Personal Locator Beacons Now Legal to Aid Search and Rescue for Land-Based Emergencies; ACR's GyPSI 406 PLB First to be Approved by FCC

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--June 27, 2003--A satellite-assisted search and rescue technology credited with saving the lives of thousands around the world, Tuesday, July 1, 2003, will become available to millions of Americans for emergencies on land.
    As a result of an FCC ruling (Amendment 02-271), Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) on Tuesday can be sold and used in the continental United States (the units have been allowed in Alaska as a test case since 1994, resulting in nearly 400 rescues). PLBs will provide outdoorsmen and extreme sports enthusiasts with a reliable and time-tested system to signal for help in dire, life-threatening emergency situations.
    U.S. Search and Rescue agencies will hold a ceremonial first activation test of the PLB Tuesday in Waterbury, Vermont with local Boy Scout Troops 42 and 759 conducting a missing person search exercise in a densely wooded area.
    One of the companies supplying PLBs for the test is Fort Lauderdale-based ACR Electronics, Inc., (http://www.acrelectronics.com), a global manufacturer known for its niche in the development of high-tech safety and survival technologies and products since the 1950s. For ACR, the U.S. approval of PLBs is a logical and much-needed step in saving lives.
    "If you've seen the news headlines in recent weeks, it's been quite obvious that people can run into serious, life-threatening situations in a very short amount of time in the wilderness," said Paul Hardin, ACR's Executive Vice President of Sales. "With these satellite-detectable beacons, we literally are taking the "Search" out of "Search and Rescue", providing agencies with timely and precise coordinates to locate victims much more effectively and at a reduced cost to the taxpayer."
    Upon activation, a PLB, for example, sends a signal to the polar-orbiting COSPAS-SARSAT and geostationary environmental GEOSAR satellite systems that encircle the globe. This signal is then relayed to a ground station and routed to the appropriate mission control center, where the unique identification signal is matched to the beacon owner's registered data. The location and data are then forwarded to the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), which then coordinates the rescue with the appropriate local search and rescue agency. If no GPS data is loaded into the PLB, the traditional COSPAS-SARSAT satellites pinpoint the PLB's location to within 2.3 m (3.70 km). If a GPS unit is connected to the PLB, emergency response speed is increased.
    More reliable than typical safety devices such as emergency two-way radios, cellular phones, or GPS units, PLBs are manufactured by only a handful of companies meeting stringent FCC requirements. ACR's GyPSI(TM) 406 PLB, for example, is suggested to retail for around $700. The compact (1.9 x 6.5 x 3.8 in) and lightweight (17.6 oz) beacon has been sold and used for years in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, and now with the U.S. approval, will be available in major outdoor outlets around the country.
    For PLB images and a list of media sources, please contact John Bell, 954/970-3394 or Email at prseitz@bellsouth.net.

    Related Web Sites:

    NOAA/SARSAT, http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov

    National Association for Search and Rescue, http://www.nasar.org

    AFRCC, http://www2.acc.af.mil/afrcc/ & http://2222.acc.af.mil/library/factsheets/afrcc.html