I wonder about the practical matter of how to deploy a beacon in such an environment.
In > 100 mph winds the beacon is not going to stay put in whatever open space you put it in. And if you tie a lanyard down, will the beacon stay face up?
The beacon's transmitter antenna to SARSAT probably works with the beacon either face up or face down. But the antenna for listening to the GPS satellites probably does not.
There's also the problem of the wind whipping around a beacon whose lanyard is secured, breaking the beacon against rocks. And snow/ice/debris being blown onto the beacon and covering the antennae.
I think that points out one of the advantages of a PLB vs SPOT. The PLB has a built in redundancy regarding your location.
Even if the PLB can't get a GPS fix to retransmit, the satellites can still get a Doppler fix on your location using the 406 Mhrz signal. Granted, the Doppler fix isn't nearly as accurate as a location from GPS, but it is way better than no fix. I believe the 406 Mhrz transmission from the PLB is at 5 Watts, and should get through tree cover, some snow, etc. My understanding is that with SPOT, either it gets a GPS fix, or there is no location data at all.
The older generation of EPIRBs and ELTs had not GPS capability, they relied only on Doppler. They still saved many lives.
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