Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) (with GPS receiver) vs EPIRB (without GPS)

PLB's are very small, lightweight and easy to carry on your body at all times when in remote/potentially dangerous situations, usually beyond communications coverage (after 2-way radio's, mobiles etc have failed to contact local rescue). They are pocket-sized  and have global coverage.

PLB's are designed for remote land or water activites - adventurers, 4WD, hikers, campers, kayakers, fishermen, sailors, aviators, mountaineers

They are similar to EPIRB's in technical operation, transmit a distress signal to satellites orbiting Earth, which is sent to Government Safety Authorities, who then mobilize  SAR (search and rescue) near your beacons location.

I was motivated to get the PLB by members of the Investigator 563 trailer sailer group online. Survival stories of sailors lost overboard or sunken powerboaters clinging to flotsam, saved thanks to emergency beacons. More stories of lost hikers, downed aviators, 4WD's in the desert being rescued (and the bad, often fatal, outcomes of those who couldn't communicate). 

To me the $305 for 7 years is a small insurance price on life and for loved ones at home. Peace of mind for all involved.

Recently bought a digital PLB (with GPS)  made in Australia by GME. It was on sale/club membership at Anaconda, reducing the usual $340-$400 price of PLB's here.

It's been on my wish-list for years, and like everything technical they (and the behind scenes system) have improved with time.

The first thing to do was register the beacon on my AMSA (Australian Martime Safety Authority) beacon account online. (Rego can be done by phone at first, they can set it up and walk you through the internet procedure/use side. AMSA Head Quarters is in Canberra, our national capital city, they cover the whole country). Registration is important and mandatory, data includes your phone/contact info, description of boat(s) and vehicles etc. 

The reason for this is when a beacon is activated the AMSA HQ merge the beacons 406Mhz distress data (ID, GPS position coordinates) with your AMSA account data, so they have a very good idea what's probably going on and what/who to search for. They phone you and your contacts, to determine if the activation is genuine (turns out 97% are false alarms!) if you are the genuine 3% they activate SAR (search and rescue) in your area. 

The SAR air/water craft can then head straight to the GPS coords. They also have an RDF (radio direction finder) to lock onto the beacons 121Mhz secondary homing signal and head straight for it at closer range. Also most beacons have a flashing white strobe light for night rescues.

Testing the PLB. Press the green T button. There are 2 tests. 1) General test (Are electronics ok?) and 2) GPS test (Is it sending coords?). The first test is a short press of the T button. The GPS test is a 4 second press of the T button. I found it easier to see the units response LED lights at night. The instruction booklet and videos detail eveything. (Overall: green  LED's = "good" and red LEDS = "not good") On the GPS test red led's flash while its aquiring satellites, takes 1-2 minutes, then it flashes green when ok)

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The antenna stows nicely around the PLB's body and covers the 2 buttons, so it can't be accidentally knocked/activated. 

In an emergency to activate. Setup antena, press red (on/off) button for 2 seconds. The white strobe and red led flashes while aquiring satellites. The red is replaced by green when it's operating (fixed your position and transmitting your GPS coordinates to satellites) 

Also bought a $26 hard hi-viz yellow protective case with caribiner clip to hold the PLB.

EPIRB

Aboard Teria i tested my old 2014 era EPIRB (GME MT400). Very simple to operate and test, just flip a cover and press yellow test button. The beacon beep/strobes twice, indicating it's working well. It's many times larger in size/weight than a PLB, but would fit in a daypack or carry bag easily.

MT400 manual EPIRB on Teria (note: tether line around base) 

It's a manualy activated unit designed to float in the water while transmitting and tethered to the boat, life-raft or person (for best signal strength).

An EPIRB in operating mode

However, It can transmit through the fibreglass deck if needed (eg the boat's wrecked on a reef in breaking waves with the risk of breaking the tether, safer to stay onboard ). The antena can be raised and the EPIRB stays upright in it's cradle in the cabin.

Online found out that the "plain" budget 406Mhz beacon's (without GPS) like Teria's have their downsides regarding accurate positioning and SAR reaction times. It can take up to 4 hours for authorities to first calculate and fix the beacon's position (depends on passing aircraft's 121Mhz receivers, patchy at best and irregular polar satellites with 10-400 minute gaps gradually gathering "fix" position info) . The best final position coordinates accuraccy are only within a 5 kilometer radius, that's a large search area.  

Conversely a modern GPS enabled beacon transmitts it's GPS coordinates in a minute or two of activation, they are accurate to just 10-30m, a very small search area.

So "Hours and Kilometers" vs "Minutes and Meter's" (for GPS enabled) , the later costing about $50 extra to the boat owner. I'm betting on the later from now on, it would be far better to be found in a short time.   Also GPS enabled saves the rescue authorites time and millions of dollars per year too. ($5000/hr? helicopters, $100-500/hour? for Coast Guard or police boats). Teria's still has 3 years to go on my EPIRB's estimated lifespan (12 years, a fine unit), after that definitely getting a GPS enabled one (eg GME MT600G, about $305-$350 now, which also has an increased 10 year battery life)

The other difference between big boat EPIRB's and small PLB is tranmission time. Minimum 48 hours for the EPIRB's and minimum 24 hours for the PLB's. 

