Worth keeping a 121.5MHz distress beacon?

Otter

Otter

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I've got a 121.5MHz PLB type distress beacon with two years still on the battery - user replaceable - is it worth carrying it? I know it doesn't alert via the satellites any more but will it trigger an alert on a passing aircraft? We do carry a regular PLB but is there any point in keeping the 121.5MHz beacon - no point if it won't actually do anything. I know SAR use 121.5MHz for direction finding but will they have that turned on for an SAR mission if they've only been told about a flare?
 
Aircraft may hear it, but it's just a warbling beep noise, nothing more. We've had pilots here say that they do report to Air Traffic Control if they hear them, but I would doubt that anything gets done as a result. There are so many of the things out there, including built into watches and all sorts, unregistered and basically unregulated, so false alarms were a huge problem.

Can't answer as to whether the lifeboats run 121.5 DF routinely, but again I suspect not.

Only use I can see is as a MOB locator, where the crew still on the boat can say "he's wearing a 121.5MHz PLB" and the lifeboat can then home on it. But unless you spend a lot of money on a bulky receiver, you won't be able to home yourself, so an AIS beacon really makes far more sense for that purpose.

I think it's verging on useless.

Pete
 
When airborne I probably hear an ELT beacon on 121.5 once a fortnight on average, maybe slightly more. Always report it. I would imagine the vast majority are false alarms generated by people accidentally switching on the unit (most commercial and some private aircraft have them fitted) or knocking it as they usually have an inertial switch too - to activate them in a crash.
However I think the view that "nothing happens' is wrong as I was recently told of a yachtsman who was saved as a result of aircraft reporting the ELT.

I think the chance of many/any resources being deployed if a signal is heard over the channel are probably pretty slim. However if we heard and reported a signal half way across the atlantic I would expect more interest!

Following article is worth a read in full

Beacons operating on 121.5 and 243.0 MHz only simply transmit an anonymous siren tone, and thus carry no information to SAR agencies. Such beacons now rely solely on the terrestrial or aeronautical monitoring of the frequency. In the UK, the Distress and Diversion Cell of the Royal Air Force provides continuous monitoring of 121.5 and 243.0 MHz, with autotriangulation from a network of terrestrial receivers on both frequencies. In Canada, only air traffic service stations (control towers or flight service facilities) monitor 121.5 MHz during operating hours. Overflying commercial or private aircraft monitor 121.5 MHz only if equipped with a suitable receiver, and if time/courtesy permits; monitoring 121.5 MHz is not mandatory. SAR authorities have no way of knowing whether a 121.5/243.0 MHz signal is actually a SAR signal until they physically deploy to the location and home in on the source (and sound) of the transmission. Since SAR resources are scarce (and expensive), most countries do not deploy the most useful SAR homing assets (aircraft) until ambiguity has been resolved (see doppler).

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distress_radiobeacon#Traditional_ELT.2C_unregistered
Click to expand...
 
You won't get satellite monitoring, but most aircraft (and certainly the ones I fly) tend to be on a monitoring watch for 121.5 and 243.00. Should we hear something we always report it back. Usually it's our our safety equipment guys having not done testing correctly.

Keep it and if you need it turn it on, what's to loose?

We can also home in on 121.5.
 
Thanks everyone, looks like a clear consensus that it's only of any use if you've used other ways of alerting SAR to an emergency.
 
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