Two issues involving Emergency
Position-Indicating Radio Beacons
(EPIRBs) have underscored the importance
of using correct maintenance and registration procedures to insure these life-saving
devices work properly. The U.S. Coast
Guard issued an alert last fall regarding
replacement batteries after manufacturers reported finding unapproved batteries
installed in their products. Special lithium
batteries designed and certified for use in
EPIRBs normally last five to six years and
replacement should only be handled by an
approved service-provider. The unapproved
batteries found in an EPIRB returned to
one manufacturer for service rendered the
unit inoperable.
Owners making modifications to an
EPIRB must have them approved by the
manufacturer; improper replacement parts
or batteries can lead to failure of the beacon when you need it most.To find an
authorized service provider go to: ACR,
www.acrelectronics.com or for McMurdo
(U.S. distributor), www.reveresupply.com.
In a separate incident involving the
loss of a fishing vessel off the New Jersey
coast last year, it was found that the
EPIRB’s registration numbers on file at
NOAA, which administers EPIRB registra-
tions, didn’t match the numbers transmit-
ted from the EPIRB’s alert. The fishing ves-
sel Lady Mary sank last year with six crew
members lost, after an 87-minute delay in
response because the unique 15-character
code embedded in the vessel’s EPIRB was
off by one character, and the NOAA com-
puter couldn’t recognize the number.
NOAA has been conducting a verification effort to make sure numbers match for
EPIRBS, Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs),
and Emergency Locator Transmitters
(ELTs), and have found at least 40 discrep-ancies. Boaters can check their numbers
by going to the EPIRB-registration website
at www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov. If the
numbers don’t match, contact NOAA at
301-817-4515 or 888-212-7283. Owners
should routinely update their information
in the database. Normally, the person listed
as the emergency contact is telephoned
prior to sending out rescue personnel to
rule out a false alert. Last year, 195 lives
were saved by the use of EPIRBs. Anyone
wishing to rent a GPS-enabled EPIRB can
do so from the BoatU.S. Foundation:
www.BoatUS.com/Foundation/EPIRB.
Coast Guard Alert On DSC Radios
The automatic channel-switching
function on certain model DSC-VHF radios could create a safety hazard, according
to an alert issued by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The auto function could switch a skipper
from a working channel in use to Channel
16 when the VHF receives a DSC mayday
call, a distress call acknowledgement, or
another DSC call in which a VHF channel
number has been specified.
This switch of channels could happen without the skipper knowing; the
operator could believe they’re communicating on a working channel when they’re
on Channel 16.
This could happen at any time, so
the Coast Guard recommends that the
automatic channel-switching feature be
disabled while an operator is maintaining
a listening watch or communicating with
another vessel.
All DSC radios certified by the Federal
Communications Commission after March
25, 2009, are required to have this disabling feature. To see a list of radio manufacturers or radios affected by this alert,
go to: www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/
gmdss/ dsc.htm — Elaine Dickinson
