Safety equipment - PLB?

[charlier]

Surface dye! Love it. Dye and flares, there you go.

Bill and Emily, next time we visit Bali, lets meet up for a coffee or cocktail.

Strobes - I've,yet to find the perfect strobe, but will get back to you soon. Our strobe is a bit beefier and brighter than Cuzza's. Divers have drifted from Gili Islands to Bali, or in RA for over 15 hours in the Dampier Straits. I would look for a compact, but bright safety strobe that lasts a long time. If I was out adrift, I would not wait that long to radio the boat, depending on location and sea surface conditions. Good boat ops always monitor their radios and emergency channels in Indonesia. Next time you visit Geko, talk to Cedric or James about it. We all have stories, but rarely are they posted. Best, Charlie (believe it or not, reporting from Mauritius in a work trip).

 

[CuzzA]

No surface dye?

LOL, no I think I'm covered. For my setup, if I can't be found lost at sea, well that was my destiny.

 

[KeithG]

Surface dye! Love it. Dye and flares, there you go.

Bill and Emily, next time we visit Bali, lets meet up for a coffee or cocktail.

Strobes - I've,yet to find the perfect strobe, but will get back to you soon. Our strobe is a bit beefier and brighter than Cuzza's. Divers have drifted from Gili Islands to Bali, or in RA for over 15 hours in the Dampier Straits. I would look for a compact, but bright safety strobe that lasts a long time. If I was out adrift, I would not wait that long to radio the boat, depending on location and sea surface conditions. Good boat ops always monitor their radios and emergency channels in Indonesia. Next time you visit Geko, talk to Cedric or James about it. We all have stories, but rarely are they posted. Best, Charlie (believe it or not, reporting from Mauritius in a work trip).

our marker lights are rated for 72 hours run time on a pair of AAA. princeton tec amp 1L $12 cdn.

 

[charlier]

Hi Bill and Emily - my wife uses a IST Proline Dive Safety Strobe with LED Torch. I have mixed feelings about the strobe, but she really likes carrying the strobe in fast currents in remote regions. I am curious about the L&M GoBe S 500 Search Beam Dive Light. I am not a fan of the their products, but I will check it out during the next ADEX meeting.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Not only that, there is only one option for registration anyway. If you purchase a beacon in the US, it must be registered in the US with NOAA. No other national database will accept it when it's programmed with a US MID code.

Would someone like Bill, who is living in Indonesia for a year, still register it with NOAA, or would he register it with the Indonesian authority? I assume a PLB could be purchased in Indonesia.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Would someone like Bill, who is living in Indonesia for a year, still register it with NOAA, or would he register it with the Indonesian authority? I assume a PLB could be purchased in Indonesia.

I think resources of US Dept of State, Defense/Air Force & Commerce/NOAA are better; let them contact & coordinate the proper Indonesian SAR authority thru established procedure & protocol. Also for convenience sake, might be easier to notify US authorities in case of a false alarm or accidental/mistaken/malfunction PLB activation. . .

 

[seeker242]

Would someone like Bill, who is living in Indonesia for a year, still register it with NOAA, or would he register it with the Indonesian authority? I assume a PLB could be purchased in Indonesia.

It depends on what country code it's programmed with, which normally matches what country it's sold in. Unlikely for Indonesia though as neither ACR nor McMurdo have dealers or service centers there. A technician can reprogram to any country but it's normally recommended to program and register in one's home country as that is where your emergency contacts/family live, have phone numbers, addresses, etc. They will call the numbers you give them when they get a distress call.

As for purchasing one abroad, it's best to find out how it's programmed before doing so. If the unit was imported from Singapore or Australia and you don't have contact information, addresses inside that country, you won't be able to register it anywhere until it gets reprogrammed.

 

[KeithG]

I think resources of US Dept of State, Defense/Air Force & Commerce/NOAA are better; let them contact & coordinate the proper Indonesian SAR authority thru established procedure & protocol. Also for convenience sake, might be easier to notify US authorities in case of a false alarm or accidental/mistaken/malfunction PLB activation. . .

the rescue op is run by the authorities where the alarm was triggered. for us simple citizens, your point of registration will simply provide them with your name....
What happens when I activate my beacon?

 

[CuzzA]

Doing a little more searching it was interesting to learn over 25,000 people have been saved by the system. Here's some stories of survival. Survivor Stories, EPIRB, PLB, ELT by ACR and Artex Products | ACR ARTEX BTW, ACR will replace your PLB for free if you have to use it and share your story.

Also I saw this... Maybe one day our DC's will come with a PLB option. For a cool $17k you could buy this Breitling Emergency II watch doubles as a satellite emergency beacon

 

[Kevrumbo]

the rescue op is run by the authorities where the alarm was triggered. for us simple citizens, your point of registration will simply provide them with your name....
What happens when I activate my beacon?

For us US Citizens, they will call your designated Emergency Contact Info (Family or Friend that you've told about your traveling/diving overseas) for assurance that a particular PLB activation is not a false alarm. Then the whole SAR process chain gets started. . .

If you've planned this smartly, your designated Emergency Contact should also follow-up aggressively by calling the State Department, and the US Embassy of the foreign country that you happen to be in at the time to get things going "expeditiously". . .