Locator Beacon

There was an earlier thread on PLBs, see http://www.tramper.co.nz/?view=topic&id=282 I might get flamed for this but in my opinion there will be so many other people on the Routeburn, Caples, Greenstone area at that time that I doubt that the outcome of any accident that you are likely to have will be any different whether you have a PLB or not. If you feel better for having one, then great, don't let me put you off.

Thanks pmcke you are 100% right about the amount of people that will be on the track at the time i will be there. i thnk a beacon would would be of more use in out of the way tracks where help could take a while,i think i will save some money. I do have one question,when i pick up my tickets from DOC do they tell the ranger at the first hut the number of people who will be staying there and do the rangers tell each other the numbers of people who will be there each day i hope this makes sense Lindsay

Hi,I am thinking of getting a PLB, is any brand better than another.I do quite a bit of hunting by myself and think it is a necessity. What is the benefit of the one that is regd in USA? Cheers,Hughmac

Hi Hughmac I have looked into this allot over the last month,for me in Australia and the same in any country i belive,when you buy one you have to register it in the country of purchase and to do that you need a residental address IE i cant buy one in NZ without a NZ address. If i activete my Australian Beacon in NZ the alert is sent to the serch people in the NZ area it was activated and a message is sent to the Australian Maritime Saftey Authority as well. I think this would be the same as USA. the GME accusat MT410 beacons i belive are the smallest ones on the market i have found so far do you live in the USA i hope this helps Lindsay

With regard to your question about DOC and hut tickets. The Routeburn Huts (R Flats, R Falls, MacKenzie and Howden) are by booking only. So you must book for a particular night. This can be done on line at http://booking.doc.govt.nz/nvb/?servicegroup=rbn This applies to campsites as well. The huts in the Greenstone and Caples will be of the backcountry system where it is first in first served. There may not be a warden at all these huts, but there will be someone roaming the valley checking who is there. The wardens on the Routeburn Huts will definitely know you are coming if you have booked a bed. How much communication goes on in the other valleys I don't know.

Thanks pmcke for that,i booked the Routeburn huts a while ago

HI, I live in NZ in the Rangitikei area and after looking hope the MT 410G will be OK. I might also be doing some tramping in the South Island, so still think at the price listed is good value if it saves a life. Cheers, Hughmac

I have an ACR non-GPS PLB - and have had one opportunity to see it in action. Was up the Huxley hunting with a mate (5 days, no game sighted) when we came across a party with an injured member who asked us to use the beacon to call in the chopper. 2.5 hours later the Otago Rescue chopper appears up the valley. The pilot came over for a chat whilst the paramedics saw to the girl, and confirmed that no, he hadn't seen any game on the way in. He said that they'd just spent 1 hr searching for us up the Ahuriri, and no - they hadn't seen any game there either - before trying the Huxley and finding us, which would not have been required had we'd had a GPS model. Now: in this case an extra hour made no difference to the injured party, but with a more serious injury, or impending darkness / bad weather this could make all the difference. And then there's the $200 cost to me for a GPS model vs the $1500/hr cost to run a chopper ... Clearly better to have a cheaper model than nothing, but if you've got the money ...

Your experience is most interesting. I wonder why the helicopter pilot was looking in the wrong place. I read somewhere that the system used by the 406mhz locator beacons could position you accurately, even without the GPS. I can't find that link now but your experience seems to confirm that the GPS model is worth the difference. That is what the experts say anyway. It sounds like the helicopter was relying on the 121.5 beacon to find you and that would be a difficult process if flying low in the valleys. The question I ask is, how would the outcome be different if a PLB was not available? It sounds like your casualty was not critically ill so you would have had to make her comfortable and then someone would have had to head out to the road for help. Most probably the outcome for the victim would be the same but your plans would have been disrupted and you may not have been able to continue with your trip. I remember someone saying at a SAR conference that I was at, that it is very rare to find anyone in the hills who requires immediate hospitalisation. Usually it is a case of finding someone who is injured, but quite capable of sitting tight for a day or two, probably in pain or discomfort. The other case is that they find a body. There isn't much in between. I guess a heart attack is one case where immediate attention would be required but as trampers are a comparatively healthy lot, heart attacks in the hills are rare. I guess one day I will own a PLB but I have a real problem with news reports that seem to suggest that a PLB is something that every responsible tramper should carry. I have been tramping for since 1969, Wow that is almost 40 years! In that time I can't think of any incident where triggering a PLB would have resulted in a different outcome to any of the incidents that have happened on trips I have been on. I think it is more important to do the preparation and planning to see that the use of a PLB is not required.