Press release from the "Smoketown 2"

Greebo said:
I don't know - I'm speculating - but if it were me, I'd want that elt heard from miles and miles away. SAR can use a diff freq. :)
Click to expand...

Power output requires energy from the batteries so the transmit power is a compromise between reception range, battery cost, and weight. In addition, VHF reception requires a direct line of sight path so increasing power beyond a certain (fairly low) level won't increase range unless the receiver and/or transmitter are elevated considerably.
 
Well, this gives a little more insight. If 121.5 was blocked (or there was substantial interference), at least they were trying to employ it. Doesn't say they were monitoring it before the helo put up the placard. Still, a lot of unanswered questions. If they had a GPS, it would be easy to locate a controller frequency. VFR or IFR charts would have frequencies. I'd sure be tryin to talk to someone. Of course, hope to never get in this circumstance to begin with. At least not a static prohibited area.

Dave
 
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