How to select between the 2 types? For boats going offshore/rough seas an EPIRB is first (perhaps with PLB backup). But if you adventure mostly on land, air or inside smooth water and 2nm of land limits then PLB could be the first choice. (My 2018-2019 Qld govt boating guide has maps of the EPIRB use limits, surprizingly in most popular boating locations you can get away without the big EPIRB, the govenment has set generous but sensible limits (2020 ps32-38). My guide also says small gps PLB's are good for "lightweight" or "beach" craft less than 6m length, as long as PLB floats and is worn on you. This 2019-2020 RMB guide has safety gear/PLB's, EPIRB's on p20 and 22 but the info is pared back 50% from my earlier guides edition) 

EPIRB free zones Qld, Magnetic Island to Mission Beach, NQld.

EPIRB free zones, Mourilian to Cooktown, FNQld

EPIRB free zones, WhitSunday Islands, NQld

My small PLB can float and is waterproof to go anywhere. But one of  it's weakness in the sea is it's aerial needs to be held vertical manually. So if you are swimming it needs to be held upright by hand, (or rest it on your life vest). It's better if it's placed on a flat surface like a boat deck, rocks or beach.  It's small enough to be worn at all times, so could be good in a man lost overboard situation. 

The big EPIRB is good for most and more extreme situations but especially if the boat has sunk/floated away far offshore.  It will float upright  and transmit for over 2 days. 

Safety harnesses and long tethers have the potential to quickly drown people as the hang over the side still attached to the boat if there is no-one else awake on deck at the time to stop the boat and haul them in.

LAST RESORT

Finally, need to emphasise that PLB's and EPIRB's are absolute "last resort" devices, only used after all other methods and avenues fail. (eg radio, phone, signaling devices (like flares v-sheet, mirror, strobes) waving, whistle, fog-horn etc)

406Mhz EPIRB fitted

It is time to prepare for more extended coastal cruising, so fitted a 406 Mhz digital EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) to "Teria".

In Australia it is maritime law to carry an EPIRB if you go outside semi-protected waters or more than 2 nautical miles off the coast in open waters. The Qld recreational boating guide has maps of these areas. With the EPRIB aboard Teria can now legally sail between Island Groups along the GBR and travel well offshore if that's the shortest course, perhaps even visit a reef on the great barrier reef one day, the options are there.

The 406 Mhz EPIRB is a sealed unit which is only used in dire emergency situations as a last resort, after other methods like good seamanship, jury rigging, auxiliary motors, waiting out bad weather, calling on the VHF radio, mobile phone or signaling another boat have failed.

406 Mhz EPIRB on Teria - easy to find but also out of the way

Activating an EPIRB is a serious business as it instigates an air-sea search and rescue effort and most times the crew is located and rescued.  Being near the coast and coast guard/water police bases increases chances of boat retrieval too, if it's still afloat that is.

An activated 406 MHz EPIRB sends signals to satellites in geostationary and polar orbits (COSPAS-SARSAT system) which can store and  relay the vessels data (position) to shore based receiving stations. It has global coverage. Hope this one is never used and remains in the corner, touch wood.

406 Mhz EPIRBs here need to be registered with AMSA - The Australian Maritime safety Authority. I registered on their web site. Details of the boat and owners names, registration number, call-sign, description of vessel, it's size and capabilities, 4 contact names and numbers are sent and are kept on AMSA's computer database. When an emergency EPIRB signal is received they will know where the boat is and information about it to pass on to rescue authorities.

My EPIRB is a GME MT400 model, designed and made in Australia. It's the entry level unit which cost me A$260, fortunately the price of 406 Mhz has come down recently. The MT400 has a position accuracy of 5 nautical miles and is manually activated.  It also emits a 127 Mhz homing signal. Rescue vessels here are equipped with EPIRB direction-finders,  so they can locate the direction of an activated epirb, then steam towards the homing signal source. The rescue vessels often have radar and FLIR (infra red night vision) and a strobe-light on the EPIRB further aids the search at closer quarters.

If i had a bigger budget or was foreign going then the GPS enabled EPIRB would be a better choice, it emits a position accurate to 100 m. High-tech rescue boats could be scarce is some places but they probably have a GPS with a go-to function. 

The most expensive EPIRBs (~2x the $) have water pressure-activated switches and external housing mounts that auto-release when the water reaches it as the ship sinks. Suits serious offshore or commercial vessels.

I mounted my EPIRB inside the cabin on the mid-ship bulkhead, a dry place out of the sun. The signal can pass through fiberglass, so left room for the antenna to pop up under the side deck. It could be activated in it's holder below deck. There is a chance that you could loose the EPIRB when deployed overboard if the thin tether line broke off in rough conditions. (NB Steel boats EPIRB antennae must be outside the hull and cabin, with clear sky view).

The switch design is improved over the old ones, it has a protective flap, which covers a sliding switch. Also it takes one minute for the signal to begin to emit after the switch is slid across. There is a switch seal, which is never to be broken as this ensures that the 6 year life of the Lithium ion batteries is maintained. There is a test button to test it before going on a big trip. GME offer a free battery replacement in 6 years time (2020) to get another 6 years of life.

The EPIRBs ID sticker arrived on a letter from AMSA a week or so after online registration. It has boat name, rego number etc on it so stuck it on the EPIRB so it wouldn't hide any serial numbers etc.

In the 1990's i owned a 127 Mhz analogue EPIRB. It cost $150 then, so after inflation the current price is comparable if not cheaper. The old units could be transferred between boats as they were not registered then so some boats could even share a unit. If one was activated the authorities had no idea who or what vessel it was. Sometimes accidental activation resulted in a big search only to find the boat safely at anchor somewhere, occasionally 127 Mhz EPIRB's activated in a landfill long after being thrown out.  Now they have your mobile phone number and VHF call sign to check with you first. The satellite system stopped monitoring 127Mhz in 2009.