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NOAA Satellites Helped Save a Record 421 Lives in 2019

305 points by infodocket 7y ago

jxcl 7y ago
I have one of these beacons and take it with me most times I'm going out alone into the wilderness. I don't want to be the guy who had to cut his own arm off after it got trapped by a falling boulder. That being said, this is an interesting spin on the number. I've been hearing from friends on Search and Rescue crews that an increasing number of people are going out hiking being completely unprepared for any possible emergency, thinking that they'll just use their cell phone if anything goes wrong. I wonder if any of these beacon carriers fall closer into that camp than true serious conditions, though I suspect that simply carrying a beacon puts you in a higher preparedness bracket than the cell-phone only crew.
- vegardx 7y ago
  I'd love to see some actual statistics on this. This assumes that people knowingly do something dangerous and are choosing to ignore it because they think someone can just come and save them. I would argue that this is unlikely, unprepared people are unprepared in all aspects of it. Carrying a cellphone doens't mean they thought of it as some kind of security measurement. People just rarely go somewhere without it. They simply don't know any better.
  - JarlUlvi 7y ago
    It only takes one trip/slip/fall, one rock slide, one sprain, one break, one break, one deadfall, one snake, one asthma attack, one sting, or one rabid animal to turn an outdoor trip into a potential life or death situation. 99.99% of the times I've spend in the forest and desert has been "safe". It is the .01% and .001%s that get you.
    - sneak 7y ago
      That’s why I have two PLBs. Two is one and one is none.
  - jxramos 7y ago
    I heard some organizations try to collect fees from repeated offenders who tax search and rescue operations too frequently. Others collect under situations of negligence. https://www.outsideonline.com/1986496/search-and-rescue-public-service-not-exactly#close https://www.outsideonline.com/1986496/search-and-rescue-publ...
    - bluGill 7y ago
      I've heard of some organizations rejecting this because if it wasn't for all the unprepared people heading out and getting in over their head they would have to pay someone to go out an pretend to need rescued for training purposes. Having someone who really needs help is much better training than a planned mission - even if they shouldn't have needed help. Your mileage may vary, each rescue team has different situations. In some areas they get too many calls (remember a call takes the rescuers away from their family and other thing they would do instead) and should do something about those who didn't make at least some attempt to be prepared.
      - MayeulC 7y ago
        Well, that is an interesting take, but if collecting such a tax really helped reduce the number of people going out unprepared, thus needing help, it would really be a no-brainer to do so, as it could avoid people getting hurt or killed in the first place.
        bluGill 7y ago
        Problem is people who know about the tax will refuse rescue if they think they can get out without paying it - thus killing more people because they refused the rescue.
      - japhyr 7y ago
        I've been involved in mountain rescue for almost 20 years now. The main reason I've heard over the years for not charging for rescue is that it causes people to delay asking for help. This results in more high-risk calls for rescuers, and worse outcomes for people in need of rescue. In most situations, the cost of a rescue is not nearly as significant as media accounts portray. People love to cite the cost of helicopters in USCG rescues. USCG pilots need to fly a certain number of hours; those hours can come from missions or training sessions. When they fly more missions, they reduce their training hours. Creating a rescue policy for really high-traffic areas like the most popular national parks is a different story. Those are outlier situations, and we shouldn't have the same policy for SAR in average rural areas that we do for popular national parks. Edit: I meant to add another reason for not charging for rescue. I have been on missions where we reached the missing person, and the person initially refused our help because they thought we were going to charge them. The same conversation played out on the mountain that we're seeing play out in the comments here. In the end, these people are very happy to receive the assistance they needed; they were not going to get out of the mountains on their own.
- stopads 7y ago
  This is really cool, I had no idea these exist and are somewhat affordable. For example: https://www.amazon.com/Resqlink-PLB-375-Personal-Locator-Buoyant/dp/B07XG84FVP https://www.amazon.com/Resqlink-PLB-375-Personal-Locator-Buo... I'm going to pick something like this up before my next Wyoming adventure.
  - linsomniac 7y ago
    I've had the ResQLink for 3.5 years, haven't had to use it for anything other than the test cycle, and have been happy with it. I wrote more details in a reply to the parent.
  - scarejunba 7y ago
    Almost all the reviews for these are "haven't had to use". Look at this product https://www.amazon.com/ACR-ResQLink-400-Buoyant-Personal/dp/B07PPJ8RRM/ https://www.amazon.com/ACR-ResQLink-400-Buoyant-Personal/dp/... 13 5-star ratings - everyone should have one, I haven't had to use mine but it gives me peace of mind 1 1-star rating - gave it to my son because he jet skis. After a while it was rusted. Gave it a shot, didn't work. Reminds me of this xkcd https://xkcd.com/937/ https://xkcd.com/937/
    - tialaramex 7y ago
      That's a fair point, and historically it was very hard to arrange to test a unit unless you were the manufacturer. So even a serious reviewer couldn't say "The FooCorp RescueMax failed after just six minutes in our ice water bath" or "Our testers weren't able to understand the orientation instructions for the FooCorp RescueMax and test transmissions were not received in the canyon test area" because they weren't supposed to try the actual function of the beacon at all. I believe COSPAS SARSAT and the relevant US authorities got it together so that it is now possible to arrange a test carve out, agree with everybody when and where the units will be tested and not cause helicopters of annoyed rescuers to arrive so long as you stay in the agreed area and only test in the agreed time frame. But it can't be made trivial, so chances are only really hardcore survivalist outfits will do that work.
    - 7y ago
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- Analemma_ 7y ago
  Some Search and Rescue organizations now bill you if they determine you had to be rescued because of gross negligence (if you were prepared and simply unlucky, it's still free). This can be tens of thousands of dollars if they had to use helicopters and the like.
  - btashton 7y ago
    There is a lot packed into the pay for search and rescue model. One of the last things I want someone to be doing in an emergency situation is to be thinking can I afford help right now or should I just try harder to get off this cliff with a broken ankle. Then there is the question of what really is the cost. If a helicopter is involved frequently the operation cost if figured in, but these in the US are almost always military helicopters and they count these operations towards training hours. I would much rather have those hours spent to helping someone in danger than burning fuel for no emergency.
- japhyr 7y ago
