This may have been covered before, but here goes. In our local paper there is an AP artical stating NOAA plans to announce a new program today: The "personal locator beacon" will be available starting July 1 and will cost $300 or more. Just as the satellite rescue system has watched over piolts and boaters for two decades, the new handheld devices will allow those on land i.e. hikers, hunters, climbers to call for help. Pete

sounds like a useful tool.<br>Is it the civilian equivelent of the sar beacons issued to fighter pilots? or is it more like the gps?

I assume:<br><br>http://www.acrelectronics.com/personal406/pers406.html<br><br>I've been wondering when they were going to get approval. It's been *years*.<br><br>-john

>>(http://www.equipped.org/plb_legal.htm) In Alaska last year, 54 people were rescued after using personal beacons. Many rescues in the state involve stranded snowmobilers. "They're out in the middle of nowhere," Karlson said. "They fire off their beacon because they know they've got a three-day walk and it's 35-below out and they'd be dead in three hours."<br><br>This is the only thing that bothers me about these PLBs. I was once stationed at a Search and Rescue base in eastern Canada, and had the opportunity to talk with one of the SAR Techs at a Mess Dinner. I was surprised by how bitter he was toward most of the people he'd saved; according to him, a significant number of his rescues involved people who took stupid chances because they knew that SAR would bail them out, and never stopped to consider that the SAR guys were putting their own lives on the line to do so.<br><br>I mean, fer Chrissake, I know people who go BACKPACKING in 35 below - for FUN! <br><br>There is no reason why someone on a snowmobile can't carry enough equipment to enable them to snowshoe their way out over 3 days in those temperatures. <br><br>Shouldn't these devices come with a big red warning label saying "Activation of this device does not guarantee immediate response. It is your responsibility to take adequate precautions."? <br><br>Or am I just being a curmudgeon, as usual? }-;

In NH, where I live, there are many volunteer and state sponsored rescue teams working the White Mountains; by law all SAR costs are paid by those foolish enough to require such services. By making the victim responsible for their own decisions and the costs of the bad ones there is a disincentive for people to be too stupid. Still, there are an annoying large number of stupid decisions resulting in activating SAR. For example, last year there was a news person from boston who walked into the woods in the early fall with nothing but a 1/2 liter of water and was lucky enough to walk out 3 days later with a few scratches and some well needed weight loss. Not only was the local SAR activated but the State Cops and a few other agencies as well since this was somewhat of a well known media figure. Turns out that he made it on his own because when he realized that he was lost he kept moving - making it impossible for the SAR effort to find him - but he knew enough to follow water downstream and that is what eventually brought him out. Lucky for him he didn't get lost where there was no stream and didn't find a water fall that he couldn't climb around - both of which are possible in the Whites. I hike regularly in the Whites and often see folks blithly walking up the sunny slope in the morning with nothing or maybe a water bottle with thier kids or grand-parents or both, blissfully unaware that a sunny morning can turn into a thunder storm complete with flash floods in less than a half hour in the mountains. It is a wonder to me that the gene pool hasn't been more effectively thinned.

I´m not too surprised, that the SAR guy was bitter. But I don´t think that a warning label would remedy the lack of preparedness and responsibility. Some people are too ignorant for that. Maybe some don´t even consider the risks or they think that the risks are just for other people.<br>Recently we had a discussion about mass accidents in the fog. One of my coworkers stated that you might see the fog from a long distance but you can´t know how far you can see in it. I had to resort to astonishment when he concluded that it would be OK to drive at 70 mi / h into that fog. That attitude causes several casualties every year despite the fact that there are lots of tv- spots to create some awareness. In my opinion it´s the same attidue that keeps people from taking proper precautions for whatever they´re doing. <br>

I think you missed the point of the artcile. It plainly exemplifies someone that couldn't have made it home without the beacon. Noone abused the priviladge. And now people in the lower 48 can have such a useful tool as well.<br><br>Let's say it;s someones wife out to get food and gets stuck in a hellstorm, what then? Should she rough it ;ike all your friends that go backpacking when it's 35 below in AK? Not everyone's as though as you.<br><br>"Or am I just being a curmudgeon, as usual? }-; " Yup

I will not comment at this time on how poorly prepared many individuals are, when traveling in the woods, we all know they are out there. As to the hand held locators: I think at this point in time, due to the cost, individuals who understand when to and when not to use them will be the norm. I would suspect/hope these same individuals would also be prepared for travel and not use the locators as their first line of survival. Pete

So how do I get my designation changed from (newbie member ) to (curmudgeon )? ;-{