A friend of mine is paddling around Aust. He started last year at Broome & keeping Aust on his left has arrived at Nhulunbuy, on the NW tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria on his way to Darwin in a couple of weeks, (you could follow him on Google, Stewart Trueman around Australia). The purpose of this post is, however, the failure of two PLBs during his paddle, & the fact that some fellow 'Grey Nomads' are traveling with the same PLBs as a life saving emergency beacon. A note for those with them to test them & take action if required. Below is an extract from his site. GME are looking into Stewart's situation & will be talking with him on the completion of his trip, but this would be of little consolation if a faulty unit was required by Stewart, or any 'Grey Nomads', in a life threatening, emergency situation.
Regards Terry
GME Accusat 406/121.5 PLB Fails... Again
The replacement PLB for the one that failed earlier in my trip has also failed its self test.
I have a camera that often sits in salt water for days, that still works. It has many buttons, holes for cables, slots for batteries and memory cards. I find it inconceivable that an item with non of this which is designed only to be used in situations where you are in "Grave and Imminent Danger" can fail. The previous unit was reported to be waterlogged. I can only assume its replacement has the same problem.
Many sea kayakers and others on the ocean will be relying on these items as their primary device should disaster strike.
One failure I can let go, two would be irresponsible to ignore.
DeBe said
12:15 PM Jun 5, 2011
An interesting post, I was going to use one in my boat but was told its not legal to use in a marine aplication, so had to buy the marine version. Perhaps PLBs are only meant for land use?
-- Edited by DeBe on Sunday 5th of June 2011 12:16:54 PM
chris & terry said
12:38 PM Jun 5, 2011
PLB & EPIRB are acronyms, & I believe can be registered for use in both marine & land uses. EPIRB is generally used as marine applications because it is supposed to be waterproof, which Stewart is obviously using, a PLB would need to be in a waterproof case or sleeve. When registering, I believe you register for both land & marine use so that there in no confusion if registered for marine & it is set off in say the Simpson Desert, or visa versa. Regards Terry
DeBe said
12:58 PM Jun 5, 2011
Personal locator beacons are not legal for marine use.
BobnBev said
02:19 PM Jun 5, 2011
How long would the batt. last in a small item like that... unless they just switched it on for a short time each day????... even then it would soon add up... just my thoughts....
jimricho said
05:18 PM Jun 5, 2011
Maybe the difference is that marine types are designed to float and to operate in the water. The older type (now obsolete) one that I had was larger than the PLB type (in order to float) and had a lanyard attached. I've since sold my boat so I'm not familiar with the current ones.
Ron and Shirley said
06:18 PM Jun 5, 2011
BobnBev wrote:
How long would the batt. last in a small item like that... unless they just switched it on for a short time each day????... even then it would soon add up... just my thoughts....
These PLB's units usually have a long battery life, something like 6-7 years, and are only to be turned on when one needs to be rescued from a life threatening situation.
-- Edited by Ron and Shirley on Sunday 5th of June 2011 06:24:54 PM
blaze said
07:03 PM Jun 5, 2011
The lanyard on the marine ones is so you can deploy them in the water as they then work at there best, I would not have set off on a journey like that with a backpackers plb, its a job for the real epirb with gps incorarated for a quick locate. Still not good they failed though, would expect them to work if I fell doing a river crossing and it got imersed in water cheers blaze
chris & terry said
09:20 PM Jun 5, 2011
I posted this as simply a heads up on equipment failure. In the kayaking fraternity the words PLB & EPERB are taken as one & the same. As an aside Stewart Trueman is an extremely experienced paddler, a Nationally accredited sea kayak examiner & instructed. You can take it from me that he has not got a backpackers PLB, & his on hand safety equipment would exceed that required. I do not know of anyone in Aust that has more on water ability & adherence to safe offshore paddling, nor the ability to complete the paddle he has. As I said this was originally a warning post. That done I hope this the end of comments.