  I've been an active member of a search and rescue team in southeast Alaska since 2002. This has been a really interesting period to be involved in SAR. When I started, very few people had cell phones or GPS devices. Then came a period where almost everyone had a cell phone. Then people had cell phones with embedded GPS. Now we're seeing many people with GPS-enabled mapping software such as Gaia on their devices. I haven't analyzed the data, but these trends have definitely changed our callout pattern. We used to get regular calls for people who were overdue, and the only communication was with the person who reported them overdue. When cell phones first came out, it seemed we got a few more calls from people who had gone less prepared. But we're a coastal community, and handheld VHF radios played the role of a cell phone in our community before cell phones came out, so basic communication didn't change drastically at first. I think things started to change once everyone had a phone, and there were enough towers to have decent coverage throughout our mountainous area. We get far fewer callouts where there's been no direct communication with the missing person. Now we tend to have direct communication with the person, or we are talking to a reporting party who has had some direct communication with the missing person. We are responding to known locations more often - the person is lost, but we know where they are and our mission is to reach them, and guide them safely out. Or they're injured/ immobile, and we go right to them and evacuate them. Now we're starting to see people who are following others' routes using apps like Gaia, and getting in over their heads. People see a route on Gaia, and they think it's a trail or a clear route. In our mountains, experienced people are often bushwhacking through steep terrain where there's only one route that works, and if you don't know how to navigate that terrain you can get into dangerous cliffed-out areas quickly. And once you get off route, it can be really hard to get back to a safe place because there's no safe direct route back to the GPS track. All of this has been exacerbated by the local effects of climate change. We're in a rainforest, and the vast majority of our days used to be overcast with drizzle. A good deal of our callouts were for people who went out in a break of clear weather, then got stuck when the clouds rolled back in and they couldn't see where to go. We get much longer periods of clear weather - weeks and months instead of hours and days - so people are going out in clear weather and coming back in clear weather. We also have ice fields and glaciers that are receding, leaving behind blue ice that's much more difficult to navigate than old snow, and loose silt and rocks that's much easier to slide on than exposed, weathered dirt with vegetation. The interaction of people and wilderness is always going to be there, and the tools available are always going to influence how people interact with the wilderness. It's not always getting better or worse. People adapt to the tools available, and sometimes use them to get into more dangerous situations, and sometimes use them to avoid and get out of dangerous situations.
- AWildC182 7y ago
  Carry one as well. This is obviously anecdotal and may be because of the people I hang around with but everyone I know who carries also never hikes without a bunch of other standard safety kit and is very experienced. I suspect that being willing to buy a $200 beacon means you're aware enough of the risks and of what safety gear is out there to seek extra protection when possible.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    At some level, I don't love the always connected idea. But if I were to do serious solo backpacking at this point (or were regularly going into remote areas by car with or without a companion), I admit it would probably be prudent for me to carry a beacon.
    - rmcpherson 7y ago
      It’s really not always connected in the way of internet or satellite two way communication. The beacon’s are only there if you need them for emergencies and do not allow people to contact you. There are some like the Spot devices that allow 2 way text via iridium satellites, however.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        It's connected in an emergency--which is what really matters. Though TBH, I'd probably get one of the messaging devices if I got one so I could do "All going well" to people who might care especially if I were running late.
- munificent 7y ago
  Risk compensation [0] has been studied and gets a lot of press because it tickles that combination of psychology + counter-intuitive result + play into narrative that people suck. As far as I know, though, most modern studies show that while there is some amount of risk compensation (people engage in riskier behavior after adopting a safety apparatus), the compensation is less than the benefit of the safety measure. With beacons in particular, a potential compounding factor is that many people may not have gone out into the wilderness at all before beacons became available. So maybe there is a net increase in beacon usage but it could be because of an even greater increase in outdoor participation. I think it's a net good for people to spend time in the outdoors, both for them personally and because it encourages society as a whole to prioritize preserving the environment. So if that results in more people needing to be rescued, it may still be worth it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    Risk Compensation has its worst effects when the prior risk itself is concealed by the technology. IIRC anti-lock braking doesn't drive up accident rates for those who grew up with it (all cars they drive have ABS, that's just how cars work as far as they're concerned) but it did for those for whom it just made loss of control mysteriously vanish in their new car. They would think "I guess I'm just good at driving" and engage in behaviour which the car was now compensating for with ABS, not realising that this mean they were outside the safe performance envelope. AEB deliberately is a scary experience to prevent this mistake. If your car's AEB triggers you'll be suddenly and violently brought to a complete halt in order that the feeling is "Oh shit, I fucked up, is everybody OK?" not "Wow I'm a great driver". With a beacon the experience is likewise not great. It's not "Activate beacon, rescuers magically teleport in and save the day". There's zero real feedback, so most people will be worried that it hasn't been effective, nobody is coming. After an hour, or two, or more, rescuers may show up looking for you. That's a long time to be lost or injured in the middle of nowhere.
    - myself248 7y ago
      > There's zero real feedback That's why Return Link Messages in the Galileo network are so interesting. Basically, there's a super low bandwidth message channel embedded in the GNSS data stream. Its sole purpose is to tell beacons "We saw your beacon and we're responding to it".
- reaperducer 7y ago
  I've been hearing from friends on Search and Rescue crews that an increasing number of people are going out hiking being completely unprepared for any possible emergency, thinking that they'll just use their cell phone if anything goes wrong. This is so true. I live in the desert, and it's amazing the number of people who simply don't take the natural world seriously. The dead and rescued are almost always tourists. And for some reason, almost always from Europe (I suspect because my observation has been that Asians tend to travel in large groups on air conditioned buses). They drive rental cars into deep sand and get stuck and die. They run out of gas and get stuck and die. They never bring enough food or water and don't know what to do in an emergency. I was at a hotel on the Navajo Reservation (Arizona/New Mexico/Utah) about a year ago and there was a British couple arguing with the manager that of course their cell phone should work, they bought it in San Francisco. I tired to explain to them that the whole reason people visit places like this is to get away from technology. Even though I'm sure there are remote places in Europe, they had no concept that there are places in the world where there's no cell service. A couple of years ago there was an article in the newspaper about a German guy who decided to rent a Harley Davidson and drive through the desert like some kind of David Hasselhof fantasy. It was 115° and he was in full-on black leather gear. They found him dead on the side of the road, still sitting on his motorcycle with his helmet on. --:-- Editing to add the results from a four-second Google News search: authorities in California launched a search for Pi-Wei Hung, 40, early Sunday afternoon... the woman’s vehicle was discovered stuck in the sand on the shoulder... and then died in the heat as she tried to walk out of the area. The high temperature that day was 113 degrees. a 60-year-old tourist from Germany died from heat exposure... not far from his where his motorcycle was parked, upright and in working order, in the 118-degree heat. ...two French tourists got their car stuck in loose sand... no one knew their specific travel route, and they were out of cellphone range in temperatures above 110 degrees.
  - davidw 7y ago
    > I'm sure there are remote places in Europe There are a few, here and there, but it's just completely different. Everywhere in Italy (I lived there a number of years) there are people. It might just be a little mountain hut, or a cabin or something, but there are pretty much always other people around. Here in Oregon, I can ride my bike to places where I almost won't see other people all day.
- thaumaturgy 7y ago
