For Maritime you want an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon). Contacts the emergency network via satellite with the vessel's identification and location and then provides a 400 MHz beacon for rescuers to RDF right to you. They activate automatically when coming in contact with salt water in case no one has time to activate it in an emergency.
I'm surprised that the news reports about the sailboat missing between New Zealand and Australia has not mentioned one. They've been standard for over 20 years. A blue water sailor without one is as bizarre as not having a life jacket on board. I will use 100 watts for emergency communications (on land) wherever I have a motor vehicle to power the rig. Otherwise, after 60+ years on the air, I cannot imagine a scenario where an SOS on CW or MAYDAY on SSB won't bring up a reply on some band at any hour of the day running 5 or 10 watts. Indeed, the big issue is getting a response from halfway around the world when one wants a call to local emergency services! 73 Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2013 6:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KX3 Amp PLBs actually aren't legal for sinking ships (or crashing airplanes), there is a different category of device for that. Personal Locator Beacons are meant to do one simple task: summon help in an emergency. Calling someone to tell them you're at a different trailhead is not an emergency. If I'm off in the backcountry, I'd suggest that a medical emergency and risk of being overrun by a wildfire aren't that different. If you want to report a wildfire that isn't threatening you, that isn't an emergency, and if it takes you a bit to get an antenna up, and find someone to relay a message, then by all means pull out your KX3 and a random bit of wire and tell someone. A satphone (according to your post) is about $120 for a given outing. A PLB is about $250 for five to seven years. It's good to have more than one tool in your toolbox. -- Lynn ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
