I wonder if that emergency beacon came with the boat so he never bought or unpacked it? Or it could be a case of just forgetting when the time came.
The article also says he was able to restart the engine from an aux battery after the first part where the alternator died so he had no power. Where was the aux battery then? Or did he buy a second battery when he bought the replacement alternator? Lots of missed details.
I assume those beacons have a test ability, at worst case you call up whomever receives the alert and tell them you going to test. Its rare I'm somewhere without cell phone signal but I've though about getting one of those Garmin inreach so I have a satellite backup if needed but would want to test it bi-annually when I test other gear.