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SECURITY LEVELS

Avoiding Distress Beacon Failures

It looks a little like a big yellow can with an antenna on top. On larger boats in our operating area, you may see an Emergency Position-Indicating Rescue Beacon (EPIRB) mounted on the wall, or a boater may mention that they keep one in a ditch bag. The Coast Guard is concerned that these beacons have failed when needed and are often activated when not needed, producing false alarms. If you see an EPIRB while performing a VSC, it’s worth talking with the owner about it.

One of the most common causes of failure is that in a distress situation a manually-activated EPIRB is never turned on in an emergency. This can occur because the EPIRB is not mounted or kept in an accessible location. Consider where the EPIRB is mounted (or kept) and make suggestions. 

Another common failure: When the EPIRB is activated it does not work because it has not been maintained. A self-test every month is recommended, and the battery must be replaced by the date marked on the service sticker (usually 10 years) or if the EPIRB is ever activated–this does not include self-tests.

Category I EPIRBs are rare on recreational boats. They are usually marked with the words “Cat. I” and self-deploy automatically from a bracket using a hydrostatic release that is triggered when submerged. If you see a Category I EPIRB, ask when the hydrostatic release was last replaced; the replacement interval is typically every two years. The hydrostatic release feature is also a concerning point of failure due to incorrect mounting. When an EPIRB is released automatically because it is submerged, it must be positioned so that when it floats away the device is not captured by an obstruction (such as a roof overhang) and carried to the bottom with the wreck. Consider where the device is mounted and make suggestions. Even if it has been correctly triggered and turned on, an EPIRB cannot summon any help when underwater, the antenna must be on the surface to work.

Some EPIRBs are never properly registered. When activated, the device transmits a number to the observing satellite, but making a mistake during registration (or never registering the device) can lead to disaster. In the amazing case of the S/V Sean Seymour, a sinking captain activated an EPIRB but it was misregistered to another boat. The Rescue Coordination Center contacted the wrong boat owner, who canceled the alert as a false alarm by reporting he had not activated his EPIRB. The crew of the S/V Sean Seymour were saved because the boat was carrying two independent EPIRBs and the second EPIRB functioned correctly. Be sure that anyone who has bought a used boat with an EPIRB installed has updated the registration with the new owner’s information. This can be checked online from the link below.

EPIRBs are also responsible for a large number of false distress calls when activated inadvertently during testing, so it is not a good idea to volunteer to test an EPIRB yourself. The owner can test the EPIRB by following the manufacturer’s instructions for “self-test” carefully.

Resources/Tools:

Linking to videos that discuss particular radios as examples is not intended as a recommendation or endorsement. 

Updated 2023-Feb-10 by Christian Sandvig, SO-CM