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EPIRBS GME MT310

 

We personally use this brand, so we can vouch for the reliability and build quality. GME has combined over 20 years experience in designing and manufacturing EPIRB'S to produce a product that leads the industry in personal safety equipment. The MT310 Personal Locator Beacon complies with Australian and New Zealand standards for marine applications (4330:1995) as well as meeting CASA regulations for aviation use.

Unique to the MT310 is a combined beeper/flasher alarm which indicates the unit is fully useable in both the test and operate modes. There are also audible and visual warnings should the beacon be accidentally activated, thus avoiding expensive and time consuming searches resulting from false alarms.

Because the MT310 is specifically designed as a personal beacon, it is small enough to be conveniently carried in your top pocket or hung around you neck using a lanyard (supplied). This will ensure that the beacon is always on your person should an emergency occur.

Applications include general aviation, bush walking and hiking, offshore yachting, gliding, parachuting, small boating, ultra light flying and of course they are fantastic for caravanning. WE also use ours canoeing as it floats and is waterproof. You cannot put a price on the peace of mind owning one of these gadgets can give you. The worst hurdle is handing over the mega bucks!

Don't know what an EPERB is/does? Well it's a relatively modern device that sends an emergency distress signal on two frequencies up to orbiting satellites allowing the search and rescue organisations to pinpoint your position.

The retail price is around $252.00 and you can find them is most larger marine outlets and hiking shops. Lots of retailers online - try Olbis Industries at www.olbis.com.au/. They have outlets in both Brisbane and Townsville. You MUST put your unit in for service every five years,

After writing this story we watched an horrific ABC Four Corners TV documentary on the failures of the Australian Rescue Service - they are the ones monitoring signals from EPIRB's. It shocked us to our socks and our current view is to only use EPIRB's as a last resort. Don't really on one solely!

The Question/Answer information below can be found on this excellent USA site:-

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question351.htm
 

Question 

I have a distress radio on my boat called an EPIRB. I have always wondered how it works. Can you shed any light on it?

Answer

EPIRB stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. An EPIRB is meant to help rescuers locate you in an emergency situation, and these radios have saved many lives since their creation in the 1970s. Boaters and pilots are the main users of EPIRB's.

A modern EPIRB is a sophisticated device that contains:
bulletA 5-watt radio transmitter operating at 406 MHz (see How the Radio Spectrum Works for details on frequencies).
bulletA 0.25-watt radio transmitter operating at 121.5 MHz.
bulletA GPS receiver

Once activated, both of the radios start transmitting. 24,000 or so miles up in space, a GOES weather satellite in a geosynchronous orbit can detect the 406 MHz signal. Embedded in the signal is a unique serial number and, if the unit is equipped with a GPS receiver, the exact location of the radio. If the EPIRB is properly registered, the serial number lets the Coast Guard know who owns the EPIRB. Rescuers in planes or boats can home in on the EPIRB using either the 406 MHz or 121.5 MHz signal.

Older EPIRB's did not contain the GPS, so the GOES satellite received only a serial number. To locate the EPIRB, another set of satellites (like the TIROS-N satellite) orbiting the planet in a low polar orbit could pick up the signal as it passed overhead. This would give a rough fix on the location, but it took several hours for a satellite to come into range.

These links contain lots of additional information:
bullet Coast Guard EPIRB page
bullet TIROS-N satellite
bullet GOES Science
bullet Typical EPIRB - nice photo

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question351.htm

 

UPDATE:-

I notice on your' what's new' page the article on the EPIRB, amongst the info you give you said the operating frequencies are 121.5 and 406 mhz. I think you will find that the 406 mhz part is specific to the USA coastguard. The international distress frequencies are 121.5 and 243 mhz [the UHF freq is double the VHF freq] These are monitored on a listening watch by all airline aircraft throughout all flights, also the COSPAS/SARSAT satellites detects the signal [SARSAT is search and rescue satellite] which automatically sounds alarms in the USA, which is notified to OZ with an approximate position, meanwhile aircraft on hearing the signal, if less than 10 seconds it is disregarded more than 10 seconds is regarded as real and reported to air traffic control, aircraft at different heights can only hear the signal for different distances, the higher the further, also the strength of the signal and with or without squelch control, by asking all aircraft if they can hear it, when, squelch on/off, when signal disappears, etc traffic already know your height, they can then work out to about 5 nm radius where the signal is from, and a helicopter can home in on it. Try this site for info  http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront type EPIRB and "Voila" lots of info. Their price is $275 in 1998 it was $280. I think there is a $10,000 fine if you set it off in fun!! There are a few false alarms e.g. one may go off in a light aircraft unattended at an airport, once the area is determined and they see a airport there, then they ring all the flying schools there and tell them to check their aircraft, to turn it off before a search is activated with its subsequent costs. Marine distress frequencies are the same, you can tell if it is a ship or aircraft by the signal it gives out, a double whoop instead of a single whoop rising and falling.

 
Cheers
 

 

 

 

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Last updated: 17-Jan-03