  I'm in search and rescue near the Tahoe area. So far we've had good luck with beacon call-outs. The cases we've responded to have almost entirely been folks that were legitimately stuck or lost, and yes, they were somewhat under-prepared for the situation they were in, but that's just the modern reality of outdoor play and it makes no more sense to expect all recreationists to be perfectly prepared than it makes to expect all software developers to build some idealized unit-tested software. I have heard from other SAR groups that the beacons have been a mixed bag, and they're getting too many call-outs from people who just got tired and want a ride home. Those people deserve a verbal chewing-out from the local coordinator, but on balance I'd still rather everyone go out with beacons and have a good time and hit that button if they need to.
  - tlrobinson 7y ago
    > I have heard from other SAR groups that the beacons have been a mixed bag, and they're getting too many call-outs from people who just got tired and want a ride home. It seems like charging people for the cost of the rescue would solve that problem.
    - mjevans 7y ago
      How about if a judge gets to decide if they are required to be force-enrolled in to a class that teaches safety in similarly fitting situations and/or some quantity of community service from a list of activities that are fitting of rehabilitation and improving the commons.
      - thaumaturgy 7y ago
        I'm pleased to say that a handful of past search subjects have gone on to become SAR volunteers themselves, so some people already do this without needing a judge's involvement.
      - 1123581321 7y ago
        Those would enormously prohibit calling in, more than money for many people due to the potential public embarrassment, let alone the time, extra required PTO and potential cognitive load from the legal situation.
- ineedasername 7y ago
  I'd be extremely reluctant to go to any wilderness or hiking area and rely on my cell phone. Sure, coverage is much better than years ago, but even a few weeks ago I was driving a few hundred miles. I checked ahead of time to see about possible stops along the way, cell coverage, etc. because some of the route went through the middle of nowhere. Cell maps said I had full coverage the whole way, but there was a hundred mile stretch where every few minutes I'd lose coverage for a mile or two.
- ChuckMcM 7y ago
  After reading about a CNET employee dying on their way home in the mountains because they were out of cell service on winter roads and were stuck I got one. We are on our second one, the new ones are even smaller than the originals, and carry it with us when ever we travel, especially in the back country. It is the best/cheapest insurance one can buy.
linsomniac 7y ago
in 2016 I got one of the ACR PLB-375 "ResQLink+" locator beacons. I did a bunch of research at the time, and liked this because it was $250, and required no subscription. Looks like they are $300 now. The alternatives have more features, like sending messages or two way messaging, and incoming messages, but also tend to require monthly subscription fees. Some of them now have subscriptions that you can "pause" when you aren't using it. I bought the beacon for offroading, after one trip where my son was screwing around and fell and hit his head pretty hard on a rock. He was ok, but it made the ability to reach out much more real. Sometimes I can get cell phone signal on the trail, but usually not. The medical kit I carry and my medical abilities were not up to serious injury. My trauma kit stayed at home: my wife is a nurse. :-) I like it, but in retrospect I wish I'd gotten a 2 way Iridium one, because my wife really worries when she can't get status updates. "Not getting a call from emergency services means we're ok" is not good enough. <shrug> :-)
- tialaramex 7y ago
  Right, COSPAS-SARSAT beacons are non-subscription products. As you say you can't send "I'm fine, but traffic awful on the way out here so we decided to stay until Tuesday" only trigger emergency rescue. But on the other hand, since COSPAS SARSAT is a global rescue service backed by governments (originally mostly the Russian and American governments, hence the clunky bilingual name) you can be damn sure it's not going bankrupt or whatever. COSPAS SARSAT does have two way link in its roadmap, but again only for emergencies. The concept is, you activate the beacon and then maybe rescuers can send "Storm too bad for helicopter. We come at first light" rather than you either worrying they came and didn't see you or that they aren't coming at all. And that's at least several years out and a new beacon.
- ghaff 7y ago
  >I like it, but in retrospect I wish I'd gotten a 2 way Iridium one, because my wife really worries when she can't get status updates. "Not getting a call from emergency services means we're ok" is not good enough. <shrug> :-) When I was leading sea kayaking trips, there was effectively a similar conundrum. The standard practice was that you were supposed to leave a float plan with someone you trusted. (Planned route, planned time of return, etc.) But what did that mean really, especially if no one on the trip had a partner expected to move heaven and earth if something might seem wrong. You're an hour past your expected arrival and no call. Do they drive an hour or two to the expected takeout because something might be wrong? Or... wait for how long? (Especially pre-cell phone.) In my experience float plans were something you tended to do as something of a formality and never really expected to use and sort of ignored the practicalities if things had really gone sideways.
pgrote 7y ago
Incredible service. Is there a payment required for rescue services? For instance, does the Coast Guard charge the six people rescued when the boat sank?
- linsomniac 7y ago
  The answer is that it depends on many things including state and locality, type of rescue needed, and what you are doing and what permits or licenses you are doing it under. In Colorado there are rescue activities covered by having hunting licenses, Off Highway Vehicle permits, and a "Search and Rescue" card, which create a fund that covers costs of some types of search and rescue activities. https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dola/node/98966 https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dola/node/98966
- wbl 7y ago
  Not on the sea. By old and ancient tradition all who sail come in aid to their brothers in need.
  - 7952 7y ago
    Although salvage laws do allow a reward for recovery of property.
    - nexuist 7y ago
      There's a funny story from the 80s in which a cargo ship crew was awarded an exorbitant sum of money from the Royal Navy when one of their Harrier pilots got disoriented and, running out of fuel, chose to land on a van parked on the deck of the ship...
      - iudqnolq 7y ago
        Wow! Thanks for sharing this. For others who found that interesting and wanted to know more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alraigo_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alraigo_incident
AYBABTME 7y ago
I bought one of these PLBs after spending 12h down a canyon with a broken ankle and no cell reception. Friends had to hike back out of the canyon and hike then drive for hours to get help. Never again. Since then I got a sailboat and it's pretty standard in that field to have EPIRB, PLBs and the likes. There's life-vests that come with mini-PLBs in them. It's a bit pricey but it's essential in my opinion. I was lucky to be with friends and within reasonable distance of help when I got my accident. If something happens at sea, you need these NOAA satellites.
- jxramos 7y ago
  How much does one of those go for if you don't mind me asking. From the article... >By law, beacon owners are required to register their devices online with NOAA. The registration information helps provide better and faster assistance to people in distress, and can guard against false alarms. What does that registration process look like exactly?
  - flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
    > How much does one of those go for if you don't mind me asking. They cost a few hundred dollars. Which is well worth it if you've broken your ankle at the bottom of a canyon imho.
  - AYBABTME 7y ago
    Just an online form where you register some info: - Name & Address - Phone - Beacon info (ID, manufacturer, model) - General use (commercial/private/govt/military) - Usage type (hiking, hunting, other...) - Vehicle type (land vehicle, boat, aircraft, none, other) - Additional data (include home port for your boat or aircraft and areas you frequent for recreational use.) - Emergency contact I think the cost was ~300$ for the PLB.
