May 18th, 2009 | 
As part of this weeks “Wear It” campaign from CGBlog and almost all other maritime sites around the States I’ll be posting a two part post on the difference in an EPIRB, PLB, and those SPOT devices (that’s this post). The next will be answering a few questions on how the USCG/USAF decide to take a case, and why (in theory) the CG doesn’t require ALL boater’s to carry EPIRB’s. I hope you find this useful in understanding our relationship with the public and their uses of EPIRB’s. And with that, I have a question for you: what do you get when you mix and EPIRB, PLB, and a SPOT device? You have a woodsman lost on the water with a security blanket from his parents… don’t get it? Read on.
What’s the difference?
There are only a few options out there when it comes to equipment designed to let others know where you are in an emergency, the EPIRB, PLB, and the SPOT device, the Coast Guard will only see the first two. That’s not to say the a SPOT device isn’t a good idea, but it’s not on the backbone of a public service, it’s a private company. So what’s the difference in these three? How does the Coast Guard know when to react to an emergency signal from these devices? And which is better?
First we need to explain the difference between the three surface (as opposed to the aviation ELT) choices that are predominate in the market today. As we’ve already noted there are the Emergency Position-Indicating Radiobeacon (EPIRBs) which are intended for maritime use, the Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) for applications which are neither aviation or maritime, and then you have the SPOT device which is marketed to be used any/everywhere. And before any of you begin an argument as to why an EPIRB is maritime and the PLB isn’t- I’ll pre-load you with my answer. As a member of military service I’m brainwashed into ensuring that all doctrine in which I am to follow is on paper or can be found on the Internet (I love Wikipedia!); with that in mind I would like to point your attention to the Cospas-Sarsat site, the maintainers of the satellite system that keeps the 406mhz lifesaving beasts in the sky, for it is here (PDF alert) that states they are so.
An EPIRB is the cornerstone device of all commercial mariners on the seas today. Not to say that their going to make their livelihood by way of an EPIRB, but it may be their, and their crews life if they don’t have one. And as Peter Stinson states., “if you get underway in the coastal (or open ocean) environment, you should have a registered, working, 406 epirb aboard… plain and simple…” I would have to agree. If you’ll recall my last post on potential scenarios with 406mhz EPIRB’s you’ll know how important it can be to ensuring it’s registered and working. The same is true with a PLB. Yes, the powers that be may be able to see where the beacon(s) is/are going off (or can they? later) but it needs to be properly registered and kept up-to-date to ensure a quick response. The SPOT device is, again, through a non-government affiliated company that has taken it upon themselves to maintain a service similar to the service provided by that of the government, but again, it’s not the same.
There is also a difference it the actual devices themselves as well. And in continuing our order we’ll start with the EPIRB. There are several types and classes of EPIRB’s on the market; without delving to far into all of them just know that there are some that are meant to be manually activated and some that are done so in an automatic manner either by getting wet or by being submerged in the drink. There are also differing types of frequencies that are used (see link above). As one can see from the picture there are literally dozens of differing EPIRB’s on the market. For the PLB’s out there we’re only looking at the two predominate types. Those that do and don’t have GPS integration. There is really very little difference between the PLB and the EPIRB; however, that very little difference is what makes them what they are. Though they function fairly the same a PLB is geared to the land based individual as their form function is VERY small in comparing to that of the EPIRB; and again this is the only real difference. I would like to quote a Q & A from the website Equipped.com on a question that was answered with regards to the difference between and EPIRB and and PLB-
Q: What is the difference between a PLB, a P-ELT and a P-EPIRB?
A: …at this point in time there is no difference, they are just PLBs, it is simply a confusing marketing tactic.
And that folks is the truth. However, as I stated earlier EPIRB’s are meant for water with their differing types available for auto-activation where most, if not all, PLB’s need to be manually activated (but some EPIRB’s do as well… it’s all very confusing).
And not be be left out in the withering area of the Internet I would like to take a moment to cover the SPOT device (here’s a Coast Guard Message on the subject), also more commonly marketed at the SPOT Satellite Messenger. What was once be touted as the replacement for over-hyped GPS locating units the SPOT has been a fairly successful device. However, from a Search and Rescue Coordinators perspective I would rather you use a PLB or EPIRB, and here is why. While the SPOT device is better than nothing (hey, you can connect it to your Facebook too) it is not as quickly coordinated for SAR interaction. Now don’t take this as the gospel from the USCG, but, when comparing the response time from our offices of the SPOT to that of the EPIRB, the SPOT will usually come in last. However, with that being said, there is a good point to dealing with the SPOT as a SAR Controller. For the SPOT to be activated, in a capacity that the USCG would be called, the user has to meet two protocols of the SPOT watch staff (I’ve talked to them on several occasions). One, the person has to manually press their “911″ button for several seconds to activate it, so it’s more oft than not a legit call. Second, the SPOT watch folks determine where the location is based off the messenger, and further determine who is to be called; the USCG or the USAF. However, outside of this you are relying on human to human transfer of information on location, a potential (I haven’t seen it yet) problem. And so to put a little credence to this, I’ve run about 4 SPOT cases in the last year, not much, but that’s good as it tells me that people on the water are using an EPIRB.
Watch for part two coming later this week…
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