Improved beacons seen as life-saver

Northland boaties and trampers can soon expect their distress signal to register within two minutes and potentially save their lives.
But they will have to shell out for a new Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (Epirb) worth about $600.
People relying on the older-style analogue emergency beacons, on signal frequencies 121.5MHz or 243MHz, will find they will not work after Saturday.
Newer digital beacons with the frequency of 406MHz will be required from Sunday, and can pinpoint the beacon's location to within 100m.
Coastguard Whangarei president Dave Gray said the new beacons could save lives.
"Not only will it save time when people are out in rough, cold conditions, but the old beacons gave us a range of a couple of hundred square nautical miles. The new ones can give us more direct co-ordinates."
A GPS option was available with the new beacons for an extra $200, which delivered even more specific co-ordinates.
The emergency beacons were an expensive investment for small-time boaties but essential for bigger vessels and fishing boats travelling into deep water.
"Basically, the further you go out, the more need to have one. If you're just in your tinny in the harbour, and you've got a VHF radio, a cellphone in a waterproof bag and some flares, you'll be fine," Mr Gray said.
The old beacons recorded positional data from several different satellites which were in transit, which meant there could be delays of up to an hour while the signal was relayed. The new beacons would eliminate that, with a location generally relayed within a couple of minutes due to the signal transmitting from fixed satellites.
Northland Electricity rescue helicopter pilot Pete Turnbull said the new beacons would help eliminate the number of false callouts the helicopter received.
"It takes up time. We'd respond to between 10 and 20 locator beacon signals a year, and probably only three or four of those would be genuine. Sometimes they're bumped, or kids can play with them."
The new digital beacons allowed owners to register their boat and contact details. That allowed emergency services to contact the boat owner when a signal went off, hopefully eliminating the need for attendance if it proved to be a false alarm.
Mr Turnbull said it was important to keep those details current. "It'll be good when the system's new, but once people change numbers and sell their boats, it becomes really important to keep your details updated."
Otherwise, emergency services could end up contacting someone who didn't own the boat any more, or waste more time if no one picked up the phone.
Northland police search and rescue boss Senior Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe said police recently responded to a signal from an old 121.5MHz beacon, which turned out to be coming from a property on land.
A helicopter narrowed the search area down to the Whangarei harbour, but several police staff spent hours tracking the signal on land. It was finally tracked to a boat on a property in Onerahi.
Mr Metcalfe said that the new beacons would eliminate similar unnecessary searches.
Smaller versions of the 406MHz beacon were available for trampers or people heading into the bush, which Mr Metcalfe said were ``worth their weight in gold' and could save lives.
* IT'S PEACE OF MIND:
Danish couple Flemming (pictured) and Connie Monrad are living on their 15m yacht, Chriann, at the Whangarei Town Basin until the end of March.
To be without an emergency beacon would be "a bit uncomfortable," Mr Monrad said.
"It's very seldom used, but it's good to have it.
"It gives us peace of mind and visiting crew members like to know it's there."
The emergency beacon was one of a variety of safety features the couple used on their boat, including an Iridium satellite phone, normal cellphone and VHF radio.
Mr Monrad described the $600 cost of the new devices as "cheap" compared with Denmark, where they sold for the equivalent of more than $2000.
"Everyone travelling long distances out to sea should have one. Somebody is listening to it all day long, all year round," he said.
He explained he had read stories on marine websites about how lives had been saved as a result of the Epirb.
"It's also used to ward off pirates, particularly in the Caribbean and the Red Sea.
"The pirates know help will be coming if you let it off, and just holding it up in the air from a distance can be enough to scare them off."