  - linsomniac 7y ago
    The ResQLink+ that I have looks to cost $300 now on Amazon.
- munificent 7y ago
Alex0012 7y ago
https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footage-captures-hero-officer-tasering-machete-attacker/ https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footag...
Alex0012 7y ago
Heart-stopping bodycam footage captures hero officer tasering machete attacker https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footage-captures-hero-officer-tasering-machete-attacker/ https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footag...
MayeulC 7y ago
> the impact of the crash of a small aircraft near Skwentna, Alaska, activated the emergency beacon onboard. I wonder how that kind of event is detected by the beacon, and if I could buy one for a person I know flies with visual flight rules (this means no recurrent fee, at least for 10 years).
- tjohns 7y ago
  For the aircraft units (ELTs), it's triggered by g-forces. Almost all aircraft in the US are required to have an ELT beacon installed on-board, though many are still equipped with the old analog (121.5 MHz) technology which isn't monitored by satellite anymore. If you want to carry a backup or want to have a modern digital beacon (406 MHz), you can certainly carry a PLB. Many pilots do, myself included. Note that these are manually activated only, no g-force sensor. For a PLB, I recommend picking up an ACR ResQLink. They retail for about $300.
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    Even if you have a digital ELT, make sure you know how to manually activate it and teach any frequent passengers. The automatic trigger is not reliable, it's better than nothing but survivable impacts may not trigger the beacon. PLBs tend to have pretty easy to follow instructions written right on them, but again people who'll be with you when it's needed should be told about it during safety briefing. Kids too young to learn the radio or other potentially life-saving apparatus can be shown how to use the beacon because of how simple it is.
mmaunder 7y ago
Posting this because it isnt mentioned in the article, but among mariners these beacons are known as EPIRBs. The system has evolved significantly to support individual beacons now. So search for EPIRB if you want one or want to learn more. https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtEpirb https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtEpirb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_position-indicating_radiobeacon_station https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_position-indicatin...
- throw0101a 7y ago
  For the marine environemnt, there are also shorter range VHF-based beacons that will show up on people's navigation chart plotters: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIS-SART https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIS-SART Useful in coastal waters where rescue may not be fair away.
- tjohns 7y ago
  - EPIRB = Fixed unit, installed on a boat. Water activated. - ELT = Fixed unit, installed on an airplane. G-force activated. - PLB = Handheld unit for individuals. Manually activated only. They're all the same technology, but the form factor differs depending on which term you refer to them by.
Dowwie 7y ago
My FastFind PLB doesn't seem to have replaceable batteries so I just left it in storage and haven't used it. Has anyone managed to replace their batteries?
- Zenst 7y ago
  https://www.sparesmarine.co.uk/mcmurdo-plb-battery-servicing/ https://www.sparesmarine.co.uk/mcmurdo-plb-battery-servicing... that any use?
  - Dowwie 7y ago
    Yowsa. Do I spent the additional $100 and go with a new one? I wonder how much technology has changed in 10 years since I bought this..
    - throw0101a 7y ago
      May be better GPS processing: more channels for a quicker fix. Perhaps lower power or better battery chemistry so the '2.0' unit may last longer?
      - Dowwie 7y ago
        great points
- jxcl 7y ago
  The PLB is really a single-use device. When activated it's supposed to be able to continuously transmit for 24 hours. On my PLB, the batteries are rated to expire after 10 years, after which you buy a new one. Making batteries replaceable carries either a weight or a durability penalty, and I'd rather have a small and light and durable thing that I replace every 10 years. It seems like a good tradeoff.
valgor 7y ago
Nothing worse than an article with acronyms without stating what those acronyms are.
- ahopskin 7y ago
  Which acronyms would those be? The couple I saw were at least expanded.
- lucb1e 7y ago
  I know what NOAA is but I didn't (from the headline) understand what a weather satellite does for saving people (at least in tangible numbers, I get that a hurricane prediction helps but 421 people is awfully specific). So I would agree that the headline could use some work. It's also not as if NOAA is the only provider of this service (see Galileo), but I'm not sure if there are stats published for other systems.
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    The stats will be for the whole COSPAS SARSAT system but limited to rescues in the United States because Americans only care about other Americans (not all of them but in general) The system doesn't present users with "This beacon was detected by this NOAA satellite". You could trace it back, but it's generally not relevant and people are focused on stuff like Do we have a good fix? / Does the registration tell us anything useful? / Who is available that can be tasked to go look? Also do you then count scenarios where five satellites were involved and one was NOAA? A lot of alerts will be "seen" by more than one satellite. NOAA has some geostationary birds, which can be enough for sole alert if the beacon has GPS, because GPS tells the beacon where it is (if it can see the sky well enough) and then the beacon tells the geostationary satellite its location as part of the distress beacon message. For those obviously they're "parked" over America so maybe some central American or even Canadian incidents but mostly US stuff. For a beacon without GPS the geostationary alert is not much help. "Joe needs rescuing from somewhere in your hemisphere". With 406MHz digital beacons you might perhaps try calling Joe's wife "Oh! Joe is out on the lake, actually he's a bit late for dinner" and that might be useful but mostly alerts with no location are not actioned. But lower orbits mean a non-geostationary NOAA bird could be over anywhere in the world, and those low orbit satellites can measure doppler shift (ie determine location without GPS), it's just that the rescuers wouldn't necessarily be American and in most cases neither would the victims. Australia has lots of wilderness and so lots of alerts for example.
jcrawfordor 7y ago
COSPAS-SARSAT originated as a collaboration between the US and the Soviet Union (COSPAS is a romanization of the Russian acronym), with several other countries joining shortly after (France, Canada) and ownership ultimately migrating towards the UN. In many ways it's a remarkable example of successful collaboration between not-so-friendly powers in the typically tense domain of space systems. The EU Galileo system includes an enhanced SAR capability which will be integrated with the COSPAS-SARSAT system. In the future, properly equipped transponders will be able to receive a confirmation message transmitted from Galileo satellites to provide the user reassurance that their call was received. There are also subscription services available, such as Spot and Garmin InReach which rely on commercial satellite networks. They're not really that expensive (Spot as low as $18/mo) and depending on the provider include position tracking and two-way text-messaging. These extra features can be very useful, but coverage of these commercial providers is not necessarily as good as COSPAS-SARSAT, especially near the poles. This is particularly true since COSPAS-SARSAT is augmented by a small set of geostationary satellites (NOAA's GOES) which provide "worst-case" coverage, while the commercial networks are LEO.
VonBraunsGhost 7y ago
'satellites' = high altitude helium balloons
TurkishPoptart 7y ago
Anyone know of a good hand-held NOAA unit to buy in case of emergency?
jonah 7y ago
The digital 406 MHz signals received by the satellites mentioned in TFA are unencrypted and can be receive by ground-based receivers as well. There are commercial receivers/decoders[1] but you can also do it fairly easily with an appropriate antenna and SDR[2]. [1] https://wst.ca/beacon_monitor.html https://wst.ca/beacon_monitor.html [2] https://www.bytebang.at/Blog/ELT+Testing+with+rtl-sdr https://www.bytebang.at/Blog/ELT+Testing+with+rtl-sdr

