Compact 406MHz EPIRB's

Remember that commercial aircraft will ALWAYS monitor 121.5 MHz, lots of commercial shipping/fishing vessels also have radio direction finders that will receive 121.5 MHz.
I'm not sure if any rescue agencies will be able to directly monitor or direction find your location if you set off a 406 MHz EPIRB, or have to rely on the satellite monitoring system alone.
If you set off a 121.5 MHz EPIRB in the middle of Australia after the satellite network is closed down, I'm sure there are enough commercial flights over Australia to raise the alarm.

Michael.

Hi Michael, To be effective the EPIRB has to be heard and the 121.5 EPIRB has a VERY limited range. It will not be heard by a satellite so will need to be heard by a passing aircraft. As the busy airways are in direct line between the large cities and if you are not 'under' a busy airway it is unlikely that your beacon will picked up unless someone is actually already 'looking' for you. The beacons transmission will be heard in an area shaped like an inverted cone and the radius of the breadth of this cone will (under ideal conditions) only be around 200km at 25,000 feet. So, if an aircraft is listening on 121.5 MHZ (and not all aircraft do) and it is flying at 25,000 feet then you MIGHT be picked up at a range of 200 km. As most light aircraft will be below 10,000 feet then their track will have to be less then 100km from you to pick up your EPIRB signal. If an aircraft is monitoring 121.5 MHz and the squelch is turned down to reduce background noise then a strong signal may be required to burst through the noise limiter so I would not bet on your beacon being heard if the aircraft was more then 75 km away ! Australia is a big country so my advice is get a 406MHz beacon

Also, remember that non-gps EPIRB's require two passes of a satellite to fix the position of the EPIRB. The satellite system gives two possible positions on each pass, when the second pass positions are checked one will coincide with the first pass and that will be where the beacon is located. Yesterday there was an accidental epirb activation near Adelaide, the two possible positions on the first satellite pass indicated that the beacon could have been (a) near Adelaide and (b) close to the New Zealand coast line !

Hi Kiwi Ray,

All epirbs can be registered as land use if you want.

Also, the GME web site says that the COSPAS certification has now be granted.

Lyndon,

Again, from the Whitworth Marine site, the 410G (RRP) - $649...their price $589.