Gold Coast - Head Office
ARTICLE
Emergency Locator Transmitter: Your Silent Marine Friend
Are you familiar with the story of the Titanic?
Well of course you are. Its story has become a tragic legend. But besides inspiring a couple of dozen movies about the tragedy and creating some fear on the most sensitive travelers, the story of this ship inspired something else: A complete new way for us to perceive safety and the measures boating regulators take to make sure every aspect of it is taken care of.
And one of these measures (in fact one of the most unknown ones), is the one that virtually guarantees that we are always safely watched over at any time. It's name: The Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon, or Epirb for short.
The Epirb is a radio transmitter that emits a signal in a certain amount of pre-determined frequencies making it possible to be located by a satellite radio system. It is used only for search and rescue purposes on a number of marine vessels, particularly on trans-oceanic ships, on which its use is mandatory.
This little beast holds quite a charge (that lasts usually between 24 and 48 hours) and can be powered not only by hand, but also by impact and by contact with the water as well in the case of some particular models. However, the Epirb purpose is to transmit a tracking signal only, and not to serve as a radio or telephone.
Epirbs are usually on the heavy and expensive side of the spectrum, with some models weighting up to 5kg (11lb) and costing as much as $3,000 dollars a piece.
Among the different aeronautical frequencies in which an Epirb comes, the category 1, 406/121.5 MHz frequency is considered the most useful since devices with that frequency also carry an identification code of their vessel, which upon activation, can provide extremely useful information about the ship and it's characteristics.
To appropriately store an Epirb, it must be placed in an accessible spot, but at the same time be far from any radio equipment that transmits a strong signal in order to avoid any jamming. It has also to be placed in such a way as to avoid any accidental activation.
Curiously enough, it is highly recommended that whenever the vessels have docked, or the Epirb goes for its regular maintenance, that it should be covered in aluminum foil as to avoid any false activation due to any surrounding radio signals.
Once activated, the distress signal emitted by the device calls upon all emergency services available nearby, such as vessels sailing close to it and helicopters. In some occasions, it even places an alert on shore side emergency services as well.
That gives you an idea of just how important this little device is, but most of all, now you know that marine tragedies of yesteryear were not all in vain, but instead they helped us realise how fragile and helpless we can be under certain emergency circumstances, and how little we have to fear now, compared to anyone who ventured into the sea just a few years ago.
