 |
|
RYA Cruising News has been here before, but this is just a final reminder that you should check your EPIRB or Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) is up to date.Obviously, you want all your equipment to be up to date, but in the case of EPIRB’s and PLB’s there are some radical changes afoot which could render your old beacon all but redundant. From February 1 2009, the 121.5/243 MHz satellite processing service will be terminated. All EPIRBs and PLBs that transmit on 121.5/243 MHz will cease to be monitored, after which, beacons transmitting on this frequency can only be used for localised homing. Speaking earlier in the year, RYA Cruising Manager Stuart Carruthers explained: “All modern beacons transmitting on 406 MHz, will not be affected by the change. “However some of the older ones transmit on 121.5/243 MHz and following a number of issues and the negative impact caused by large numbers of false alerts on SAR Services, the decision was taken to discontinue monitoring this frequency. “The important thing is that people check their beacons and make sure that they are not redundant. From a safety point of view, this is paramount.” However, 121.5/243 will continue to provide a short range homing signal once an initial call for assistance has been made. For further information visit www.mcga.gov.uk where the MCA’s Marine Guidance Notice will give you a full overview of the changes.
|
 |
|
|||||||||||
  |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Leave a Reply