What is a Distress Beacon?
A distress beacon is an electronic device that, when activated in a life threatening situation, assists rescue authorities in their search to locate those in distress.
In New Zealand, the Rescue Coordination Centre NZ (RCCNZ) responds to all distress beacon activations. They work quickly to find out as many details as they can about who set off the distress beacon and promptly send search and rescue teams to assist.
406MHz distress beacons (PLB / EPIRB) are strongly recommended by Police and New Zealand’s Search and Rescue organisations. These distress beacons are fully integrated into the international search and rescue response system, are built to the highest international requirements and meet Australian/New Zealand standards AS/NZS 4280.1:2017 and AS/NZS 4280.2:2017
What is a PLB?
Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are small enough to fit in your pocket and are activated manually. They are for personal use by anyone who is in the outdoors and is beyond cellphone coverage. This includes kayakers, trampers, bushwalkers, mountaineers, horse riders, farmers, forestry workers, cross-country vehicle clubs, and any other adventurers on land or water. They can also be used in light aircraft, gliders, hot air balloons, paragliding. A PLB is a means to advise that a person is in distress and needs assistance.
A PLB is a dedicated distress alerting device. It has no other function.
PLBs use a constellation of three satellite networks (Low earth orbiting, Medium earth orbiting and Geostationary) with very good continuous coverage across New Zealand. The 406Mhz signal they give out is powerful and able to get through foliage and clouds but it isn’t perfect, often a line of sight to the sky is still needed.
Most models today come with both satellite and radio frequency (406 Mhz and 121.5 Mhz) capability which means that when a rescue helicopter gets close, they can tune into the 121.5Mhz frequency and hone in on the PLB’s location. It is recommended to have a PLB with GPS as this will send your accurate coordinates to the RCCNZ. Batteries last for 24 hours once the PLB is activated.
What is an EPIRB?
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. An EPIRB is a larger beacon designed for power boats, yachts all the way through to ocean going vessels. Because of the size, weight and that they are attached to the craft and not the person they are not normally recommended for kayakers. EPIRB’s will float and once activated will transmit for 48 hours. They function the same as PLB’s and use the same satellite systems.
What is a SEND?
SEND stands for Satellite Emergency Notification Device. These devices range from (as examples) SPOT’s, Garmin InReaches, Zoleo, ACR Bivy to Apple iPhone14/15’s.
A SEND whilst they have a SOS function are mainly used for communications. Because they use satellites to communicate out, they can be used for tracking, ie dropping breadcrumbs so family and friends can follow you, checking of weather, sending text style messages out to family checking in or advising progress of your journey. When the SOS function is activated an alert is sent to a monitoring service who passes the alert through to the appropriate emergency service, in NZ this is the RCCNZ. In other country’s it may be the Police.
These devices use commercial satellite networks which don’t have the same level of coverage as PLB’s or EPIRB’s. The signal strength from the device is a lot weaker than a PLB so it is important to ensure the device can see the sky.
After purchasing the device, there is an ongoing monthly or annual subscription fee depending on the level of service you select, desire or require.
An important consideration to be aware of is the battery life. As the devices are mainly used for other rolls, when it comes to activating the SOS function, the device may not have sufficient battery life to last out the length of the incident. Remember to always carry spare batteries or have a way to charge it in the field.
Carrying two devices
You may choose to carry both a PLB and a SEND. This gives you the advantage of the two-way communication network on the SEND to allow family and friends to track your movements, update trip intentions, get weather forecasts and give details about the situation is when needing a rescue. As well as a PLB as a safer, reliable option to activate in emergencies – without the worry about signal strength or batteries dying.
What Happens
All 406 beacon signals from PLB’s are picked up by satellites and passed to a regional ground station. These signals are processed at a Mission Control Centre then get passed to two places – the response centre in the Search and Rescue Region where the signal is coming from (e.g. RCCNZ) and the country of registration. For a NZ coded beacon, this is the same place.
Once the alert is received at RCCNZ, the team will plot the location and start calling emergency contacts / owner to ascertain any information that will help in the search and rescue (SAR) response. If the location is out in the bush or on the water, a suitable and appropriate emergency SAR asset will be tasked to the location. This may be a helicopter, Coastguard vessel, LandSAR ground team or Police.
In NZ, RCCNZ has agreements with the domestic and international SEND monitoring organisation’s to manage a SAR response. If you activate the SOS function on your device, the information is relayed to RCCNZ. If your device has two way communications, RCCNZ will text you to ascertain what the situation is and what assistance is required.
