malfunctions? Where is a good place to store or mount? What brand is recommended? Is there a yearly fee.Thanks
 
Larry,

One question before getting the cart too much further. Where are you going to do the majority of your boating? If in rivers and lakes (other than the Great Lakes) an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) may not be what you need. If you are going to be on the big lakes or ocean a lot then an EPIRB or PLB (personal locator beacon) may be a wise investment.
Both the EPIRB and the PLB, when activated, send a signal repeatedly to a search and rescue satellite indicating your latitude and longitude. The PLB is a sort of mini-EPIRB that must be manually activated. They are easy to activate but don't float (without a special case). EPIRBS can be manually activated or, in some cases self-activate. Some are designed to go off when they go in the water and are hydrostatically activated, they float and keep broadcasting for about 24 hours. That type are mounted externally in a float-free bracket. One important point, a few years ago there was an international change in the type of EPIRB to be used. The old ones operated at 121MhZ and are not usable now The new ones operate on 406MhZ. Do not get one of the old ones. EPIRB's and PLB's are registered individually by name or boat name. Most people with EPIRB's do off-shore cruising, for example to Hawaii. Batteries are expensive and last five years. I am not a fan of the SPOT devices for on-water use but do like them for backpacking/hunting, etc. (I got two for some of my kids who do a lot of that.) To me, a PLB is plenty for the kind of cruising most of us do. The Coast Guard issued me one for my CG Auxiliary role and I'm glad to have it.
 
Barry covers this very well. When we were crossing oceans we had two EPRIB. One was in the dinghy which was our Life raft, and the other was at the companionway door. I have seen some of the hydrostatic models hang up and not deploy, so I want a manual model.

Now that we do near shore boating, as well as lakes and rivers/ ICW, we have two PLB which are GPS enabled. The GPS is important, and will make recovery much faster. These are small enough to put in a pouch, pocket, ditch bag, or on the life jacket. We also carry two waterproof radios.

The PLB is registered to the person, so it is good for hiking, back country, river rafting etc--where as the EPRIB is registered to the boat. We take our PLB with us in the RV, off road etc.

The response is equal to both of these, and is thru SAT SAR, a via Government agencies. The PLB has a smaller battery, and will last a minimum of 24 hours, the EPRIB 48 hours. In most areas search will be started in a matter of minutes or hours--not days, so the 24 hours is more than ample. Lots of lives would be saved if all boaters, climbers, skiers etc had a PLB!
 
I spend a lot of time in the Gulf. I have a ditch bag, and one of the items in it is a PLB. I don't go out on a boat, mine or any one elses without it. Hopefully it will be a waste of money.
 
The EPIRB is mounted towards the side of the roof on ours; far enough over that it doesn't interfere with a dinghy being on the roof, far enough forward to not be trapped by the bubble that would be created by an upside-down deck, and far enough aft that I could easily reach it for manual deployment, if needed.

It comes in a plastic case that protects it from the weather, but will come off automatically if deployed.

We opted for a unit that is wired to the navigation system and constantly updated with longitude/latitude from it. In the event of a deployment that data would be immediately transmitted, and later updated as it acquires satellites on its own. Some units can take 5 to 15 minutes, depending on conditions, before signal is acquired, location is determined, and the first transmission is sent.

As with flares and other dated emergency equipment, be sure to get one with a relatively recent date of manufacture, since the battery life begins when it is manufactured, not when it is installed.

There was a bit of confusion concerning registration when we first got the unit. Even if you register it with the FCC and provide them with emergency information it also needs to be registered with NOAA, as I have been told that the NOAA information is readily available to rescue personnel, but the FCC data is not. I would be curious if anyone here has knowledge of whether this is correct, or not.

If I never use it, I will doubtless view it as a complete waste of money, but if I ever do need it, I expect I'll view it as my best purchase ever.

