Personal Locator Beacons

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Postby Florian » Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:59 am

Plus a PLB, as the name implies, is an actual beacon. The 5 watt signal that OtherHand mentioned is a local homing signal used by search and rescue in the field to find your location. My understanding is the SPOT does not transmit a local homing signal at all.

-Florian
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Re: A "real PLB" ?

Postby Actively Curious » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:42 pm

[quote="OtherHand"][quote="Actively Curious"]
I read you post somewhere else about the SPOT not being a "real" PLB, OtherHand. [/quote]

"Sure....PLBs must meet Federal ...."
[/quote]

Hey Otherhand.

Is that all you have to say? (just kidding).

THANKS for that material ! I'm going with the "real" PLB and probably the ACR ResQLink. I think you posted somewhere that you agreed with the article device reviews & that the ACR was a good choice. Better than SPOT anyway.

Interesting, too, about what you observed inside the unit itself regarding poor workmanship.

Although my own SPOT gave me some measure of comfort off pavement, I did come across some information where they were having quite a few false alarms due to their poor placement of the 911 button. To overcome that, I looked at the second generation only to be unimpressed with their solution: a little rubber cover that wouldn't remain in place very well. They did reduce the weight & size on the second generation, though, which is what was motivating me to find a replacement.
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SPOT discussion

Postby Actively Curious » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:46 pm

[quote="Florian"] My understanding is the SPOT does not transmit a local homing signal at all.

-Florian[/quote]

That is correct at least with the first generation that I have.

It transmits the "I'm OK" signal to whomever you have on your email / phone list. It also transmits the 911. But nothing more.

Most annoying, I think, was that the user has no way of knowing whether the signal was successfully sent out. But that might be the same with other devices. I always knew that the only way to deal with that problem was to just keep it blasting away until it succeeded sooner or later.
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Re: PLB

Postby Actively Curious » Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:28 pm

[quote="RichardK"] I took Other Hand's advice from the Bill Ewasko thread and bought a ResQLink ...[/quote]

In addition to the electronic devices for emergencies, I also came across the following web site just last week and signed on. Its a FREE site so check it out.

Basically, you input your hiking / camping plan with a return time and in the event you fail to return... it automatically begins to contact your emergency contact list as an alert. I figure the more your emergency planning, the better.

https://www.ineversolo.com

In the event you don't see the words in its website address, it says I NEVER SOLO.
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