305 points by infodocket 7y ago

jxcl 7y ago

I have one of these beacons and take it with me most times I'm going out alone into the wilderness. I don't want to be the guy who had to cut his own arm off after it got trapped by a falling boulder. That being said, this is an interesting spin on the number. I've been hearing from friends on Search and Rescue crews that an increasing number of people are going out hiking being completely unprepared for any possible emergency, thinking that they'll just use their cell phone if anything goes wrong. I wonder if any of these beacon carriers fall closer into that camp than true serious conditions, though I suspect that simply carrying a beacon puts you in a higher preparedness bracket than the cell-phone only crew.

vegardx 7y ago
I'd love to see some actual statistics on this. This assumes that people knowingly do something dangerous and are choosing to ignore it because they think someone can just come and save them. I would argue that this is unlikely, unprepared people are unprepared in all aspects of it. Carrying a cellphone doens't mean they thought of it as some kind of security measurement. People just rarely go somewhere without it. They simply don't know any better.
- JarlUlvi 7y ago
  It only takes one trip/slip/fall, one rock slide, one sprain, one break, one break, one deadfall, one snake, one asthma attack, one sting, or one rabid animal to turn an outdoor trip into a potential life or death situation. 99.99% of the times I've spend in the forest and desert has been "safe". It is the .01% and .001%s that get you.
  - sneak 7y ago
    That’s why I have two PLBs. Two is one and one is none.
- jxramos 7y ago
  I heard some organizations try to collect fees from repeated offenders who tax search and rescue operations too frequently. Others collect under situations of negligence. https://www.outsideonline.com/1986496/search-and-rescue-public-service-not-exactly#close https://www.outsideonline.com/1986496/search-and-rescue-publ...
  - bluGill 7y ago
    I've heard of some organizations rejecting this because if it wasn't for all the unprepared people heading out and getting in over their head they would have to pay someone to go out an pretend to need rescued for training purposes. Having someone who really needs help is much better training than a planned mission - even if they shouldn't have needed help. Your mileage may vary, each rescue team has different situations. In some areas they get too many calls (remember a call takes the rescuers away from their family and other thing they would do instead) and should do something about those who didn't make at least some attempt to be prepared.
    - MayeulC 7y ago
      Well, that is an interesting take, but if collecting such a tax really helped reduce the number of people going out unprepared, thus needing help, it would really be a no-brainer to do so, as it could avoid people getting hurt or killed in the first place.
      - bluGill 7y ago
        Problem is people who know about the tax will refuse rescue if they think they can get out without paying it - thus killing more people because they refused the rescue.
    - japhyr 7y ago
      I've been involved in mountain rescue for almost 20 years now. The main reason I've heard over the years for not charging for rescue is that it causes people to delay asking for help. This results in more high-risk calls for rescuers, and worse outcomes for people in need of rescue. In most situations, the cost of a rescue is not nearly as significant as media accounts portray. People love to cite the cost of helicopters in USCG rescues. USCG pilots need to fly a certain number of hours; those hours can come from missions or training sessions. When they fly more missions, they reduce their training hours. Creating a rescue policy for really high-traffic areas like the most popular national parks is a different story. Those are outlier situations, and we shouldn't have the same policy for SAR in average rural areas that we do for popular national parks. Edit: I meant to add another reason for not charging for rescue. I have been on missions where we reached the missing person, and the person initially refused our help because they thought we were going to charge them. The same conversation played out on the mountain that we're seeing play out in the comments here. In the end, these people are very happy to receive the assistance they needed; they were not going to get out of the mountains on their own.
stopads 7y ago
This is really cool, I had no idea these exist and are somewhat affordable. For example: https://www.amazon.com/Resqlink-PLB-375-Personal-Locator-Buoyant/dp/B07XG84FVP https://www.amazon.com/Resqlink-PLB-375-Personal-Locator-Buo... I'm going to pick something like this up before my next Wyoming adventure.
- linsomniac 7y ago
  I've had the ResQLink for 3.5 years, haven't had to use it for anything other than the test cycle, and have been happy with it. I wrote more details in a reply to the parent.
- scarejunba 7y ago
  Almost all the reviews for these are "haven't had to use". Look at this product https://www.amazon.com/ACR-ResQLink-400-Buoyant-Personal/dp/B07PPJ8RRM/ https://www.amazon.com/ACR-ResQLink-400-Buoyant-Personal/dp/... 13 5-star ratings - everyone should have one, I haven't had to use mine but it gives me peace of mind 1 1-star rating - gave it to my son because he jet skis. After a while it was rusted. Gave it a shot, didn't work. Reminds me of this xkcd https://xkcd.com/937/ https://xkcd.com/937/
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    That's a fair point, and historically it was very hard to arrange to test a unit unless you were the manufacturer. So even a serious reviewer couldn't say "The FooCorp RescueMax failed after just six minutes in our ice water bath" or "Our testers weren't able to understand the orientation instructions for the FooCorp RescueMax and test transmissions were not received in the canyon test area" because they weren't supposed to try the actual function of the beacon at all. I believe COSPAS SARSAT and the relevant US authorities got it together so that it is now possible to arrange a test carve out, agree with everybody when and where the units will be tested and not cause helicopters of annoyed rescuers to arrive so long as you stay in the agreed area and only test in the agreed time frame. But it can't be made trivial, so chances are only really hardcore survivalist outfits will do that work.
  - 7y ago
deleted 7y ago
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Analemma_ 7y ago
Some Search and Rescue organizations now bill you if they determine you had to be rescued because of gross negligence (if you were prepared and simply unlucky, it's still free). This can be tens of thousands of dollars if they had to use helicopters and the like.
- btashton 7y ago
  There is a lot packed into the pay for search and rescue model. One of the last things I want someone to be doing in an emergency situation is to be thinking can I afford help right now or should I just try harder to get off this cliff with a broken ankle. Then there is the question of what really is the cost. If a helicopter is involved frequently the operation cost if figured in, but these in the US are almost always military helicopters and they count these operations towards training hours. I would much rather have those hours spent to helping someone in danger than burning fuel for no emergency.
japhyr 7y ago
I've been an active member of a search and rescue team in southeast Alaska since 2002. This has been a really interesting period to be involved in SAR. When I started, very few people had cell phones or GPS devices. Then came a period where almost everyone had a cell phone. Then people had cell phones with embedded GPS. Now we're seeing many people with GPS-enabled mapping software such as Gaia on their devices. I haven't analyzed the data, but these trends have definitely changed our callout pattern. We used to get regular calls for people who were overdue, and the only communication was with the person who reported them overdue. When cell phones first came out, it seemed we got a few more calls from people who had gone less prepared. But we're a coastal community, and handheld VHF radios played the role of a cell phone in our community before cell phones came out, so basic communication didn't change drastically at first. I think things started to change once everyone had a phone, and there were enough towers to have decent coverage throughout our mountainous area. We get far fewer callouts where there's been no direct communication with the missing person. Now we tend to have direct communication with the person, or we are talking to a reporting party who has had some direct communication with the missing person. We are responding to known locations more often - the person is lost, but we know where they are and our mission is to reach them, and guide them safely out. Or they're injured/ immobile, and we go right to them and evacuate them. Now we're starting to see people who are following others' routes using apps like Gaia, and getting in over their heads. People see a route on Gaia, and they think it's a trail or a clear route. In our mountains, experienced people are often bushwhacking through steep terrain where there's only one route that works, and if you don't know how to navigate that terrain you can get into dangerous cliffed-out areas quickly. And once you get off route, it can be really hard to get back to a safe place because there's no safe direct route back to the GPS track. All of this has been exacerbated by the local effects of climate change. We're in a rainforest, and the vast majority of our days used to be overcast with drizzle. A good deal of our callouts were for people who went out in a break of clear weather, then got stuck when the clouds rolled back in and they couldn't see where to go. We get much longer periods of clear weather - weeks and months instead of hours and days - so people are going out in clear weather and coming back in clear weather. We also have ice fields and glaciers that are receding, leaving behind blue ice that's much more difficult to navigate than old snow, and loose silt and rocks that's much easier to slide on than exposed, weathered dirt with vegetation. The interaction of people and wilderness is always going to be there, and the tools available are always going to influence how people interact with the wilderness. It's not always getting better or worse. People adapt to the tools available, and sometimes use them to get into more dangerous situations, and sometimes use them to avoid and get out of dangerous situations.
