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After 1 February 2009 the old 121.5 MHz and 243 MHz distress beacons won’t generate an alert or give your location. The satellite system that supports these old beacons will cease to operate from 1 February 2009.

This means if you need help in an emergency and you try to use an old distress beacon to alert us, the satellites will have no way of hearing you. Time is running out - you must purchase a 406MHz Distress Beacon and register it by 1 February 2009 so we can help you in an emergency.

For information on EPIRBs (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), – go to Sea

For information on PLBs (Personal Locator Beacon) – go to Land

For information on ELTs (Emergency Locator Transmitter) - go to Air

How will a 406MHz distress beacon help save your life?

It works. Only 406MHz distress beacons will be monitored by satellite from 1 February 2009.
It’s faster. Once activated, the signal from a 406MHz distress beacon is picked up almost instantly by satellite. The satellites supporting the old 121.5MHz and 243MHz distress beacons can take several hours to determine your location - which could be hours too late.
It’s more Accurate. 406MHz distress beacons give rescuers a search area of approximately 20 square kilometres. However, we strongly recommend GPS equipped EPIRB’s as they reduce the search area down to only a few square metres. This takes the ‘search’ out of search and rescue, and increases your chances of survival. Any 406MHz beacon is a huge improvement on the 121.5/243MHz system, which had a search area of more than 1260 square kilometres.
It brings the right response. With 406MHz distress beacons, alerts are cross-referenced against a database of registered owners. Having this information improves rescuers’ ability to help you in an emergency, and to respond appropriately. Being able to contact you (or a person you nominate) also saves time and resources from being wasted on false alerts – out of the 1300 121.5MHz activations in the last two years, only 9% were for a real emergency.