Rocky Mountain Tracking

By Greg Bartlett

If you are a boater that routinely takes your craft offshore, you in all likelihood already know how important an EPIRB is for your safety. What you may not know is that the older analog units that operated on 121.5 MHz aren’t being monitored by satellite anymore.

As of 01 February 2009 the 121.5 MHz frequency is no longer monitored by satellite. The amount of false signals that were generated by these units along with the advanced digital technology of the 406 MHz units currently available caused the 121.5 MHz units to become obsolete.

If you are a boater and have one of the older EPIRB units, you need to replace it immediately. You have grown to know and appreciate the safety that your EPIRB provides you. The knowledge that should you be capsized by a rogue wave, suffer engine failure or strike an object in the water is less worrisome since help is readily available to you through your EPRIB.

The new 406 MHz EPIRB units on the market today should be registered when they are acquired. There is no charge for the registration for these units. When the unit is registered, data includes name address phone number, vessel type and an on shore contact. The state of the art 406 MHz units also contain GPS tracking data in their signal when they are activated. This GPS data aids SAR teams to narrow down the area to be searched. Also included in many of these modern units is a low power 121.5 MHz transmitter, which aids in location by SAR teams who use radio triangulation to precisely determine the location of the EPRIB.

If you are a boater who has grown accustomed to the knowledge that you have an EPIRB on your boat, you need to upgrade your EPIRB to a 406 MHz unit. While the 121.5 MHz signals from the older EPIRB units is no longer monitored by satellite, land based and aircraft will continue to monitor for those signals. You got your EPIRB for a reason. That reason was the safety of both yourself and those on your boat. To insure complete safety should a mishap happen, it’s time to upgrade your EPIRB unit to a new modern, state of the art 406 MHz unit.

Now that the term “GPS” is a part of our everyday vocabulary, some of you may not think twice about what it really means. Perhaps for you the term “GPS” is the same as saying navigation. That is okay because if that’s how this particular technology shows up in your life, then you may not need a precise definition. But just in case you want a little bit of background about how it is that you can use a GPS tracker to keep up with vehicles, parcels, and the people using these things, here are some basics:

The letters “GPS” stand for Global Positioning System. The U.S. Department of Defense owns the system and makes it available for people anywhere in the world to use if they want. It has been fully operational since 1995.

The system consists of satellites that are in orbit more than ten thousand miles about the Earth and each one has a computer atomic clock and a radio. These satellites are spaced out so that no matter where you are on the planet, four of them will be stationed above the horizon.

The GPS receivers we use (such as tracking devices, cell phones, etc.) also have computers. The computers in our receivers triangulate to give data on their position after getting bearings from the GPS satellites about the Earth. Receivers can also give you information on speed and direction. This is why some GPS navigation tools are able to reconfigure directions, even when you get off course.

At first this system was used by scientists for research purposes, but now it is available to consumers for everyday use. Rocky Mountain Tracking has a great selection of GPS navigation and tracking tools to choose from. Now that you understand a little about how it all works, you’ll really appreciate the convenience of the Global Positioning System.