A word on the new and old distress beacon systems

摘要

The old analogue distress beacon system operated on frequencies 121.5MHz/243MHz however satellite monitoring of these frequencies ended in 2009. Land-based receivers, shipping and aviation still monitor them but this means a beacon activated on this system requires a land receiver, aircraft or ship to be close enough to receive the signal; then the pilot/captain needs to be monitoring the channel, detect the signal, perform direction finding procedures and report it to authorities. This is patchy and random at best so is therefore totally unsuitable for an emergency system. No reputable retailer will sell you a PLB based on this system as it will no longer function reliably.