Awesome info, AKSAR! Thanks! You've given me a lot to chew on when I figure out which system to go with.
You might want to take a look at the Outdoor Gear Lab review of
Best Satellite Messengers and Personal Locator Beacons of 2020 Their comparison of devices is worth reading.
What percentage of SAR operations are initiated by PLBs. For that matter, what percentage by cell phones from the distressed parties?
Just curiosity, because these electronic devices have changed the landscape considerably, compared to the "good old days"
I don't have any hard statistics. In the good old days, it seems like SAR callouts were almost always from when a family member called 911 because someone hadn't returned. In most places, most of the recreational activity, and hence the majority of missions are in the "front country", "side country", or "slack country". But many of these areas now have at least some cell coverage, and nearly everyone carries a cell phone. So an increasing number of missions come from the party in trouble calling in directly. My spidey sense is that the vast majority of missions are still initiated from a phone call. Cell calls directly from the party in trouble are becoming more common. But satellite devices (PLB, InReach, SPOT, etc) are also becoming more and more common. Certainly deep in the backcountry, a satellite device is the only realistic option for quickly calling for a rescue. I wish I had a statistical breakdown, but I don't.
I wonder which is the biggest nuisance, accidental activations or deliberate activations for trivial things?
Again, I have no statistical data. Up thread I mentioned a talk by an Air Force officer from the RCC. If I remember correctly, he said the majority of activations of EPIRB and ELT were accidental, rather than real emergencies. Sorting those out was one of the major tasks of the RCC. He also said that PLB had a lower rate of accidental activations, because they required a series of deliberate actions to turn on. However, this was when PLBs were the main device, before SPOT, InReach, etc were widely available.
Regarding
"deliberate activations for trivial things", that of course is a judgement call. What is a trivial thing to someone of hikermor's experience might be a life or death emergency for someone less knowledgeable or prepared. We can easily point to end members, but there is a whole lot of grey zone in between. Except in really egregious cases, I try to avoid judgment (though of course I sometimes do judge
).
If I ever find any good hard data on these topics I will pass it on.
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