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SWITCH TO 406

Maximizing your Lifeline to survival:
The importance of 406 MHz beacon registration

By NSS staff

“Would you like to register now, or later?” Anyone who has installed a computer program has seen a message like this pop up on their screen, or they have found one of those little manufacturers’ registration cards in the bottom of the box after unpacking a new toaster, camera, or snow blower. Unless a warranty is involved, however, we often tend to ignore or postpone – sometimes indefinitely – this registration process.

Emergency distress beacons that operate on a primary frequency of 406 MHz also come with registration forms. It is critical, however, that these forms not be ignored, postponed, or forgotten. In fact, it is in the owner’s best interest to register with the Canadian 406 MHz Beacon Registry (http://beacons.nss.gc.ca) immediately, even before their beacon is installed in an aircraft or vessel, or set aside to await its first adventure.

What’s so special about 406 MHz beacons?

Unique identity

The older generation of emergency beacons that operate on a primary frequency of 121.5 or 243 MHz are analog devices. Their signals are anonymous, and provide no information about the nature of the distress, or indeed, if a distress situation actually exists. The vast majority of 121.5 MHz and 243 MHz alerts received by the search and rescue system are determined to be false alarms, often after precious rescue resources have been sent to investigate.

Thanks to the ability of 406 MHz beacons and the COSPAS-SARSAT system to accept and process digital messages, each 406 MHz emergency beacon can be uniquely identified. If it is properly registered, it can be matched to a particular aircraft, vessel, or individual. Search and rescue (SAR) authorities can then get in touch with the emergency contacts on the registration file. This offers the potential to resolve false alerts with a single telephone call, saving rescue resources for true distress situations. In the case of an actual emergency, reaching the emergency contacts can give the rescue controller important information about an aircraft, vessel, or person in distress, even while the satellite system is calculating its location. An emergency involving a passenger ferry will require more resources to be dispatched, for example, than an incident involving a sailing vessel crewed by five people.

Faster locating ability

A properly-registered 406 MHz beacon can make rescue efforts more efficient in other ways, too. If a 406 MHz beacon is equipped to transmit navigational data from a Global Positioning System (GPS), its location will be received almost immediately by COSPAS-SARSAT’s geostationary satellites. This certainly takes the “search” out of search and rescue.

However, if a 406 MHz beacon does not have GPS capability, its position is calculated by low-earth orbiting COSPAS-SARSAT satellites passing overhead. The first satellite pass initially generates two positions: the actual or “true” location of the beacon, and one mirror-imaged location, which could be several hundred or several thousand kilometres away. With the older 121.5 MHz beacons, rescue authorities must wait for a second satellite pass to confirm which position is the correct one. However, a properly-registered 406 MHz beacon can help eliminate this ambiguity almost immediately. If, for example, a 406 MHz Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) alert is registered to a small aircraft normally based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, rescue efforts can be directed to the coordinates closest to that location, rather than the less likely mirror-imaged position, 1800 km to the southeast in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. If a 406 MHz beacon is unregistered, time may be lost as rescue authorities wait for the true position to be determined by successive satellite passes.

Customized SAR information

Finally, a beacon owner has the ability to add any additional information to its record that he/she feels will help a SAR operation. Itinerary information can be a big help. For example, a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) record might contain the following information: “Moose River, ON: Will be one of four canoes travelling between Moose River Crossing and Moose Factory 17-23 July, 2008.”

In one case, a PLB owner included the fact that he was an insulin-dependent diabetic in his beacon registration. When he got into serious trouble in the backcountry and had to use his beacon, the rescue unit dispatched to his location was already aware of his medical history.

What are the consequences of an unregistered 406 MHz beacon?

An unregistered 406 MHz beacon limits the ability of SAR authorities to investigate and respond to an alert in an efficient and effective manner, because without registration information, rescue authorities won’t be able to determine:

• what vessel, aircraft, and/or individual is in distress;



• where the vessel, aircraft, or individual is normally based;



• who the owner is, and how to contact him or her;



• if the alert is a true distress situation, or a false alarm.

Valuable time can be lost, and in the case of a false alert, rescue resources may be launched unnecessarily.

Unfortunately, the number of unregistered 406 MHz beacon alerts currently being received by the Canadian Mission Control Centre in Trenton, Ontario, suggests that up to 40 percent of all 406 MHz beacons being used in Canada are not registered. For aviation and marine beacons, this is a contravention of the Aeronautics Act, and the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, respectively

What are the consequences of a 406 MHz beacon registration that is incorrect or incomplete?

An incorrect or incomplete beacon registration may also detract from the effectiveness of a SAR response – sometimes in a very serious way. Here are a few examples of the consequences of an incorrect or incomplete registration:

• A ship equipped with an Emergency Position- Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is repainted with a new blue-and-yellow colour scheme. The owner fails to update the description in the beacon registry, which says that the ship is red and white. When the EPIRB is triggered months later as the ship starts taking on water, rescue units are given the out-ofdate description, causing confusion during the search.
• An aircraft is sold to a new owner, but the 406 MHz ELT registration record is not updated. When the aircraft crashes late one evening, time is wasted and potentially valuable information missed as the rescue centre calls the original owner’s emergency contacts.
• An EPIRB is taken out of one fishing boat in an owner’s fleet and re-installed in another. However, the owner fails to change the vessel’s name and information in the beacon registry. When the EPIRB goes off in an emergency, the rescue centre calls looking for the original boat, and is told that it is safely tied up in the harbour. This conflicting information delays the rescue effort for the actual vessel in distress.

A few notes on beacon coding

In addition to properly registering their 406 MHz beacons, Canadians must also ensure that they are buying beacons that are coded for Canada. The coding process is usually carried out by the manufacturer, or a designated service representative.

First and foremost, Canadians should be using beacons that are properly coded because when a beacon alert is first detected by the COSPAS-SARSAT system, it is routed to the country where the beacon is coded, while a final position is being calculated. While alert data is shared very efficiently amongst participating COSPASSARSAT countries, it is most efficient if Canadian-based beacon alerts are routed directly to the Canadian Mission Control Centre in Trenton. Only Canadiancoded beacons can be registered with the Canadian 406 MHz Beacon Registry.

If you find yourself with a USA or foreign-coded beacon, you can return the beacon to the manufacturer or a designated service representative to have it re-coded for Canada. There is a cost associated with this service, usually in the vicinity of $75 USD, plus shipping and handling. While it is possible to register an Americancoded beacon with the US-based 406 MHz Beacon Registry, out-of-country registrations are strongly discouraged for both operational and administrative reasons.

Is my 406 MHz beacon Canadian?
	The 15-digit identification code or “Hex code” for a Canadian 406 MHz beacon begins with one of the following prefixes:	278 279 A78 A79

The following table summarizes the coding and registration requirements for each type of beacon

How to register your 406 MHz emergency beacon:

There are a number of ways to register a 406 MHz ELT:

• online (24/7) at www.canadianbeaconregistry.forces.gc.ca
  
  
• by faxing toll-free the registration form to 1-877-406-FAX8 (1-877-406-3298)
  
  
• by mailing the registration to Canadian Beacon Registry, CFB Trenton, PO Box 1000 Stn Forces Astra, ON K0K 3W0
  
  
• by calling toll-free the Canadian Beacon Registry at 1-877-406-SOS1 (1-877-406-7671) between 08:30-16:30 Eastern
  
  
• by e-mailing cbr@sarnet.dnd.ca

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