David
 
Thanks lots of useful information. I would like to do alot of boating in florida,want to fish keys,marathon area .I went with some friends there once,we rented a boat and went out about 4 miles to reef. So this would be about as far as I would want to go . Also would like to attend gatherings,and do trips to lakes and rivers. Im interested in traveling with boat,camping on water a few days. I like the idea of the PLB that you can take with everywhere.Which one do you recommend? Sounds like should have E-PIRB on boat and personal one on you. Trying to keep wife interested in this boat camping plan,so the more I can tell her about safety features the more comfortable she is.She likes idea of traveling with group at gatherings,and so do I.
 
I have always liked the ACR safety gear. They have been around for a long time and have an excellent reputation. The cheapest is the ACR RESQLINK™ 406 MHZ GPS PERSONAL LOCATOR BEACON PLB at about $245.

I would rather have two PLB, for what you propose than one PLB and one EPRIB. The reason is that you can each have one in our pocket, or on the life vest. Plus at this price, most folks can afford a $100 waterproof hand held VHF radio, so that you have this with you at all times also.

I have been following personal marine safety for a long time--and with the internet you can track most of the accidents and MOB etc. There are a lot of cases where a EPRIB was not deployed (either manual or auto) and the person would have been saved if they had a PLB on their person. Several of these were where the boat went down fast, others were in cases of fire, and there was no safe access to the beacon.

One point to clarify--it was mentioned that the 121.5 MHZ beacon is no longer used--that is true as a primary rescue beacon which is picked up by the satellites. However all of the good PLB and EPRIB have a 121.5 beacon transmission so that the search craft can home in on your location.
 
The rescue link unit by ARC looks like a good choice for portability and price but do note they now have a version that is bouyant called the "+" and that would be advisable for boat use. It is the same spec as the regular unit with an added bouyant build.
 
We have carried an ACR AquaLink 406 for a few years. How do you get the battery replaced. Supposed to be good for at least 5 years, but we may be close to that now. I know I have renewed the registeration with NOAA at least twice.

Brent
 
I also have the Aqualink 406. Battery replacement is due at 5 years. There is a minute current draw even without testing. ACR warrantees the 24 hour battery life for 5 years, despite an 11 year shelf life....

There is a battery replacement center in Pensacola about 4 miles from my home. So most coastal towns will have someone who can replace the battery--or send it to ACR for replacement.

One caution--even though the ResQLink+ is buoyant, it still has to be hand held out of the water to transmit an effective signal. If you are unconscious then you want a real EPRIB (and that would be an argument to buy one.

"The ResQLink+ is a buoyant PLB but is not intended for operation in water. Intended operational environments include on ground and above ground including held in hand. In all cases, the beacon must be facing skyward with the antenna perpendicular."

I don't worry about floating, since I secure the PLB to the life vest or jacket--and there is a wrist lanyard. I don't want it floating off!
 
To answer David's question, yes you must register with NOAA as with most goverment agencies they don't talk to each other. You can register on line and make any changes on line. I received the IPRO for Christmas with the waterproof case. It transmits on both the 406 and the 121. The battery was brand new and it came from WM with a coupon for another battery and an ACR first aid kit. It is definately a nice unit.
Manual or auto activation when it hits 4-13' of water. It will also link nto the boat GPS which gives you more up to date GPS into to the unit.
 
The reason to have a link to the ships GPS is that then when the EPRIB is activated it will have a current position. The internal GPS in any of the EPRIBs takes several minutes at a mininum from a cold start--and in some cases 15 minutes to acquire a "fix". With the tie in to the ships GPS (IR usually ), the first transmission of the EPIRB has a valid Lat and Lon--and thus rescue will be faster as this Lat Long is picked up by the Sat Sar satellite.

The reason to have a GPS at all, is that although the Sat Sar satellites can determine a lat long--it will take several passes--and this can be a delay of several hours in position reporting--and serious delay--so always get a GPS enabled--and preferably one that links to the ship's GPS.
 
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