.
I’d recommend you review this white paper on PLBs
http://www.acc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-060405-033.pdf
As to the false activations - http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/BMW%2008%20attachments/EPIRB%20False%20Alert%20Study.2.pdf
the first is way out of date
Personal PLB use was authorized in July 2003
http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag96.htm
My McMurdo requires manual activation. Its smaller than a deck of cards and fits fine on my PFD.
Check out the article here on rescue 21
I just skimmed it quick, but it looks like choosing among the devices you mention should include consideration of having a radio with the right capabilities to use the Rescue 21 system.
Consider your paddling arena
Mine is predominately in inland areas out of the United States. My PLB will activate SAR in Canada even though its US registered. It will activate SAR too here inland.
For me there is more to consider than waters that USCG has jurisdiction over.
Just wanted to raise the point that a PLB can be used anywhere.
Last resort
– Last Updated: Dec-28-11 1:14 PM EST –
PLB is method of last resort. I generally carry a Sat phone as well on northern canoe trips. A radio probably does the same thing for much less money along the costal areas. 99.9% of the time the Sat phone will do the trick and it is extremely useful in non-emergency situations as well.
My tripping buddies think all of it is a intrusion into the wilderness experience. To each his own. I love wilderness, but not so much that I want to come home to my wife and family in a box if I can avoid it. I agree with them to a certain extent and would not trip with folks that carry sat phones and computers and call/e mail home and work every day.
So I tell the one guy that can tolerate it where it is in my pack/pfd and make sure he can use it. The others remain oblivious. In the rare event I call home I take a long walk so no one can hear/see. So far so good. The globalstar phone failed me once and put my wife into a panic. She thought I was trying to call for help when in fact the transmission just didn't go through and I was calling to tell her how beautiful the weather was. We were up in the Thelon country near Baker lake. Since then I use Iridium and have had no troubles.
If we ever have a death dealing situation I wonder if my injured or dying trip mate will tell me not to fire off the PLB in order to preserve the wilderness experience. If so, I'll let it rip anyway.
As I suspected…
– Last Updated: Dec-29-11 6:58 AM EST –
...the vast majority of false alarms are due to marine EPIRBS that are improperly used or mounted, allowing them to get wet and automatically activate (as they are designed to do). It would be interesting to see nationwide data and a distribution map of where false alarms have occurred. Again, I suspect that there will be large concentrations on the coasts and inland waterways, and that terrestrial false alarms (as discussed above) will be anomalies that are more of an annoyance than a serious threat to the alert system.
Marine EPIRBS are not really relevant to kayaking, as they're generally bulky/heavy/expensive and automatic wet activation is a really bad idea in a kayak, where getting wet is just part of the activity. They're designed to activate when the normally dry interior of larger vessels is flooded, indicating a potential swamping or sinking.
VHF radio and sat phones
the former has a practical range of five miles without an external antenna setup. If there is no one within five miles its a hunk of plastic.
Useful for coastal areas…where there is other boat traffic. I monitored my radio and got nada along the northeast coast of Lake Superior. Nada on Lake Nipigon…
enter the sat phone for two way communication where there is no one nearby and the meaning of wilderness includes “if I don’t get help, no one will find my bones perhaps for years”.
Just a bunch of tools in the box thats all. I will use my radio in the Everglades.