AWildC182 7y ago
Carry one as well. This is obviously anecdotal and may be because of the people I hang around with but everyone I know who carries also never hikes without a bunch of other standard safety kit and is very experienced. I suspect that being willing to buy a $200 beacon means you're aware enough of the risks and of what safety gear is out there to seek extra protection when possible.
- ghaff 7y ago
  At some level, I don't love the always connected idea. But if I were to do serious solo backpacking at this point (or were regularly going into remote areas by car with or without a companion), I admit it would probably be prudent for me to carry a beacon.
  - rmcpherson 7y ago
    It’s really not always connected in the way of internet or satellite two way communication. The beacon’s are only there if you need them for emergencies and do not allow people to contact you. There are some like the Spot devices that allow 2 way text via iridium satellites, however.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      It's connected in an emergency--which is what really matters. Though TBH, I'd probably get one of the messaging devices if I got one so I could do "All going well" to people who might care especially if I were running late.
munificent 7y ago
Risk compensation [0] has been studied and gets a lot of press because it tickles that combination of psychology + counter-intuitive result + play into narrative that people suck. As far as I know, though, most modern studies show that while there is some amount of risk compensation (people engage in riskier behavior after adopting a safety apparatus), the compensation is less than the benefit of the safety measure. With beacons in particular, a potential compounding factor is that many people may not have gone out into the wilderness at all before beacons became available. So maybe there is a net increase in beacon usage but it could be because of an even greater increase in outdoor participation. I think it's a net good for people to spend time in the outdoors, both for them personally and because it encourages society as a whole to prioritize preserving the environment. So if that results in more people needing to be rescued, it may still be worth it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
- tialaramex 7y ago
  Risk Compensation has its worst effects when the prior risk itself is concealed by the technology. IIRC anti-lock braking doesn't drive up accident rates for those who grew up with it (all cars they drive have ABS, that's just how cars work as far as they're concerned) but it did for those for whom it just made loss of control mysteriously vanish in their new car. They would think "I guess I'm just good at driving" and engage in behaviour which the car was now compensating for with ABS, not realising that this mean they were outside the safe performance envelope. AEB deliberately is a scary experience to prevent this mistake. If your car's AEB triggers you'll be suddenly and violently brought to a complete halt in order that the feeling is "Oh shit, I fucked up, is everybody OK?" not "Wow I'm a great driver". With a beacon the experience is likewise not great. It's not "Activate beacon, rescuers magically teleport in and save the day". There's zero real feedback, so most people will be worried that it hasn't been effective, nobody is coming. After an hour, or two, or more, rescuers may show up looking for you. That's a long time to be lost or injured in the middle of nowhere.
  - myself248 7y ago
    > There's zero real feedback That's why Return Link Messages in the Galileo network are so interesting. Basically, there's a super low bandwidth message channel embedded in the GNSS data stream. Its sole purpose is to tell beacons "We saw your beacon and we're responding to it".
reaperducer 7y ago
I've been hearing from friends on Search and Rescue crews that an increasing number of people are going out hiking being completely unprepared for any possible emergency, thinking that they'll just use their cell phone if anything goes wrong. This is so true. I live in the desert, and it's amazing the number of people who simply don't take the natural world seriously. The dead and rescued are almost always tourists. And for some reason, almost always from Europe (I suspect because my observation has been that Asians tend to travel in large groups on air conditioned buses). They drive rental cars into deep sand and get stuck and die. They run out of gas and get stuck and die. They never bring enough food or water and don't know what to do in an emergency. I was at a hotel on the Navajo Reservation (Arizona/New Mexico/Utah) about a year ago and there was a British couple arguing with the manager that of course their cell phone should work, they bought it in San Francisco. I tired to explain to them that the whole reason people visit places like this is to get away from technology. Even though I'm sure there are remote places in Europe, they had no concept that there are places in the world where there's no cell service. A couple of years ago there was an article in the newspaper about a German guy who decided to rent a Harley Davidson and drive through the desert like some kind of David Hasselhof fantasy. It was 115° and he was in full-on black leather gear. They found him dead on the side of the road, still sitting on his motorcycle with his helmet on. --:-- Editing to add the results from a four-second Google News search: authorities in California launched a search for Pi-Wei Hung, 40, early Sunday afternoon... the woman’s vehicle was discovered stuck in the sand on the shoulder... and then died in the heat as she tried to walk out of the area. The high temperature that day was 113 degrees. a 60-year-old tourist from Germany died from heat exposure... not far from his where his motorcycle was parked, upright and in working order, in the 118-degree heat. ...two French tourists got their car stuck in loose sand... no one knew their specific travel route, and they were out of cellphone range in temperatures above 110 degrees.
- davidw 7y ago
  > I'm sure there are remote places in Europe There are a few, here and there, but it's just completely different. Everywhere in Italy (I lived there a number of years) there are people. It might just be a little mountain hut, or a cabin or something, but there are pretty much always other people around. Here in Oregon, I can ride my bike to places where I almost won't see other people all day.
thaumaturgy 7y ago
I'm in search and rescue near the Tahoe area. So far we've had good luck with beacon call-outs. The cases we've responded to have almost entirely been folks that were legitimately stuck or lost, and yes, they were somewhat under-prepared for the situation they were in, but that's just the modern reality of outdoor play and it makes no more sense to expect all recreationists to be perfectly prepared than it makes to expect all software developers to build some idealized unit-tested software. I have heard from other SAR groups that the beacons have been a mixed bag, and they're getting too many call-outs from people who just got tired and want a ride home. Those people deserve a verbal chewing-out from the local coordinator, but on balance I'd still rather everyone go out with beacons and have a good time and hit that button if they need to.
- tlrobinson 7y ago
  > I have heard from other SAR groups that the beacons have been a mixed bag, and they're getting too many call-outs from people who just got tired and want a ride home. It seems like charging people for the cost of the rescue would solve that problem.
  - mjevans 7y ago
    How about if a judge gets to decide if they are required to be force-enrolled in to a class that teaches safety in similarly fitting situations and/or some quantity of community service from a list of activities that are fitting of rehabilitation and improving the commons.
    - thaumaturgy 7y ago
      I'm pleased to say that a handful of past search subjects have gone on to become SAR volunteers themselves, so some people already do this without needing a judge's involvement.
    - 1123581321 7y ago
      Those would enormously prohibit calling in, more than money for many people due to the potential public embarrassment, let alone the time, extra required PTO and potential cognitive load from the legal situation.
ineedasername 7y ago
I'd be extremely reluctant to go to any wilderness or hiking area and rely on my cell phone. Sure, coverage is much better than years ago, but even a few weeks ago I was driving a few hundred miles. I checked ahead of time to see about possible stops along the way, cell coverage, etc. because some of the route went through the middle of nowhere. Cell maps said I had full coverage the whole way, but there was a hundred mile stretch where every few minutes I'd lose coverage for a mile or two.
ChuckMcM 7y ago
After reading about a CNET employee dying on their way home in the mountains because they were out of cell service on winter roads and were stuck I got one. We are on our second one, the new ones are even smaller than the originals, and carry it with us when ever we travel, especially in the back country. It is the best/cheapest insurance one can buy.

