A comment in Mr. DD's post (#120) regarding "butt dialing". How do they occur? Is there anything I can do to minimize/eliminate such an accident?
In my case, I gave an older EPIRB to a needy boater, admonishing him to register it (and have the battery replaced as it was out of date). I de-registered it to me. 3 years later I get a call from the coast guard, saying they have an EPIRB, location corresponds to a land fill. They want to know if it is real. The lesson is don't give away an old one, destroy it.
But while the CG is on the phone, I ask what the false alarm rate is, and he says >95%. This is why they call the last known contact info when they see one, and can result in a delay for SAR dispatch unless they reach someone who says yes, boat is out in that area, so probably real.
Another incident, a friend had scheduled the yard to launch his boat, with specific instructions to wait until he arrived with the speed thru hull sensor. They launched it while he was still on the plane. Boat began to sink. EBIRB laying on sole got wet and went off, the CG could not reach him but were able to reach a backup contact. Backup contact realized what must have happened and called the yard, who lifted the boat with only about 3' of water inside. In that case not life or death but did probably save the boat.
With an EBIRB you pull the trigger and that initiates an expensive and possibly dangerous SAR. There is no way to un-pull the trigger. Turning it off only compounds the problem. Win again for the sat com device, which can message SAR to stand down as solutions have been found. This makes it a little more likely that you will pull the trigger early with more chance of successful SAR, knowing that you can modify the situation as conditions change.
Really the only downside of the sat com device is there is a monthly subscription, not needed for an EBIRB/PLB.
