gps epirb

hi im thinking of buying a gps and epirb do they come as one or separate items and what ones are best thx

1. An Epirb is generally used on water.
2. A land based locator is called a PLB (personal locator beacon)

They do not normally come with a GPS which you can use as you would normally use a GPS to navigate. They do however come with a GPS that fixes your position more accurately.

Have a look at the Garmin site or Johnny Appleseed and do a little reading.....

Garmin bought out Delorme have a look at the inreach explorer for gps functionality, two way gps text email etc. and emergency beacon.
Jon

I considered the advantages of being able to text from a Delorme or a SPOT but I decided that a dedicated PLB was best. The reason being that all multi purpose devices have rechargeable or replaceable batteries and you can bet the one time you needed it in an emergency it would be discharged. The PLB comes with a 10 year battery life and hopefully never gets used.

thanks all for that ill look at plb's

http://www.bcf.com.au/store/safety/plb/571535?page=1&pageSize=24&sort=-ProductCreated

That's the one I got, make sure it's fresh stock as they all have a use by on them.

yeah not cheap but neither is life

Occasional_panner said:

http://www.bcf.com.au/store/safety/plb/571535?page=1&pageSize=24&sort=-ProductCreated

That's the one I got, make sure it's fresh stock as they all have a use by on them.

Click to expand...

This is the same one I have, never had to use it so hard to claim it works well though lol.

Hi, have a look there, I bought mine with them, it was about 40 or 60$ cheaper than on the other websites and The KTI brand is a very good one, I didn't have to use it either for the moment and hope I will never have to

not that i want to try but wonder if they would work if you fell down a shaft

It needs to be able to transmit to a satellite, so it would if the satellite was directly above, but not for very long, but if it did register a distress they would still come.
How long it would take for a satellite to go directly over your path I have no idea.
Best thing to do is let someone know where you are going, and give them a check in deadline.

It would also depend on how many meters you fell, if it was a quite a few then you'll probably die on impact at the bottom, just watch where you step.

yeah there some deep ones out there

Keep in mind that a PLB should only be activated when in grave and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance. If you intend to fall down a shaft then that is where the trackers are useful for showing where you were prior to loss of signal.

http://beacons.amsa.gov.au/

Jon

I work on a rescue Helicopter. Recently went to a beacon in the Palmer river gold field. Turns out it was set off because the gentleman who was traveling alone cross country had used up all his spare tyres and could no longer drive. No doubt he was in a spot of trouble but if you can carry a Satellite phone or some other form of communication other than just an EPIRB / PLB you would be far better off. Instead of winching him out and leaving behind his car possibly we could of dropped off some spares.

If you go down a shaft with your PLB, activate it before you throw it out

The SPOT is a good unit. It has an I'm ok check in function so you can let someone know that you're ok along with your current location. It also has SOS which reaches the GEOS emergency network.

A good PLB will have a transmitter so rescue can locate you once arriving in the area.

If you can afford it get both.

2 options - costed

The GME MT410G Personal Locator Beacon PLB has a 7 year battery life. It is currently $349 at BCF, however at Johnny Appleseed https://www.ja-gps.com.au/GME/mt410g-plb/ it is currently $319 post free. (where I bought mine) The emergency service is managed out of Australia by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Total cost a 1 off $319

The Spot locator is a device capable of sending text as well as a locator it sells for as little as $180 in AUS, however it needs a Basic Service Plan, currently US$164.99 per year plus a network maintenance fee of US$14.99 (a total $237 AU). Spot uses the Globalstar Satelite Service and I believe, managed out of the U.S.

Total of $417 in the first year and $237 P.A.

My advice consider what you really want a PLB for when you buy

Occasional_panner said:

It needs to be able to transmit to a satellite, so it would if the satellite was directly above, but not for very long, but if it did register a distress they would still come.
How long it would take for a satellite to go directly over your path I have no idea.
Best thing to do is let someone know where you are going, and give them a check in deadline.

It would also depend on how many meters you fell, if it was a quite a few then you'll probably die on impact at the bottom, just watch where you step.

Click to expand...

Satellite reception is mostly not a problem - most such devices can lock into four or more satellites in minutes, there are a lot in orbit (it actually needs to lock into a few satellites to get your position, one is not enough). SPOT or a PLB are good although SPOT is not recognised legally as a PLB (but otherwise seems fine - more that you would not have employees dependent on one for OH&S reasons). The comment about telling people where you go and having a check-in deadline is good (we have a standard form we leave in camp or motel rooms but which could be left similarly in a caravan, tent or car each day). Things like SPOT let you send a regular check-in message at the press of a button and have the advantage of sending your coordonates to the receiver, who can view you on Google maps or recive an SMS message or both. Also has a belt clip so can travel with a person not just a vehicle - small and light.

Hand-held UHF are also useful within a group of people - easy to lose someone even in a group.

To add to what Goldierocks wrote

GPS - Is the American Satellite Global Positioning System. It consists of 24 operational satellites and 6 spares, with 4 satellites in 6 orbital planes (with a spare in each plane)

GLONASS - Is the Russian Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, equivalent. It consists of 24 operational satellites distributed over 3 orbital planes. So a totalof 48 satellites. Other countries either have or are developing their own, but not necessarily available in Oz

United States (GPS) ...
Japan (QZSS) ...
Russia (GLONASS) ...
China Peoples Republic of China (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System) ...
European Union (Galileo) ...
India (IRNSS)

Many later model GPS devices i.e. the Garmin Etrex use both GPS and GLONASS concurrently, giving a far more accurate and faster position fix.

To fix position you need a minimum of 3 satellites, albeit less accurate. To more accurately fix your position and at the same time your altitude you need a minimum of 4.

The other thing many users may not be aware of is; If you have not used your GPS recently (i.e. months) and or have moved several 100 kms from when last used, your device can take several minutes to locate.

Whereas if you for example, have located a waypoint at your car, turned it off, gone detecting for a few hours and then switched it back on, to get back to the car, it can only take several seconds to get a fix.

I had an old Garmin handheld, 15 or so years ago, that was not used for over a year, it refused to "lock on". I phoned the local Garmin service agent who walked me through a code process to input for factory reset, to get it to work again. In simple terms, it had forgotten what it was

I also found that Garmin also produce a GPS that has a message capability, but like it, I think all of them require some sort of annual subscription cost to be used.......
Some use Global Star, others the Iridium system and I'm sure others to be useful.