[MilCom] Re: [AirCommSouthwest] ELT Alert Beacons Can Hobbyists Help Locate?

[Bryan Herbert]

Back in the mid to late 90s when I was in CAP we used anything we could 
get our hands on to communicate with one another, 49MHz, ham radio, 
cellphones even CB and FRS (now ISR). Because SARSAT makes one pass 
roughly every hour we had to standby for 3 hours in order to triangulate 
the general area of where the beacon is coming from. There was one 
mission where we didnt wait the three hours,  I started out in Palmdale 
near Plant 42, drove through Lancaster, then Rosamond, followed by 
Mojave, finally ending up at Edwards AFB waiting for the second pass. 
The second pass took us out to Lake Los Angeles, El Mirage and Phelan. 
Finally the third pass put the beacon in the area of SoCal Logisitics 
where we came upon a very strong beacon blasting throughout the 
airfield, after a couple of hours we located the aircraft in a locked 
hanger. Nowadays, I still tend to monitor 121.5/243.0 and any beacons I 
come across I immediately phone in to China Lake Tower or LA Center. 
Sometimes when the search missions are large enough to open a mission 
base they will give out the base phone number over the air or in packet 
traffic, this is when they appreciate direct contact, it saves having to 
go through the channels.

Ken wrote:

> Are scanner radio hobbyists in the position to help in more quickly
> resolving these situations.
>
> Interestingly, my understanding is that 95% of all Emergency Locator
> Transmitter activations are false primarily due to electronic/battery
> problems.
>
> As many of you know Civil Air Patrol http://www.cap.gov/ 
> <http://www.cap.gov/> is tasked with
> locating these beacons. All of the beacons (including the new PLB's)
> transmit a homing signal/sound on 121.5 mhz and may sound like this
> http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/MAEL/ag/elt.wav 
> <http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/MAEL/ag/elt.wav> BUT if the batteries are 
> low, no
> tone may be transmitted, only a carrier. Unfortunately, when the SARSAT
> satellite hear's the transmission it doesn't know if it is a 
> malfunctioning
> unit or a real problem. Info on sarsat can be found at:
> http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/ <http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/> &
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Position-Indicating_Radio_Beacon 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Position-Indicating_Radio_Beacon>
>
> Civil Air Patrol uses specialized direction finding equipment in 
> aircraft,
> vehicles, & portable operations see: http://www.ltronics.com/ 
> <http://www.ltronics.com/> &
> http://level2.cap.gov/documents/u_081503135122.pdf 
> <http://level2.cap.gov/documents/u_081503135122.pdf> for more information
>
> Sometimes if you monitor CAP's VHF FM/P25 radio network you may hear them
> coordinating trying to find these ELT beacons with air, mobile, & 
> portable
> units. It's been rumored that CAP may also use cellphones in some areas
> rather than their radio network in tracking down ELT's to include
> sprint/nextel nationwide walkie talkie and off network functions.
>
> The system does have some alert lag time in it with the older ELT units.
> First and foremost, the SARSAT satellite might have to make more than one
> pass before the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center actually sends an 
> alert
> out to CAP. My understanding is that this may take anywhere from 3 to 5
> hours. CAP units will than be sent out on an authorized AF mission to 
> find
> the ELT beacon. The goal is to identify the source & silence all false
> beacons as soon as practical to ensure that if there's a real 
> emergency the
> satellite will pickup the actual distress signal.
>
> So perhaps all monitoring hobbyists could provide some assistance in
> alerting authorities and assisting with ELT beacons being found more
> quickly. Just place 121.5 mhz into your mobile, portable, and/or base
> station scanning sequence and if you pickup an alert beacon signal 
> contact
> your nearest airport control tower, flight service station, air route
> traffic control center watch officer, etc.. and provide them with you 
> exact
> location. My understanding is that if you call CAP directly they will 
> have
> to get authorization from higher headquarters & the USAF before actually
> dispatch UDF teams.
>
> BTW Civil Air Patrol is always looking for technically inclined potential
> members both seniors and cadets. Urban Direction Finding Team training
> (see: http://level2.cap.gov/documents/u_052704140516.pdf 
> <http://level2.cap.gov/documents/u_052704140516.pdf> may be provided
> to all members that are interested. Local CAP units can be found at the
> website: http://cap.findlocation.com/ <http://cap.findlocation.com/>
>
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-- 
Bryan Herbert - KE6ZGP - Ridgecrest, Ca.
http://bryanherbert.com