linsomniac 7y ago

in 2016 I got one of the ACR PLB-375 "ResQLink+" locator beacons. I did a bunch of research at the time, and liked this because it was $250, and required no subscription. Looks like they are $300 now. The alternatives have more features, like sending messages or two way messaging, and incoming messages, but also tend to require monthly subscription fees. Some of them now have subscriptions that you can "pause" when you aren't using it. I bought the beacon for offroading, after one trip where my son was screwing around and fell and hit his head pretty hard on a rock. He was ok, but it made the ability to reach out much more real. Sometimes I can get cell phone signal on the trail, but usually not. The medical kit I carry and my medical abilities were not up to serious injury. My trauma kit stayed at home: my wife is a nurse. :-) I like it, but in retrospect I wish I'd gotten a 2 way Iridium one, because my wife really worries when she can't get status updates. "Not getting a call from emergency services means we're ok" is not good enough. <shrug> :-)

tialaramex 7y ago
Right, COSPAS-SARSAT beacons are non-subscription products. As you say you can't send "I'm fine, but traffic awful on the way out here so we decided to stay until Tuesday" only trigger emergency rescue. But on the other hand, since COSPAS SARSAT is a global rescue service backed by governments (originally mostly the Russian and American governments, hence the clunky bilingual name) you can be damn sure it's not going bankrupt or whatever. COSPAS SARSAT does have two way link in its roadmap, but again only for emergencies. The concept is, you activate the beacon and then maybe rescuers can send "Storm too bad for helicopter. We come at first light" rather than you either worrying they came and didn't see you or that they aren't coming at all. And that's at least several years out and a new beacon.
ghaff 7y ago
>I like it, but in retrospect I wish I'd gotten a 2 way Iridium one, because my wife really worries when she can't get status updates. "Not getting a call from emergency services means we're ok" is not good enough. <shrug> :-) When I was leading sea kayaking trips, there was effectively a similar conundrum. The standard practice was that you were supposed to leave a float plan with someone you trusted. (Planned route, planned time of return, etc.) But what did that mean really, especially if no one on the trip had a partner expected to move heaven and earth if something might seem wrong. You're an hour past your expected arrival and no call. Do they drive an hour or two to the expected takeout because something might be wrong? Or... wait for how long? (Especially pre-cell phone.) In my experience float plans were something you tended to do as something of a formality and never really expected to use and sort of ignored the practicalities if things had really gone sideways.

pgrote 7y ago

Incredible service. Is there a payment required for rescue services? For instance, does the Coast Guard charge the six people rescued when the boat sank?

linsomniac 7y ago
The answer is that it depends on many things including state and locality, type of rescue needed, and what you are doing and what permits or licenses you are doing it under. In Colorado there are rescue activities covered by having hunting licenses, Off Highway Vehicle permits, and a "Search and Rescue" card, which create a fund that covers costs of some types of search and rescue activities. https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dola/node/98966 https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dola/node/98966
wbl 7y ago
Not on the sea. By old and ancient tradition all who sail come in aid to their brothers in need.
- 7952 7y ago
  Although salvage laws do allow a reward for recovery of property.
  - nexuist 7y ago
    There's a funny story from the 80s in which a cargo ship crew was awarded an exorbitant sum of money from the Royal Navy when one of their Harrier pilots got disoriented and, running out of fuel, chose to land on a van parked on the deck of the ship...
    - iudqnolq 7y ago
      Wow! Thanks for sharing this. For others who found that interesting and wanted to know more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alraigo_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alraigo_incident

AYBABTME 7y ago

I bought one of these PLBs after spending 12h down a canyon with a broken ankle and no cell reception. Friends had to hike back out of the canyon and hike then drive for hours to get help. Never again. Since then I got a sailboat and it's pretty standard in that field to have EPIRB, PLBs and the likes. There's life-vests that come with mini-PLBs in them. It's a bit pricey but it's essential in my opinion. I was lucky to be with friends and within reasonable distance of help when I got my accident. If something happens at sea, you need these NOAA satellites.

jxramos 7y ago
How much does one of those go for if you don't mind me asking. From the article... >By law, beacon owners are required to register their devices online with NOAA. The registration information helps provide better and faster assistance to people in distress, and can guard against false alarms. What does that registration process look like exactly?
- flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
  > How much does one of those go for if you don't mind me asking. They cost a few hundred dollars. Which is well worth it if you've broken your ankle at the bottom of a canyon imho.
- AYBABTME 7y ago
  Just an online form where you register some info: - Name & Address - Phone - Beacon info (ID, manufacturer, model) - General use (commercial/private/govt/military) - Usage type (hiking, hunting, other...) - Vehicle type (land vehicle, boat, aircraft, none, other) - Additional data (include home port for your boat or aircraft and areas you frequent for recreational use.) - Emergency contact I think the cost was ~300$ for the PLB.
- linsomniac 7y ago
  The ResQLink+ that I have looks to cost $300 now on Amazon.
munificent 7y ago

Alex0012 7y ago

https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footage-captures-hero-officer-tasering-machete-attacker/ https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footag...

