"GPS" saves hiker in Russia from 3700 miles away

mikea

mikea

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A British student who was injured after falling off a horse in a remote part of Russia was rescued yesterday after sending a distress signal which was picked up 3,700 miles away by an RAF base in Scotland.
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The beacon used GPS technology, which gives a very accurate position within five seconds of being activated, allowing RAF Kinloss to raise the alarm and tell Russian emergency services where to find the party of nine.

"They were able to pinpoint the location of the group right down to an area smaller than half a tennis court," said Michael Mulford, from RAF Kinloss, who added that it was "very unusual" for the base to respond to signals so far away.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/06/russia?
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Can we guess what kind of "GPS" technology she had? :D
 
etsisk said:
you think it was a SPOT?
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Probably not SPOT if the RAF was the originating SAR agency. Probably a GPS-enabled PLB. SPOT would call a GEOS office (private company) who would contact SAR resources in the nation in which the emergency occurred.

RAF Kinloss is a cospas-sarsat (government) mission control center.

The only thing that confuses me is that Moscow also has a MCC, weird that it went through the RAF. Maybe after Moscow noticed the contact info was from a British citizen they punted it over to the RAF for investigation and background before launching. Oh well.

http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/Description/mcc_list.htm
 
What exactly is the difference between SPOTand a PLB? I think spot sends out a signal every ten minutes to show your track but other than that I'm not sure.
 
A SPOT beacon sends out your position periodically while it's working. In the event of an accident, you can push a button to summon help - this generates an email message to the address you specified, and I believe that it may alert the SPOT center as well. Spot beacons do not offer any homing capability for rescue forces.

A PLB is a 406 Mhz device, that, when manually activated, sends out the same emergency signal as a 406 MHZ ELT. Most PLBs have internal GPS receivers so they will send out your current coordinates as well. These signals are monitored 24/7 by COSPAS/SARSAT and will generate the appropriate attention from official SAR folks.

A 406 MHZ is like a PLB with permanent installation, G-force activation, plus a 121.5 MHz continuous homing signal. They also tend to interface with vessel/aircraft GPS systems instead of including their own.

For emergencies, I'd prefer a PLB over a SPOT, because I know that there are people listening, they've made a significant investment, and they don't rely on iridium (which I think SPOT does).

I'd probably take SPOT over a 121.5 MHz ELT after February, since at least there's a chance someone will be listening for my SPOT transmission.
 
AdamZ said:
What exactly is the difference between SPOTand a PLB? I think spot sends out a signal every ten minutes to show your track but other than that I'm not sure.
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Short answer? SPOT is a device sold very inexpensively that requires a subscription to a private service to operate. It utilizes the Globalstar satellite communications system (think sat phone) for communications. It has a few interesting features including tracking (which can be accessed by your friends and neighbors via the internet if you wish), an "OK" button, a intermediate trouble button and an emergency button. No sat service, no help. Reviews of the company that provides the "dispatching" if you will are pretty good.

A personal locator beacon is either GPS-enabled, or not. It is more expensive because there is no provider subscription to subsidize the cost. It has one botton: emergency, much like your ELT. In the US, when you purchase it you register the unit's unique identifier as well as your personal information (including plane description, your personal information, emergency contact numbers etc. with a sub-bureau of NOAA. It utilizes the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system to signal an emergency when you press the button. GPS versions send a radio signal that encodes your GPS location too. The rescue is initiated exactly as an ELT activation would - through an Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to the relevant agency with jurisdiction depending on your location and (if they can determine it by your personal information you submitted when you registered the beacon) activity.

In summary, SPOT uses Globalstar coverage (not always available in the north country) and a private service to provide emergency location, and is more feature rich, is much cheaper to get into but costs money on a yearly basis

GPS PLB uses the international COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system with a 406mhz signal, is more expensive (>400 bucks) to get into, is free afterwards, and only has one signal = emergency.

FWIW I use a PLB for a couple of reasons, not the least of which being Globalstar coverage sucked everywhere I ever tried to use it.
 
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I forgot what Tim said, the PLB is broadcasting an audible signal for SAR to find you, though with decent GPS coverage it shouldn't matter.
 
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