Epirb vs PLB

[cliffb]

Help!! I'm confused... can anyone enlighten me, please /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
I'm thinking about getting a locator beacon of some sort. As it's main purpose would be to find me if I went MOB whilst single handing, one of the pocket types with built in GPS would appear to be the answer. And I'm inclined toward a McMurdo Fastfind Plus. My confusion is over what you get for the money. The McMurdo web site isn't very explicit about technical details and on the face of it there doesn't seem to be much difference between a PLB and an EPIRB, (except in size, of course). So, why is thier PLB at around £600+ whilst thier equivalant EPIRB is £800+?. Is it a matter of response time and accuracy. Not that an EPIRB would fulfill the need for me... it's too big. But, on the other hand, if I'm spending £600 or more I'd like to think that I'd not be hanging around in cold water for 90 mins or so before anyone knew about it, and when they did they would have a smaller search area than 3nm. So does anyone know what the spec is for one of thier PLBs? and why couldn't I have one on the boat to use as an EPIRB when I have crew and about my person when single handed?
I also have a nagging feeling I've read that there was some doubt over McMurdo reliability. Has this been resolved, does anyone know?
Any experiences or knowledge would be most welcome.
Thanks.

 

[Steve Clayton]

The McMurdo PLB Fastfind Plus is the one with GPS

McMurdo did/still have(?) a recall on their PLB models for a software upgrade to overcome the reported issues on reliability. Don't know of any subsequent tests on the upgraded models.

No doubt there will be a lot of "chat" on this.

 

[Pierrot]

The McMurdo Fastfind you mention is an EPIRB. The term PLB is much less well defined and covers a range of devices.

There are a couple of areas where the PLB-style EPIRB tends to differ from one designed for the vessel. The boat-epirbs usually have bigger batteries, allowing for 48hrs transmission rather than 24hrs. They also usually have facilities for being deployed automatically rather than having to be activated manually.

As someone who sails single-handed regularly I went for the McMurdo Fastfind as I can carry it with me - its minor disadvantages are more than offset by the fact that I can carry it in my pocket. After all an EPIRB on the boat isn't much use if you're in the water and the boat is rapidly disappearing over the horizon!

There is no need to worry about the absolute accuracy of the EPIRB, the position given only needs to be good enough to get SAR close enough to pick up the 121MHz signal which they can home in on.

As to whether the GPS facility is useful, I'm not sure. In theory it enables them to know your position more quickly, whether that actually makes a difference to the amount of time you are in the water is a different matter.

 

[cliffb]

Thanks Pierrot...that's most useful.
But ....
If your Fastfind doesn't have an internal GPS, how do SAR know where you are?
Unless of course, you're updating all the time with an external one. Which has got to be right phaff if it's in your pocket most of the time. Sorry to be negative...but am I missing something?

 

[Pierrot]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks Pierrot...that's most useful.
But ....
If your Fastfind doesn't have an internal GPS, how do SAR know where you are?
Unless of course, you're updating all the time with an external one. Which has got to be right phaff if it's in your pocket most of the time. Sorry to be negative...but am I missing something?

[/ QUOTE ]
The satellites themselves can locate the signal from the EPIRB to within a few miles using doppler shift, but that is said to take up to 60 minutes (presumably it may have to wait for a satellite to pass close enough to get a good fix).

 

[bobgosling]

If you have fallen overboard mid-Atlantic and solo all an EPIRB will do is enable SAR craft to pick up your dead body a few hours later.

Better off spending the money on jackstays and lifelines and don't go overboard in the first place.

 

[Indalo]

I've recently been looking into this too. I'm doing round-Britain this year and thought about hiring an EPIRB - but as I'll be single-handed some / much of the time, I would rather have something I can keep with me and that (hopefully) wouldn't take too long for the emergency services to locate if I did fall in and lost the boat. As I understand it, the GPS model provides the location much faster; it's more accurate; and there isn't a potential gap between the 2-3 mile radius of the 406MHz signal and the 121 locating signal. I went for the McMurdo, having been assured the problems have been sorted - there is another one made by Aquafix (I think) if you want an alternative.