Boat Sank, PLB did not send signal, man found by passing boat

[ThatDogDontHunt]

The major differences are:

- Functioning life: PLB is 24 hours, EPIRB is 48
- Floating: EPIRBS float and transmit on their own, a PLB must be held upright and out of the water to work
- Strobe: EPIRBS have strobe lights, PLBs do not
- Registration: EPIRBS are registered to the boat, PLBs to an individual
- Deployment: EPIRBS can auto-deploy*, PLBs do not


* Can, not must. I don't have mind rigged to auto-deploy, nor do I consider that a desirable feature in a center console dive boat.

Agreed. So mounting a PLB high up on a boat does not seem like a good idea?

 

[DandyDon]

Strobe: EPIRBS have strobe lights, PLBs do not

My PLB has a strobe, and I think that most do. Have you ever seen one?

 

[Cirdan]

Agreed. So mounting a PLB high up on a boat does not seem like a good idea?

One could think of it this way: we want an emergency beacon to operate for at least as long as the probable human survival time in the conditions. We also want it to mark a datum/location where a search could commence.

Mount the EPIRB on the boat, in a suitable location and with an auto-release capability if appropriate.

Mount the PLB high up on a person or their equipment ... especially one who may be in the water and who may become separated from the boat.

In cold water (less than about 23C/75F), a person will have a very limited time during which they can manually hold the PLB above the water with the antenna oriented to the sky.

 

[Cirdan]

My PLB has a strobe, and I think that most do. Have you ever seen one?

My understanding is that an integrated strobe is required for type approval for an EPIRB, and it is not required but may be provided in a PLB.

Have you seen the actual difference in strobe intensity and arcs of visibility, comparing EPIRBs and PLBs equipped with strobes?

Coldwaterglutton did a good job of summarizing some key differences between the two types of devices. He has obvious subject matter knowledge, and provided information that wasn't on the thread previously, and that is hard to glean without wading through the extensive prior threads. Posting that information is not an attack on the usefulness and limitations of PLBs.

Be assured that your favorite device is still OK, for some usages and conditions.

 

[DandyDon]

My understanding is that an integrated strobe is required for type approval for an EPIRB, and it is not required but may be provided in a PLB.

Ok, that's fine. I was just addressing your erroneous claim...

Strobe: EPIRBS have strobe lights, PLBs do not

My PLB has a strobe, and I think that most do. Have you ever seen one?

You didn't answer my question about having seen one, but yeah - they do have strobes. I'd expect a larger EPIRBS to have a larger battery and bigger strobe perhaps.

 

[coldwaterglutton]

DandyDon, you are correct, what my post should have said is that an EPIRB must have a strobe and a PLB does not.

I should note that a handheld survival strobe has potential issues if you are in the water. It is difficult to manually hold a strobe out of the water and that's why they were moved to a helmet mount velcro for a number of military aviation users. This was IIRC one of the changes made after the 1991 incident where the ANG helo crew out of Westhampton ditched at sea.

An EPIRB must float and the strobe will therefore face sky on its own. The same is true of the signal broadcast on an EPIRB v PLB: an EPIRB must transmit while floating. Not all PLB's float, and not all PLB's transmit even if floating.

 

[Biotech Diver]

DandyDon, you are correct, what my post should have said is that an EPIRB must have a strobe and a PLB does not.

I should note that a handheld survival strobe has potential issues if you are in the water. It is difficult to manually hold a strobe out of the water and that's why they were moved to a helmet mount velcro for a number of military aviation users. This was IIRC one of the changes made after the 1991 incident where the ANG helo crew out of Westhampton ditched at sea.

An EPIRB must float and the strobe will therefore face sky on its own. The same is true of the signal broadcast on an EPIRB v PLB: an EPIRB must transmit while floating. Not all PLB's float, and not all PLB's transmit even if floating.

I was an Aircrewman in the Navy and had to go through water survival school, among many others, and even before 1991 we had a Velcro patch on our helmets fir attaching a strobe in the event we found ourselves in the water in a survival situation.

So what I see some people saying in this thread is that the PLB ‘s suck and have all these negatives, so why bother? Or people saying “just don’t get lost”, etc. I guess it’s a complete waste of time and effort to carry a PLB when you just should never get lost in the first place.

 

[coldwaterglutton]

So what I see some people saying in this thread is that the PLB ‘s suck and have all these negatives, so why bother? Or people saying “just don’t get lost”, etc. I guess it’s a complete waste of time and effort to carry a PLB when you just should never get lost in the first place.

I'm not sure people are saying that, and I carry both. EPIRB on the boat and PLB on the PFD. Because fire, flooding or capsizing don't always give much warning.

 

[Biotech Diver]

I'm not sure people are saying that, and I carry both. EPIRB on the boat and PLB on the PFD. Because fire, flooding or capsizing don't always give much warning.

Every now and then I read a story about how divers got lost at sea because the dive boat broke down or ran out of gas, or whatever. Sometimes the divers are rescued days later or bodies recovered or never found at all. I guess that whistle attached to their SMB wasn’t very helpful?

 

[rjack321]

So what I see some people saying in this thread is that the PLB ‘s suck and have all these negatives, so why bother? Or people saying “just don’t get lost”, etc. I guess it’s a complete waste of time and effort to carry a PLB when you just should never get lost in the first place.

I have a PLB I can carry in a canister on "big" dives. The rest of my boating time it lives in a mini VHF holder on my boat (which is only 16ft long so its not like I go out 80miles). I bring it to remote cave diving sites and it lives in the center console of my pickup on those trips. If someone is incapacitated (or the truck breaks down many miles from anyone) the PLB or the garmin inreach can be used to summon help.

An EPIRB would be overkill on my boat and wouldn't be useful in the backcountry.