Geocaching and Epirbs

[Mr Emu]

... a hand-held radio has a reasonable chance of being in range ... It's not a replacement for an EPIRB, but it might make a better first option or backup if you get into trouble.

I have sometimes been "out in the sticks" geocaching, but never thought about the risk. It was only when I bought a small trail-bike for back-road/fire-trail exploration in the Otway Ranges that I realised how quickly I was into out-of-the-way areas where there was no phone reception, and no one would ever find me if things went pear-shaped.

Based on limited budget, I went out and bought a hand-held, 5 Watt UHF CB and a slightly longer, 3dB aerial (for the hills) to carry in my backpack. Although that gave me some small feeling of safety, I think I could do better.*

Perhaps it's moving off-topic a bit and deserves a new thread, but I am interested in the SPOT Satellite Messenger as an EPIRB alternative. The subscription pricing is a bit steep for my liking, but the concept seems interesting. If I was doing a long trip / tour I'd seriously consider it, like this fellow (SPOT link on right pane).

Of course, satellite phone is another interesting option.

If you have a boat, EPIRB would be the no-brainer because you have to have one, but for geocachers perhaps there are better alternatives?

*(RE: UHF CB: On the plus side, I can listen to the paragliders and hangliders communicating with their ground crew and each other when I'm travelling along the coast. On the negative side, I tried it in the car to check traffic on my commute into Melbourne. I'd forgotten about all the #^$&! language and idiot carry-on. Can't have it on with kids in the car at all, so of very little use. Next stop may be E-bay!)

[BaldEd]

I do most of my caching solo. There have been enough trampers slipping and twisting ankles, breaking legs and worse in the NZ backcountry that the decision to carry a Personal Locator Beacon when caching far from the urban jungle was really a no-brainer. $700 gets you a 406Mhz beacon, with a 16 Channel gps Rx/Tx, registered in your name and an almost guaranteed helicopter ride to hospital.
<br><br>
As for 'sticker shock', what do you think your life is worth? $700 is cheap life insurance. I am sure your family will agree that you are worth more than that to them.
<br><br>
A typical useage happened near here a few days ago. A mother and her son were on a 3 day tramp in the Southern Alps, well back from Arthurs Pass, when the mother slipped over a bluff and was injured. They set off their beacon and were airlifted out to hospital 1 and 1/2 hours later. How's that for service?

[muzza]

Most of my bushwalking is done solo, especially when in remote areas. I have replaced my old Epirb with a GPS enabled Personal Locator Beacon. I figure its better to provide an accurate GPS location to the searchers for a quick find.

[gibbo003]

We do have one of the new type for our yacht but it would be to big to carry while geocaching.

[Skippy]

Spot messenger is another one worth looking at.
You can send an SMS or email to friends to your "OK" , or "HELP" if you need assistance but not in danger

Liz & bruce have one and it can also send track files to google earth

[Kerry]

I believe that although the 121Mhz beacons are not recognised by satellite, but passing aircraft will still be able to pick up a signal.

Over flying aircraft are definately not something to rely on for 121.5 detetction.

SPOT is not an alternative for an EPIRB but does have some features some may be interested in. Certainly would not put SPOT in the same class as an EPIRB for safety of life.

[BaldEd]

I believe that although the 121.5Mhz beacons are not recognised by satellite, but passing aircraft will still be able to pick up a signal.

Over flying aircraft are definitely not something to rely on for 121.5 detection.

As an air traffic controller who has been involved with aircraft searches for EPIRBs, prior to satellites having 121.5 receivers, it was always been a very time consuming process to roughly localise where the beacon transmissions were likely coming from, particularly in hilly country where shielding of the signal happens in valleys. It usually took reports from many aircraft flying at different altitudes and routes over quite a period of time to form a rough idea of the likely location as none of the commercial passenger or general aviation aircraft are normally equipped with homing receivers. Only when a likely location had been determined was it worthwhile getting a SAR helicopter, with homing capability, airborne. Quite often, due their flying at low altitudes, they didn't get to pick up the beacon signal until really close. Now that the old 121.5 satellite receivers are gone the only ones listening on 121.5Mhz maybe the odd aircraft who may have the frequency dialed up on their #2 com box. Certainly something not to be relied on if you are in deep 'do do' either on the ground or out on the water somewhere. If you have an old 121.5Mhz beacon I suggest you dispose of it (but take the battery out first) and get one of the new ones.

[tronador]

Over flying aircraft are definately not something to rely on for 121.5 detetction.

SPOT is not an alternative for an EPIRB but does have some features some may be interested in. Certainly would not put SPOT in the same class as an EPIRB for safety of life.

Ditto

[SixStars]

I've carried one when I've taken out kids on overnight camps for school, but I haven't considered one for myself. If I knew I was going somewhere dicey, alone, and out of mobile range then I probably hire one, but its not a must have purchase item for me

[TeamAstro]

Yes, but I always have another vehicle with me and both have HF radios. The VKS737 network is brilliant. I would not go remote without that.

clear skies, Astro!

[team waldron]

Astro,

could be useful at the cache we were at on Sunday, perhaps you and Freddo wouldn't have been such scaredy cats.

[Richary]

I used to work for part of Tech Rentals who hire out both opirbs and satphones. You may well be able to get cheaper rates though.

I did take a satphone with me on a Flinders Ranges trip both so work could call me as they were in the middle of a tricky install, and also my partner at the time was worried about the kids (snakebites etc) so wanted to be able to yell for help.

The satphone experience showed that in the car resting on the front of the dash the reception was pretty dicey unless the sats were in front of you. It worked OK outside the car if the ground was open. In one of the gorges in the Flinders you needed to climb the hill to get coverage. So not particularly helpful if you rolled the car and broke a leg or something (or fell into a gorge while caching).

When I did the Flinders solo years ago I had solid UHF repeater coverage over most of it and always thought I could climb a hill with the portable if I was away from a track where anyone might come along. But a modern epirb is probably a good idea, does anyone have a real idea how well they do work if you fall into a gully with very limited view of the sky?

[Damo.]

does anyone have a real idea how well they do work if you fall into a gully with very limited view of the sky?

http://beacons.amsa.gov.au/documents/brochure.pdf

Says there are geostationary satellites on the equator as well as orbiting "polar" satellites. The polar satellites pass over Australia on average every 90 minutes. ("but passes may be anywhere from minutes to 5 hours apart")
Some of the EPIRBS have an inbuilt GPSr and transmit their position so this aspect would have the same limitations as any GPSr.

In the absence of a GPS signal or if you had an EPIRB without GPS, if you have any kind of northern aspect I would expect the distress signal would be picked up straight away however they would not know where you were until the orbiting satellite passed over.
If you were down a slot canyon or a mine shaft you would still presumably (hopefully!) get the distress signal detected when the Satellite was directly overhead.

[GIN51E]

Might be worth checking out this site http://www.prestigecom.net.au/

Lots of goodies including Epirbs and PLB's

[Kerry]

Might be worth checking out this site http://www.prestigecom.net.au/

Lots of goodies including Epirbs and PLB's

That site has some extremely bad misconceptions with the heading "Spot EPIRBS & PLB".

SPOT is neither an EPIRB or a PLB not even close.