Regards Terry
DeBe said
10:14 PM Jun 5, 2011
I can asure you PLBs & EPIRBS are not the same & probably why the PLBs are failing as they are not legal as marine use. This one pictured i have registered to my boat & also for land use, but this type is the only type registerable for sea use.
blaze said
11:57 PM Jun 5, 2011
Mines the same debe and registered the same for land and sea, if my life depends on it I want to know I have the best I can get cheers blaze ps maybe your mate dosnt go far enough to sea to legally require an epirb, although I do know that a plb will not be legal on the west coast of tassie even if he is 10 meters from the land, all vessel down there are required to carry an epirb
Please note that a 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) is not a substitue for a 406 MHz EPIRB.
End Quote...
Your whole original post, including the picture, quite clearly alludes to the land based PLB and not the marine type (floating) EPIRB. As we are not mind readers you will have to excuse us for assuming this to be the case.
-- Edited by jimricho on Monday 6th of June 2011 05:51:27 AM
BobnBev said
06:56 AM Jun 6, 2011
Ron and Shirley wrote:
BobnBev wrote:
How long would the batt. last in a small item like that... unless they just switched it on for a short time each day????... even then it would soon add up... just my thoughts....
These PLB's units usually have a long battery life, something like 6-7 years, and are only to be turned on when one needs to be rescued from a life threatening situation.
Yep under stand that ,but were they useing them to track them selfs around Australia, or for others to track them..
The lith. batt last longer than that, I pull one of the out dated ones apart and used the lith . batt. AAs in our clock and it ran for a year..
The epirb was over 8 years old then..it was the small Per. GME.121 type-- Edited by Ron and Shirley on Sunday 5th of June 2011 06:24:54 PM
jimricho said
05:05 PM Jun 6, 2011
I'm not familiar with the newest GPS fitted PLB/EPIRBs but if they were being activated for purposes other than a life threatening emergency surely that would be illegal as it would trigger a search and rescue operation. Is it possible to operate the GPS facility in (say) a test mode and use it for navigation (or similar) purposes? There are other GPS units available to do this.
I can't help but feel that GME are being unfairly criticised here. If there is evidence that these units are failing to do the job and in the manner for which they were intended then the criticism would be legitimate.
(I have no association with GME)
Peter_n_Margaret said
09:42 PM Jun 6, 2011
jimricho wrote:
I'm not familiar with the newest GPS fitted PLB/EPIRBs but if they were being activated for purposes other than a life threatening emergency surely that would be illegal as it would trigger a search and rescue operation. Is it possible to operate the GPS facility in (say) a test mode and use it for navigation (or similar) purposes? There are other GPS units available to do this.
The test facility is momentary and does not send a signal, so would have minimal effect on the battery. The antennae is not deployed for the test process.
The GPS information is not visable in any mode of use or test and is transmitted as part of the activated radio signal.
Cheers,
Peter
jimricho said
05:52 AM Jun 7, 2011
Thanks Peter, going on my experience with older EPIRBs I thought that would be the case. The whole thread is a mystery to me as it suggests that a very experienced kayaker is using an inappropriate PLB and the unit is (perhaps?) becoming waterlogged (surprise! surprise!). The original poster has taken us to task, quote...You can take it from me that he has not got a backpackers PLB, & his on hand safety equipment would exceed that required end quote, and yet his original post very clearly identifies one of these as being the type used.
He also wants to shut down the discussion rather clear up this matter. Until that occurs I stand by my view that GME is being unfairly criticised.
chris & terry said
11:34 AM Jun 7, 2011
Peter & Jim, hi, yes I did want to close down this thread because it was getting right away from the intended purpose. ie, test your devices so that any fault will be found while in a non life threatening situation. Stewart does have a marine EPERB with him & GME are taking interest in the matter & the company, after replacing the original unit, have their technicians investigating the matter & are awaiting Stewart's assistance with this. GME are obviously aware of their corporate name & there is no criticism of the company, simply a note to check the working order of PLBs & EPIRBs regularly so they can be relied upon if needed. I fail to see how we got from the the original intent to this point but I offer my apologies none the less.
