Scuba diver's Personal Locator Beacon - how never to be lost at sea

[Peter69_56]

I have both PLB and Nautilus lifeline. I know the PLB works, and the lifeline is something I expect to use where they have radios. Many places I go to they don't have them on the boat so it isn't much of a help then. Hence the PLB since it will contact someone no matter where I am in the world, and that's better than drifting and only a small boat captain (possibly) looking for me and not contacting anyone else for hours. The lifeline seems waterproof enough and small. I take your point over the canister size, however a drowned PLB will contact no one when you want it to. The custom diver canister seems somewhat less robust than the McMurdo. I must admit to date my new custom diver canister hasn't leaked however I don't open it hardly ever as I am concerned of having the same happen as the first one I had., and I would reiterate it was NOT operator error that caused it to leak, I was very particular with the O rings, their cleanliness and seal faces as well.

 

[DandyDon]

If they can't understand English, just yell louder. Always works for me in Cozumel :blinking:

I can only guess at how you affect the locals when you honor them with your attitudes and actions.

You really recommend that a diver should learn Tagalog before taking a dive trip to the Philippines, etc.?

Wow, never realized how unsafe I had been not learning Thai, Burmese, Bahasa Indonesia, Palauan, Yapese, Chuukese, Guamanian, Papamiento, and French. At least I can say "ayudame por favor" in Spanish, so apparently I'll can safely dive in Cozumel if I don't want to spend a fortune on language classes or Rosetta Stone

Nice that your hosts didn't lose you in your travels, however that worked out. I take it that you oppose the subject of the thread but are taking your usual approach at undermining discussions.

Back to the subject of the thread...

If one wants to use a two-way radio to call for help, s/he might want to research how viable doing so would be in local waters. Ensuring that an English speaking liaison would be standing by on channel within the short range of the radios is one idea. Transmitting "help help help" to local boats that do have operating radios might be a good start, but then what would happen?

Actually, I bought a pair of portable marine radios early in my diving after going out on some questionable boats in questionable areas, but now would love to sell them as they seem pointless. And if I heard someone screaming on channel "Ayuda Ayuda Ayuda" or "tulungan tulong tulong" - I'm sure I'd have no idea what they wanted, nor where they were, so transmitting "help help help" may not work either in some waters.

If I activate my PLB in some other country's waters, it may not work as fast as here - I understand the Fiji navy takes Sundays off for example, but at least the NOAA would know I sent the signal and where I was, whoever they'd try to send whenever.

 

[Mossman]

I can only guess at how you affect the locals when you honor them with your attitudes and actions.

Probably damage their eardrums.

 

[scubafanatic]

Just for clarity : The McMurdo canister is larger, heavier and bulkier than the Custom Diver Canister, it's 30% taller and 25% wider, also it doesn't have any built in attachment methods like the Custom Divers 200/210 does.

I looked at the McMurdo early on in all this as it was easy to get one, however I felt the little extra work to get something significantly smaller that I would have on every dive was more important to me. I feel the Custom Diver canister is already large, to go to something 1/3rd larger was absolutely out of the question.

The 2nd important factor was that the bigger size of the McMurdo meant the PLB would move around in the canister and require additional padding such as wrapping the PLB in something before insertion to keep the PLB safe from damage from knocking about from one end to the other, the Custom Diver Canister fits the PLB perfectly and snuggly with no movement, no wasted space.

The criteria when I started all this, was to find the absolutely smallest, lightest beacon and canister combination I could put together, that's what the Rescue Link and the Custom Diver 200/210 was.

Make sure you know the details, understand what your personal requirements are and choose wisely.

Mike, while your points are well taken, the Custom Diver Canister has significant limitations:

it only will fit a single specific PLB of a certain exact shape/size, if in future you need to replace a lost/stolen/broken/obsolete PLB, your present-day exact PLB may be discontinued, and you will end up having to buy a new canister to house the new PLB....the McMurdo version has a larger internal capacity, and a generic (non custom) interior shape, so it's more flexible (future proof).

