Marine Emergency Transponders Do You Need One?

If you have a boat, you may have thought about potentially buying a marine emergency transponder

, also known as an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons). These devices, which are also known as an emergency beacons, are very useful additions to your maritime safety equipment. They use satellite technology and designated distress frequencies to enable a distress signal to be picked up from anywhere on the planet.

In order to figure out if you think it makes sense to buy an emergency transponder, you should know that they are not cheap, although the price of them has been decreasing. You can locate EPIRBs for as low as around $400, but there are some models that can cost upwards of $1,000. Obviously you can save money by potentially buying it used, but as with all safety equipment, there are risks involved and it may give you more peace of mind to purchase it new.

The main differences when looking to purchase an emergency transponder is between Category 1 and Category 2. Category 1 models float and are automatically activated (typically by water). Category 2 models, however, are typically manually activated (although there are few models that are also water activated). There is also a third type called Class B, which are being phased out and use an older technology (although they remain in widespread use).

Now that you are aware of the cost and type of EPIRB models available, you have to ask yourself whether the cost of an emergency transponder is worth it? To give you some background information, since 1982 (which is when the satellite technology was introduced), emergency transponders have been used in rescuing over 22,000 people across more than 6,000 emergencies.

If you do decide to purchase an emergency transponder, you will need to register it (all EPIRBs beacons that operate on the 406MHz distress frequency should be registered, and depending on your location (U.S., Australia, etc.) you may be legally required to register your distress beacon.

by: Dustin Banks

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