Pete,

Great NASAR review, thanks much for that.

One product intro that you didn't mention, but of which I am aware, is the new SEIMAC DR-500 Direction Finder ($1,500 for the entire kit - DF with training beacon, headphones, charger and waterproof case). This is an attempt to try to take some of the black art out of DFing a 121.5 homing signal. Now that PLBs are starting to become more widespread, there's a crying need for something that local law enforcement and SAR groups can use to DF without the need for extensive instruction, practice, etc. Anyone who has any experience doing ground DF will appreciate that it is, at best, a real PITA. By providing the user with direction indicators as well as signal strength, this may make it much easier. I have been promised a unit to test in the next few months and we'll see how well it delivers.

I have posted a PDF file with the specs at http://www.equipped.org/SEIMAC DR-500 - Direction Finder.pdf