 

[cvchief]

Can you imagine 300 divers carrying these in the Cozumel marine park, all trying to talk to their own boats on the same channel? :silly:

DD, DD, DD, not on the hailing channel, but on the chat channel for my boat. There are a ton of chat channels. (all of them accessible on my lifeline)

 

[Mike]

Mike, while your points are well taken, the Custom Diver Canister has significant limitations:

it only will fit a single specific PLB of a certain exact shape/size, if in future you need to replace a lost/stolen/broken/obsolete PLB, your present-day exact PLB may be discontinued, and you will end up having to buy a new canister to house the new PLB....the McMurdo version has a larger internal capacity, and a generic (non custom) interior shape, so it's more flexible (future proof).

Could be a viable concern for someone, but certainly was not and is not for me, as my objective was the smallest and lightest PLB and canister combination available at the time, which was a combination of the resqlink and the custom diver canister.

Had my objectives been trying to mind read where I or the PLBs offered would be 12 years from now, then I might have gone about this all differently, however mine and my wife's safety and peace of mind is assured today, and if it only works for 5- 10 years then I'm more than good with spending another $300 in 10 years.

Frankly, I think the trend in all this will follow the traditional path of all electronics which is everything getting smaller not larger over time. In 10 years the likely hood is greater that an all-in-one diveable PLB will be available maybe as small as a wristwatch. (Natuilus Life line if they were brilliant, they would be working on incorporating a real PLB into their next generation LifeLine.) And to be completely honest in all reality if a new PLB comes on the market tomorrow that is smaller or the same size of the resqlinks we currently have but is all in one and doesn't need a canister, I would likely be online ordering two of them and ditching what I have now, the $300 investment in our safety is a really small one to me personally.

But hey, if the McMurdo and another larger beacon is your thing, so be it, you're the person that has to carry it not me, and anything is better than nothing and you're ahead of 99% of the other divers out there.

.
A little beauty shot...

 

[Sideways]

Great thread Mike. I've recently started to give the idea of some type of GPS or otherwise electronic signaling device some serious thought. I used to be a Merchant Marine up in the gulf of Alaska and knew about epirbs, but wasn't sure what might work best for divers. So far, I'm liking the Lifeline idea. The combo of VHF and GPS signaling is appealing. SO! Because there are a helluva lot smarter folks here than me. PLEASE tell me if I'm missing something, or my thinking is flawed in looking at Lifeline vs. PLB.

Biggest question - What type of environment do I dive in mostly.

As of right now, we dive Cozumel/Riviera Maya probably 75% of the time. The other 25% would be SE Asia.

1. For Cozumel and the Riv/Maya It seems that the lifeline would offer the best protection.

a. I speak a little spanish, enough to verbally direct someone to me. I also would think most boats with VHF, are probably dive or tourist type boats. That being the case, In a best case scenario, someone on a boat might speak english, which would even be better. As far as the "Red Button" feature. If it covers a 4000 sq mile area (a little smaller than Los Angeles County). At that range, If I were to hit that button while diving off Cozumel I would think my odds of being received would be very good. If not from the Local authorities, at least the cruise ships, or any commercial vessel would pick up the signal.

b. If I had a PLB, my understanding is it would give exact coords to the Coz authorities? Or folks in the states? Would the response be as fast compared to me talking to someone on the radio? I wouldn't think so.


2. SE Asia the South Pac, and Indian Ocean.

a. Lifeline. In this region, I'll probably have a more difficult time reaching an English speaking person. So, will I be able to direct anyone I do contact close enough to my position? It would probably be a lot tougher. From what I can tell from the unit's I've looked at, you can see the GPS coords on the display. So...at the very least I can read those off to someone with limited English. Also hitting the red button will alert any commercial or VHF traffic to my coords. Bottom line is going to be ...how much VHF traffic will be in the area?

b. PLB. From what I'm hearing, the response in this region can be very iffy because of spotty coverage. If the signal is received, can I rely on someone in the states to coordinate a rescue from there?

