EPIRBs - Check your vital 15 character code

by Sail-World on 27 Apr 2009 That's the message that Cobham Life Support, ACR Products, the world's leader in safety and survival technologies, is trying to get to all beacon owners. They want all EPIRB and PLB owners to double check their 15-character identification code registration for errors.

According to a recent Marine Board of Investigation inquiry, which is looking into the sinking of a scallop boat Lady Mary on March 24th this year, there was a discrepancy in the EPIRB's identification number, which was marked on a decal that the boat's owner had received after he registered the EPIRB.

In the case of the Lady Mary, the emergency signal initially received by authorities was regarded as unregistered which may have led to delays in response time while emergency center controllers waited for additional satellite passes to fix a location. Had the controllers been able to pull the Lady Mary's registration data, they could have contacted emergency contacts to confirm the status of the boat and its general location prior to a satellite fix.

'Because this situation came to light, we are urging all beacon owners to compare their 15-character identification code printed on the beacon with the registration sticker they receive just to ensure they both match,' said Chris Wahler, Marketing Manager for Cobham Life Support, ACR Products. 'If there is a discrepancy, we urge the owner to contact the appropriate authority immediately to correct the information.'

An EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) or PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) is a satellite-signaling device of last resort, for use when all other means of self-rescue have been exhausted and where the situation is deemed to be grave and imminent, and the loss of life, limb, eyesight or valuable property will occur without assistance. Beacons in most countries must be registered with the appropriate authority following purchase.

Despite the requirement to register all EPIRBs and PLBs, some reports show that up to 40 percent of EPIRB activations are from unregistered beacons, a possible deadly mistake when minutes can make the difference between life and death.

In an emergency, the EPIRBs and PLBs transmit on 406 MHz via the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system with the sender's unique, registered, digitally coded distress signal. The code allows emergency officials monitoring the system to tell who is sending the signal (thanks to the coding and registration data). Once the emergency is confirmed and location data is received from the satellites, a search can be authorized.

Wahler said proper registration is vital in the early minutes of an emergency so rescue center officials can obtain critical data about a boat's owner, home port, emergency contacts and other information to begin a search even before a satellite gets a fix on a beacon's location.