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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Tim Holding missing 3-Sep-2009 At 10:15:20 PM deadpoint

Message

On 3/09/2009 Mike Bee wrote:
>I'm not sure that all this talk of an EPIRB is justified.
>
>Sure, if he'd been in a life threatening situation, the EPIRB would have
>been able to save his life. If he triggered the device, everyone would
>have known where he was. But he wasn't in a life threatening situation
>and as such shouldn't have used one even if he had one.
>
>If I was holed up in a tent waiting out a storm, I wouldn't be firing
>off my EPIRB either. They are designed for use only in life threatening
>emergencies, not just to call up for a lift when you're going to get home
>a day late. Hell, if he had carried an EPIRB and set it off, I'd probably
>be having a go at him for unnecessarily using the bloody thing.
>
>He should have left more slack time for his expected return. Being a few
>hours late shouldn't trigger a search. A day, or two, fine, it's time to
>get worried.
>
>The best option for him would have been to take one of the more modern
>personal locator beacons like a href="http://www.findmespot.com/australianewzealand/ind
>x3.php">Spot. This device allows friends and family to know where you
>are, and you can communicate different messages like "I'm ok", "help" or
>"I'm about to die, come right now". It's far more versatile than an EPIRB
>and works everywhere.
>
>The minister should have been carrying an EPIRB if he didn't have a Spot,
>but he shouldn't have used it.

For those who have older generation EPIRBs 121.5 and 243 mHz devices you should be
aware that they have been phased out as of 1 Feb 2009 and any activations will not be
detected by the satellite network. They will still be usable to allow Direction Finding SAR
crew in helicopters or fixed wing aircraft if they know your approximate location.
For the full rescue service you will need to upgrade to the new 406mHZ based EPIRBs,
if you bought one cheaply recently - you now know why....

For more details see

http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/firstpage/121.5phaseout.htm