Alex0012 7y ago

Heart-stopping bodycam footage captures hero officer tasering machete attacker https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footage-captures-hero-officer-tasering-machete-attacker/ https://www.toointeresting.com/heart-stopping-bodycam-footag...

MayeulC 7y ago

> the impact of the crash of a small aircraft near Skwentna, Alaska, activated the emergency beacon onboard. I wonder how that kind of event is detected by the beacon, and if I could buy one for a person I know flies with visual flight rules (this means no recurrent fee, at least for 10 years).

tjohns 7y ago
For the aircraft units (ELTs), it's triggered by g-forces. Almost all aircraft in the US are required to have an ELT beacon installed on-board, though many are still equipped with the old analog (121.5 MHz) technology which isn't monitored by satellite anymore. If you want to carry a backup or want to have a modern digital beacon (406 MHz), you can certainly carry a PLB. Many pilots do, myself included. Note that these are manually activated only, no g-force sensor. For a PLB, I recommend picking up an ACR ResQLink. They retail for about $300.
- tialaramex 7y ago
  Even if you have a digital ELT, make sure you know how to manually activate it and teach any frequent passengers. The automatic trigger is not reliable, it's better than nothing but survivable impacts may not trigger the beacon. PLBs tend to have pretty easy to follow instructions written right on them, but again people who'll be with you when it's needed should be told about it during safety briefing. Kids too young to learn the radio or other potentially life-saving apparatus can be shown how to use the beacon because of how simple it is.

mmaunder 7y ago

Posting this because it isnt mentioned in the article, but among mariners these beacons are known as EPIRBs. The system has evolved significantly to support individual beacons now. So search for EPIRB if you want one or want to learn more. https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtEpirb https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtEpirb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_position-indicating_radiobeacon_station https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_position-indicatin...

throw0101a 7y ago
For the marine environemnt, there are also shorter range VHF-based beacons that will show up on people's navigation chart plotters: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIS-SART https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIS-SART Useful in coastal waters where rescue may not be fair away.
tjohns 7y ago
- EPIRB = Fixed unit, installed on a boat. Water activated. - ELT = Fixed unit, installed on an airplane. G-force activated. - PLB = Handheld unit for individuals. Manually activated only. They're all the same technology, but the form factor differs depending on which term you refer to them by.

Dowwie 7y ago

My FastFind PLB doesn't seem to have replaceable batteries so I just left it in storage and haven't used it. Has anyone managed to replace their batteries?

Zenst 7y ago
https://www.sparesmarine.co.uk/mcmurdo-plb-battery-servicing/ https://www.sparesmarine.co.uk/mcmurdo-plb-battery-servicing... that any use?
- Dowwie 7y ago
  Yowsa. Do I spent the additional $100 and go with a new one? I wonder how much technology has changed in 10 years since I bought this..
  - throw0101a 7y ago
    May be better GPS processing: more channels for a quicker fix. Perhaps lower power or better battery chemistry so the '2.0' unit may last longer?
    - Dowwie 7y ago
      great points
jxcl 7y ago
The PLB is really a single-use device. When activated it's supposed to be able to continuously transmit for 24 hours. On my PLB, the batteries are rated to expire after 10 years, after which you buy a new one. Making batteries replaceable carries either a weight or a durability penalty, and I'd rather have a small and light and durable thing that I replace every 10 years. It seems like a good tradeoff.

valgor 7y ago

Nothing worse than an article with acronyms without stating what those acronyms are.

ahopskin 7y ago
Which acronyms would those be? The couple I saw were at least expanded.
lucb1e 7y ago
I know what NOAA is but I didn't (from the headline) understand what a weather satellite does for saving people (at least in tangible numbers, I get that a hurricane prediction helps but 421 people is awfully specific). So I would agree that the headline could use some work. It's also not as if NOAA is the only provider of this service (see Galileo), but I'm not sure if there are stats published for other systems.
- tialaramex 7y ago
  The stats will be for the whole COSPAS SARSAT system but limited to rescues in the United States because Americans only care about other Americans (not all of them but in general) The system doesn't present users with "This beacon was detected by this NOAA satellite". You could trace it back, but it's generally not relevant and people are focused on stuff like Do we have a good fix? / Does the registration tell us anything useful? / Who is available that can be tasked to go look? Also do you then count scenarios where five satellites were involved and one was NOAA? A lot of alerts will be "seen" by more than one satellite. NOAA has some geostationary birds, which can be enough for sole alert if the beacon has GPS, because GPS tells the beacon where it is (if it can see the sky well enough) and then the beacon tells the geostationary satellite its location as part of the distress beacon message. For those obviously they're "parked" over America so maybe some central American or even Canadian incidents but mostly US stuff. For a beacon without GPS the geostationary alert is not much help. "Joe needs rescuing from somewhere in your hemisphere". With 406MHz digital beacons you might perhaps try calling Joe's wife "Oh! Joe is out on the lake, actually he's a bit late for dinner" and that might be useful but mostly alerts with no location are not actioned. But lower orbits mean a non-geostationary NOAA bird could be over anywhere in the world, and those low orbit satellites can measure doppler shift (ie determine location without GPS), it's just that the rescuers wouldn't necessarily be American and in most cases neither would the victims. Australia has lots of wilderness and so lots of alerts for example.

jcrawfordor 7y ago

COSPAS-SARSAT originated as a collaboration between the US and the Soviet Union (COSPAS is a romanization of the Russian acronym), with several other countries joining shortly after (France, Canada) and ownership ultimately migrating towards the UN. In many ways it's a remarkable example of successful collaboration between not-so-friendly powers in the typically tense domain of space systems. The EU Galileo system includes an enhanced SAR capability which will be integrated with the COSPAS-SARSAT system. In the future, properly equipped transponders will be able to receive a confirmation message transmitted from Galileo satellites to provide the user reassurance that their call was received. There are also subscription services available, such as Spot and Garmin InReach which rely on commercial satellite networks. They're not really that expensive (Spot as low as $18/mo) and depending on the provider include position tracking and two-way text-messaging. These extra features can be very useful, but coverage of these commercial providers is not necessarily as good as COSPAS-SARSAT, especially near the poles. This is particularly true since COSPAS-SARSAT is augmented by a small set of geostationary satellites (NOAA's GOES) which provide "worst-case" coverage, while the commercial networks are LEO.

VonBraunsGhost 7y ago

'satellites' = high altitude helium balloons

TurkishPoptart 7y ago

Anyone know of a good hand-held NOAA unit to buy in case of emergency?

jonah 7y ago

The digital 406 MHz signals received by the satellites mentioned in TFA are unencrypted and can be receive by ground-based receivers as well. There are commercial receivers/decoders[1] but you can also do it fairly easily with an appropriate antenna and SDR[2]. [1] https://wst.ca/beacon_monitor.html https://wst.ca/beacon_monitor.html [2] https://www.bytebang.at/Blog/ELT+Testing+with+rtl-sdr https://www.bytebang.at/Blog/ELT+Testing+with+rtl-sdr