Best surface signalling sound devices

[Dan]

You should be interested in decibels. You can only define effective distance by defining wind speed and direction, surf noise, engine noise, ambient noise from birds and other masking noises that may be present. The range of the dive alert is perhaps up to a mile or as short as 100 meters depending on these factors. I have gotten the boat's attention from several hundred meters in "average" conditions.

The dive alert is far more effective than a whistle. Do not make the mistake of activating it with your head above water. Hold it up aimed at the boat, lower your head under water and activate. Always warn others in the area to protect their hearing. This is not a trivial warning.

My dive buddy was pissed at me when I accidentally pressed the Dive Alert red button during donning the BCD on boat deck. I paid a lot of attention to avoid that situation afterwards. It is really loud. Your ears will be ringing for awhile if it is on direct line of fire within 10 feet distance away. No human-powered whistles can beat the decibels of Dive Alert.

It hardly takes any space on your BCD & perhaps extending the BCD power inflator LP hose by 2 inches (5 cm). Don't dive without it!

 

[J322Y]

The baloney must quite an echo in your neck of the woods.

Worst case scenario is when you get two pieces flapping together.

 

[MargaritaMike]

Duck Quack Echo | Acoustics, Audio and Video | University of Salford - A Greater Manchester University

Duck's Quacks Don't Echo?


The baloney must quite an echo in your neck of the woods.

Two points:
1) That was ONE "British" duck. They didn't test American ducks.
2) I don't really care... I just thought is was a fun factoid, which you have gone to some effort to disprove. You should be diving.

Cheers - M²

 

[Fastmarc]

It seems I may have been lucky or my gear rinsing is good as my Dive Alert v1 is still working great after giving a little test over the weekend.

 

[Dan]

Well, my old DiveAlert bit the dust. No more sound coming out of it, just gurgling. So, I ordered a v2 version.

This time I’m going to put it in a waterproof bag & in my BCD waist pockets together with my other safety devices (DSMB, PLB1, mirror & dive light). I will only install it & use it during an emergency.

 

[Dogbowl]

Well, my old DiveAlert bit the dust. No more sound coming out of it, just gurgling. So, I ordered a v2 version.

This time I’m going to put it in a waterproof bag & in my BCD waist pockets together with my other safety devices (DSMB, PLB1, mirror & dive light). I will only install it & use it during an emergency.

So I assume it is easy to install during an emergency?

 

[RayfromTX]

Practice. If you have a hose hat on your inflator you will need to whittle on it a bit.

 

[Dan]

So I assume it is easy to install during an emergency?

2 options for me, may not be for you, if you don’t have a dedicated LP line blow gun for blowing up your non open-bottom DSMB (see my red hose, below).

Option 1 (for those w/o dedicated LP hose)
When you are floating and seeing your boat a mile away, disconnect your BCD power inflator & connect your LP hose to the DiveAlert & squeeze it away towards the boat.

Option 2 (for those w/ dedicated LP hose - me)
When I’m floating and seeing my boat a mile away, disconnect my blow gun out of the red hose & connect it to the DiveAlert & squeeze it away towards the boat.

 

[tridacna]

So I assume it is easy to install during an emergency?

Explain what you mean here? I’m confused.

 

[BoltSnap]

Well, my old DiveAlert bit the dust. No more sound coming out of it, just gurgling. So, I ordered a v2 version.

Perhaps just needs cleaning after breaking it apart?