Terry
jimricho said
06:03 PM Jun 7, 2011
Thanks for clearing that up. Obviously you didn't intend to misidentify the unit but unfortunately that was the outcome of the picture in the original post. It's good that GME are taking the matter seriously and yes, I certainly agree that these should be regularly tested.
A friend of mine is paddling around Aust. He started last year at Broome & keeping Aust on his left has arrived at Nhulunbuy, on the NW tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria on his way to Darwin in a couple of weeks, (you could follow him on Google, Stewart Trueman around Australia). The purpose of this post is, however, the failure of two PLBs during his paddle, & the fact that some fellow 'Grey Nomads' are traveling with the same PLBs as a life saving emergency beacon. A note for those with them to test them & take action if required. Below is an extract from his site. GME are looking into Stewart's situation & will be talking with him on the completion of his trip, but this would be of little consolation if a faulty unit was required by Stewart, or any 'Grey Nomads', in a life threatening, emergency situation.
Regards Terry
GME Accusat 406/121.5 PLB Fails... Again
The replacement PLB for the one that failed earlier in my trip has also failed its self test.
I have a camera that often sits in salt water for days, that still works. It has many buttons, holes for cables, slots for batteries and memory cards.
I find it inconceivable that an item with non of this which is designed only to be used in situations where you are in "Grave and Imminent Danger" can fail.
The previous unit was reported to be waterlogged. I can only assume its replacement has the same problem.
Many sea kayakers and others on the ocean will be relying on these items as their primary device should disaster strike.
One failure I can let go, two would be irresponsible to ignore.
An interesting post, I was going to use one in my boat but was told its not legal to use in a marine aplication, so had to buy the marine version. Perhaps PLBs are only meant for land use?
-- Edited by DeBe on Sunday 5th of June 2011 12:16:54 PM
Regards Terry
These PLB's units usually have a long battery life, something like 6-7 years, and are only to be turned on when one needs to be rescued from a life threatening situation.
-- Edited by Ron and Shirley on Sunday 5th of June 2011 06:24:54 PM
cheers
blaze
Regards Terry
cheers
blaze
ps maybe your mate dosnt go far enough to sea to legally require an epirb, although I do know that a plb will not be legal on the west coast of tassie even if he is 10 meters from the land, all vessel down there are required to carry an epirb
The following is a quote from GME's website (http://www.gme.net.au/products/emergency-beacons/plbs/MT410)
Quote...
Please note that a 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) is not a substitue for a 406 MHz EPIRB.
End Quote...
Your whole original post, including the picture, quite clearly alludes to the land based PLB and not the marine type (floating) EPIRB. As we are not mind readers you will have to excuse us for assuming this to be the case.
-- Edited by jimricho on Monday 6th of June 2011 05:51:27 AM
I'm not familiar with the newest GPS fitted PLB/EPIRBs but if they were being activated for purposes other than a life threatening emergency surely that would be illegal as it would trigger a search and rescue operation. Is it possible to operate the GPS facility in (say) a test mode and use it for navigation (or similar) purposes? There are other GPS units available to do this.
I can't help but feel that GME are being unfairly criticised here. If there is evidence that these units are failing to do the job and in the manner for which they were intended then the criticism would be legitimate.
(I have no association with GME)
The test facility is momentary and does not send a signal, so would have minimal effect on the battery. The antennae is not deployed for the test process.
The GPS information is not visable in any mode of use or test and is transmitted as part of the activated radio signal.
Cheers,
Peter
Thanks Peter, going on my experience with older EPIRBs I thought that would be the case. The whole thread is a mystery to me as it suggests that a very experienced kayaker is using an inappropriate PLB and the unit is (perhaps?) becoming waterlogged (surprise! surprise!). The original poster has taken us to task, quote...You can take it from me that he has not got a backpackers PLB, & his on hand safety equipment would exceed that required end quote, and yet his original post very clearly identifies one of these as being the type used.
He also wants to shut down the discussion rather clear up this matter. Until that occurs I stand by my view that GME is being unfairly criticised.
Terry
cheers and best wishes,
Jim