In my trips to the region, I've only done 1 dive site that I think would have been outside the range of the Lifeline.

I found this thread in the Wetpixel forums about a recent Bali accident, and Lifelines in general.

1 Diver dead, 5 rescued and 1 missing in Bali - Dive Destinations and Travel - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

 

[Mike]

Almost everything you're asking about is covered in this thread in the beginning parts of it, explaining how a PLB works, response who, where, when and how. Earlier in this thread there is a map showing dots all over the world where PLBs have rescued people, look at it and see what you think.

In short the PLB is your guaranteed rescue no matter what, no matter where. It's satellite beaming information to narrow your location down to something as small as a foot ball field.

A Nautilus is your rescue under limited circumstances. It's VHF which is basically line of site over very small distances, dramatically reduce effectiveness from something as simple as waves and rain. It's a nice haling device to someone who is close enough to visually see you.

In the recent missing plane incident, if some one on board survived with a PLB and activated it, the mystery would have been over 14 days ago. If someone survived it with a life line, nothing would have changed.

If you want something that might prevent somebody from leaving you at sea, such as being able to call them as they are leaving you behind then the Nautilus might be what you want. But if they aren't listening or you're too far away from land or another boat, if they didn't hear you and come get you, you're lost at sea.

If you want something that would prevent you from being lost at sea, then the PLB is the answer, you wouldn't be able to try to contact the dive boat that is leaving you, but if you get left you're guaranteed to be found and picked up, no matter what.

If you are just worried about bobbing around in the water close to land for an hour until the dive boat comes back the Nautilus might be all you need.

If you're worried about not wanting to bob around in the ocean anywhere on the planet until you die, then a PLB is the answer.

It's up to you to weigh the odds and make the considerations of what works best for you.

 

[Sideways]

So...the 12 mile range they claim for the VHF is incorrect?

**edit.. actually they say the DSC Range is 8 miles and voice communications is 4-5 miles

 

[cvchief]

Answering the GPS question, the Lifeline will trip the emergency function of the radio receiving the 'red button' signal. If so equipped, and many are I think, the receiving radio will receive the signal and display your GPS location. The lifeline does not send a signal to a monitoring station or anything like the Sat device Mike has. It simply sends an 8 mile digital ping with GPS data. I think Aldora Dave said he was able to use the shorter range voice signal from way up north to a tower antenna at Aldora in town. Of course big antennas help.

I have to wonder how long the sat thing would take to work. I guess the monitoring company would have to find the contacts for SAR in the area you are in and fired them up and then up date the GPS with them as they get close. It is the be all and end all for rescue, as long as you don't want any options in between no communication and scrambling everyone.

I remember reading a report of a Captain in Coz who failed to keep track of his divers and left them floating for an hour. I would have used the life line right away on the hailing channel. I would probably have held off quite a bit before pushing the red button. I think calling on the hailing channel would have worked fine in Coz for that circumstance. If I only had the Sat thing, it would not have been any use to me as I would not have wanted to set off a BIG response right away.

That being said, I have thought about getting a sat thing as the end all backup. (That and I love gadgets). Sort of like having in a .50 cal in the closet. Really isn't good for much unless you REALLY need it.

If you only want one, then do you want a tool that can be useful in many circumstances and had some good emergency signalling? Will someone be searching for you if you don't show up on time? Will the someone be within 8 miles of you?

or

Or do you want a fairly well guaranteed rescue that requires you to wait until you know the you-know-what has hit the fan and that has no other intermediate use? Do you dive in a remote location where the chances of finding a boat in 8 miles is limited? Will no one start a search for you if you don't show after the dive?

---------- Post added March 21st, 2014 at 05:53 PM ----------

If someone survived it with a life line, nothing would have changed.

If someone knew WHERE the plane was like knowing where you went diving, it would likely have worked fine. Someone would have gone to that area looking. Or if the plane crashed in the channel between the mainland and Coz, probably have worked fine. Especially with the better range to aircraft.

On the other hand, if you go diving in the roaring 40s and no one knows where you are, take the sat thing.