The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

There Is No Substitute For A 406 Mhz EPIRB

I’m increasingly hearing of cruisers going offshore with a satellite device as a substitute for an EPIRB:

These are all cool devices, but none of them are a substitute for a real EPIRB. Here’s why.


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Alastair Currie

Regarding PLBs (the type that are classed as EPIRBs and use the COSPAS-SARSAT, not AIS only devices). I am minded of the Cheeki Rafiki reporting and the USA CG stating that the intermittent signal signature, and timing of total signal loss was indicative of hand held PLBs and casualties failing in the water. A PLB needs to have its antenna held a specific way for it to work and they are not efficient if not aligned correctly.

Of course technology always changes and perhaps today’s PLB antennas are more resilient to the motion of a human being holding the device in the water.

Happy to be corrected on this, but a PLB may not have the 121.5 MHz homing signal transmission capability that is fitted to EPIRBs

I agree that PLBs are poor substitutes for an EPIRB designed specifically to work independently of a human being, especially the float free housings. In the UK, float free is around GBP600, manual launch around GBP450.

Alan Sexton

No question that a compliant 406 EPIRB should be the primary device, but I strongly believe PLB(s) should be carried as a back up. In the cases of Rambler (losing its keel in the Fastnet) and Essence (sinking off the NZ coast) it was PLB’s which alerted rescue authorities due to their 406 beacons being lost (Essence) or inaccessible (Rambler).

Neil McCubbin

Agreed 100% that a float free EPIRB is essential
Relying on Starlink is foolish but having one is a useful complement.
On some cruising routes there are many sailboats but few nearby merchant ships who could respond to AMVER.
The rescue of Raindancer by another cruiser between Galapagos and Marquesas a couple of years ago within under 24 hours is an example
At least 80% of long distance sailors now have Starlink, so can be contacted by anyone including the rescue authorities

Matt Marsh

I just went to take a good look at my Starlink.
In any scenario where a liferaft is even being considered, the Starlink’s indoor component is already going to be either burned to a crisp by fire or turned into a useless brick by water.

GPS EPIRB is the right answer for distress comms beyond VHF range of the Coast Guard. A handheld Iridium and a handheld VHF in the ditch bag would be my next choices. And of course the AIS-capable PLBs on the lifejackets. Starlink won’t factor into it at all.

Matt Marsh

AMVER is traditionally limited to ships over a thousand tons.

It is due for modernization. It is also ripe for integration with AIS and GMDSS.

I would very much like to have the next iteration of these systems cover all craft, including smaller ones. If someone falls overboard from a 900′ freighter, I can execute that rescue from my 35′ sloop much more easily than the 600′ freighter twenty miles back can.

Automatic cross-referencing of a triggered EPIRB or DSC DISTRESS message packet against the vessels reported in the vicinity by AIS and AMVER, then dispatching reports to those vessels via Starlink, Inmarsat, and MF/HF radio…. This is definitely doable with existing technology, we just need an agency to coordinate putting it all together.