CONTINUOUSWAVE

When I was registering my ACR model 2884 PLB with NOAA I learned that the registration must be renewed every two years unlike getting a MMSI number and entering it in your VHF radio only once. I wonder if they remind you? Simple to register online. There was an area to enter my boating area, vessels owned, state registration numbers. and my three MMSI numbers.

Hope I never need the Personal Locator Beacon function.

Chuck

Chuck--thanks for that information. I think the registration website is

https://beaconregistration.noaa.gov/RGDB/index

conch wrote:...I wonder if they remind you?

There is a general information page at

http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/beacon.html

On that page I found a telephone number for inquiries. I called NOAA, and I asked the following question:

"Do PLB registrations need to be renewed every two years?"

The reply was as follows:

"Yes, PLB registrations need to be renewed every two years. We send out a reminder email and a letter two months before the registration expires."

Shortly after I posted above I checked my E-mail and had received a confirmation of registration with the quote below included.

"This letter is the proof-of-registration for your beacon; please retain it for your records. We will send you a renewal reminder approximately 2 months before your 2-year registration expires. If you have any questions regarding beacon registration, please contact the NOAA SARSAT Beacon Registration Team. "

I am going to order a ACR 2881 for my son. While discussing my purchase of a PLB he informed his mother and I that the small medical transport plane he flies at work between islands in Hawaii does not have one. That surprised us. A few mouse clicks at Amazon Prime cured that.

Chuck

On more careful reading of the information on the NOAA website, I found this advice:

"It is important to note, however, that your registration is valid for only two years and you are required to re-register the beacon every two years so that we can maintain up-to-date records on your contact information. We will attempt to contact you every two years to confirm this information."

I found some interesting information on the total number of beacons registered, categorized by type:

PLB = 181,414
EPIRB = 215,757
ELT = 88,399
As of April 2016; source http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/BMW%202016_files/BMW%20Presentation%202016%20_beacon%20use_Mathur_v1.pdf

Another document gives running totals of registered beacons. As of October 2017 there were 555,041 beacon devices registered with NOAA. Of course, that is just the total for the U.S.A; on a global basis I would expect there are many more, registered with the other participating countries.

Cf.: http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/Initial%20New%20Registrations%20By%20Type.pdf

That represents a lot of individual people in the registration database. The way people change addresses and telephone numbers these days, keeping a check on users every two years seems like a reasonable way to manage the database and keep it accurate.

It also seems they have a "drop dead" term of ten years if you do not renew before that they remove you from the database.

How long is my registration information valid in the International 406-MHz Beacon Registration Database?

"You should confirm your registration information every two years. However, you are encouraged to provide updates to your registration anytime a change of information occurs. Beacon registrations that have not been updated or confirmed for 10 years will be removed from the database."

Chuck

I believe that the 10-year period is considered to be the useful life of a beacon. If no contact or update has occurred in ten years, a beacon might be removed from the database on the basis that its useful service life has expired.

CONCH--can you give a cite for the information about 10-year drop dead removal you quoted above? I could not find any on-line resource that had that specific information.

I copy and pasted from

https://cospas-sarsat.int/en/selecting-a-406-mhz-beacon-model-2#what_happens_not_registered

This is where I also learned you only have 20-minutes to complete the registration form before timing out. I needed to gather info I wanted included in the general area such as registration numbers, MMSI numbers, boating area, etc. and I am a slow one finger typist on the keyboard.

Chuck

In the past month or so I received in the mail a hard copy PLB registration reminder. I also received an emailed version. It took all of about two minutes to do the two-year renewal. My PLB is the ACR AquaLink View

Jim wondered how many 406 distress transmitters were out there globally. The website indicates "[t]here are more than 1.5 million Cospas-Sarsat 406-MHz distress beacons in operation."

Porthole--that is the beacon I received, the ACR 2884 AquaLink View an early Christmas/Birthday gift.

Chuck

CHUCK--in an article I wrote last year I cited the number of beacons in use world-wide.

There are about 1.4-million beacon transmitters that have registered with COSPAR-SARSAT, and more than 40 countries have adopted the system.

Cf.: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1703

The figure I gave earlier in this thread (555,041 beacon devices) was an up-to-date figure for USA registered devices.