Planes are equipped with an ELT (Emergency Location Transmitter) that is
supposed to start transmitting upon a crash (although they've been known to
go off after a hard landing).  Older ELTs were pretty basic, emitting an
omni-directional signal on the international distress frequencies of 121.5
and 243.0 Mhz.  Newer ELTs are satellite and GPS compatible and intended to
shorten the amount of time necessary to find a downed plane.

Cheers,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Jack
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 3:17 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)

Nice technology for sure, but I guess the next question is why?  For pilots
I can understand, but how is it useful to a Vanagon jockey?  How much does a
toy like that cost?  //Jack

Date sent:              Fri, 7 Jan 2005 12:20:20 -0600
From:                   Chuck Reisinger <chuckphoto@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:                Re: Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)

> Is sorta a hand held transponder (like pilots have)....it's on the 406 MHz
> band....when activated....it emits a distress signal...which is monitored
by
> NOAA (but you must register your unit with NOAA...it's satellite
> technology...so the signal goes up not around obstacles..doesn't need to
look
> for a tower...like cell phones....