If you have a 121.5MHz or 243MHz distress beacon, which may also be called an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) or ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter), you need to switch to a 406MHz distress beacon now.
The satellite monitoring system that supports 121.5 MHz and 243MHz analogue distress beacons is in the process of being replaced. The system was progressively being decommissioned and completely ceased operation on 1 February 2009, from which date 121.5MHz signals will no longer be monitored.
Analogue beacons have not been on sale for two years now, and the changeover has been publicised heavily. However, there are bound to be infrequent boaters around who have not upgraded. If you are one of them, you might like to know that your beacon may not be entirely unheard – if an aircraft happens to pass overhead during your emergency, he’ll hear it. Aircraft still use 121.5 MHz as a distress frequency. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Rescuers will be very pleased with the change to low-noise digital systems. During the analogue age they have responded to thousands of false alarms generated by microwave ovens, ATMs, sports scoreboards and other sources of analogue electronic clutter. Currently, only two in 1,000 of the analogue alerts are real. Coastguard distress signal monitoring staff may end up with time to surf the net. That’ll be the day.