In terms of the actual SAR response, in NZ there is no difference once RCCNZ initiates action between a PLB or SEND SOS activation.
When activated for an emergency, all devices need to be above water. The distress signal will not go anywhere if the unit is under or in water. For a PLB the aerial needs to be as vertical as you can get it for the best transmission to the satellites.
If you notice your PLB has accidentally activated, i.e. the strobe light is flashing, please phone the RCCNZ (+64 4 577 8030), or call Maritime Radio (VHF CH 16) or Coastguard (VHF local channel) as soon as you’re able to and advise a false alert or activation with your beacon. The RCCNZ staff will confirm your safety and then advise you to turn the beacon off.
Don’t, just turn the beacon off and do nothing.
If you can’t call anyone, then leave it on until a SAR asset reaches you. They will check you’re OK and turn the beacon off.
Where should I keep my PLB?
Whether you are kayaking, tramping or other, you should have the PLB attached to you. For kayakers, two suggestions;
1 – in a pouch up on your shoulder strap of your PFD, or
2 – in a water proof bag in a pocket of your PFD.
It is strongly recommended to have a lanyard on the PLB so you can attach it to yourself.
Registration of beacons.
In NZ an emergency device that can transmit in the 406Mhz range has to be registered (Radiocommunications Regulations 2001 under section 116(1)(b) of the Radiocommunications Act 1989). For PLB’s, EPIRB’s and ELT’s (used by aircraft) this means that owners are required to register their beacons with the RCCNZ.
The registration of beacons provides RCCNZ the ability to contact the owner and/or their emergency contacts in the event a beacon is activated. If the activation is inadvertent, a false alarm, this allows RCCNZ to quickly confirm there is no distress situation. If the activation is for a distress situation, this allows the RCCNZ to gather important information regarding who has the beacons and their intentions.
Once your beacon is registered you will need to keep your details up to date and notify the RCCNZ if the beacon changes ownership.
You can only register NZ coded beacons with RCCNZ. Beacons purchased overseas, unless you have them recoded to NZ, have to be registered with the authorities in the country where the beacon was purchased.
How to register
There are three easy ways to register your 406 MHz beacons:
- Go to the NZ Beacons page at RCCNZ and fill out the online 406 registration form (https://www.beacons.org.nz/). Click on the orange box on the screen. For new owners, you will first have to establish a profile. Once your profile is set up, there are a few steps required to then register your beacon to your profile.
- Or use the Registration form included with the PLB when you buy it, fill it in and post or scan and email your form to RCCNZ.
- Or download the registration form from the Beacons website (for NZ registration) https://beacons.org.nz/media/mfvfro5d/beacon-registration-form.pdf and return to RCCNZ.
Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand
PO Box 30050
Lower Hutt 5040
Fax: +64 4 577 8041
Email: [email protected]
Phone 0800 406 111 if you have any questions about registering your beacon.
Buying or Hiring
If you only go beyond cellphone occasionally, consider hiring a PLB. A number of outdoor sports shops, i-Site locations or DOC information centres provide this service. Click on this link for more information.
https://www.beacons.org.nz/get-a-beacon/where-to-get-a-beacon/
Buying Overseas
If you buy a beacon overseas, you need to register it with the authorities of that country, i.e. purchased in Australia with AMSA (https://beacons.amsa.gov.au/registration/index.asp), purchased in the USA with NOAA (https://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/register-your-beacon/) Unfortunately you cannot register the beacon with the NZ SAR authorities.
There is nothing inappropriate in purchasing a PLB overseas, all beacons work internationally.
Service agents that can re-code a PLB purchased overseas to a NZ country code are listed at this link: https://www.beacons.org.nz/using-a-beacon/beacons-purchased-overseas/
Country codes
Each country has an individual 406 code. The New Zealand Country Code is 512. If bought overseas it must be registered in the country that the beacon is coded against.
Disposing of your old PLB
It’s important to dispose of your old PLB properly. If you do not, it could still be accidentally activated potentially causing an unnecessary search and rescue operation.
Old PLBs need to have their battery disconnected and then disposed of in accordance with local regulations as many contain hazardous materials. Do not dispose of your beacon in your household rubbish or recycling.
Old or obsolete beacons need to be disposed of carefully, to ensure they are not set off by accident.
If you can’t safely dispose of your beacon, you can send the unit to RCCNZ at:
RCCNZ
Level 1 Avalon Studios
41 Percy Cameron Street
Avalon 5010
Wellington
You will need to log in to your MyBeacons (https://www.beacons.org.nz/dashboard/) account and update your registration details to indicate that your beacon is now deregistered and has been disposed of.