Thursday, Oct 07, 2010 at 11:35
I am one of the team that works on the
beacon box and then coordinates the response, so maybe these comments are helpful (but are not official :) )
Regarding when to use it, as it is a distress
beacon it should be when life is in imminent threat, however there is no hard and fast rules really. The main guide is dont use it too late, for example if you break down/get bogged on a little used road dont wait till you are down to the little or no food and
water. Do it earlier as sometimes it can take awhile to actually arrange the rescue. Better to find a healthy family then one that requires medical attention who waited till the last moment to activate the
beacon.
Preferably do it
well before it goes dark as
well, in remote areas once we get the detection it can sometimes be easier to get local aircraft to fly out to the area and see what the problem is - so they will be restricted by daylight, even with the
well equipped sar aircraft there are restrictions at night. If you have one standby your
uhf radio as the main fixed wing aircraft (dorniers) carry UHF as do many local aircraft.
If you turn it on, leave it on until you are rescued and told to turn it off - sounds like "suck egg" stuff but there have been occasions when people turn them on and off to "save battery" but it hinders the location process. Put the
beacon in a nice clear area so that it can have an unhindered view of the satellites. If you get going again - as in someone comes along and saves you, please make sure you let us know as soon as possible.
Please ensure you register it (its free) there is nothing worse then looking for an unregistered
beacon. Do it online and then you can easily go in an update your details. For most people in this
forum it is great if you can include details of your proposed trip, details of your vehicle (colour type rego) and who is travelling with you.
Oh and if you have any of the old ones, please replace them and dispose of them properly (any batteryworld) - we are still wasting many resources chasing the old ones - most of which are found in tips.
Hope that helps
Pete
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