Fact Sheet on the Personal Locator Beacon

What is a Personal Locator Beacon?

The PLB is a hand-held, satellite-communicating, emergency location device.  When activated, a PLB sends a data burst to passing satellites on 406.025 MHz and simultaneously sends an emergency signal on 121.5 MHz for direction finding (DF).  The data transmitted includes the owner’s, name, address, phone number and backup phone number.  Once picked up by a satellite, the satellite generates the latitude and longitude of the source accurate to about 1 mile.  PLBs have been on the market for about 12 years.

Where can I get one?

The FCC approved purchase of PLBs in the USA on 1 July 2003 .  You can buy one on-line or in stores catering to outdoor equipment.

How does the PLB get your personal information?

The owner provides the data to the manufacturer who enters it into the PLB.  Only the manufacturer can change it.  

Who gets the transmitted data?

The satellite stores the information until it is in range of a ground receiving station called a Local User Terminal (LUT).  The LUT sends the data to the US Mission Control Center (USMCC) who decodes it and determines a location.  For signals originating in the US , the USMCC sends the data to the appropriate agency.

 Who’s the “appropriate agency”?

This is important!  For aviation beacons (ELT) and maritime beacons (EPIRB) on land, the data goes to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC).  For beacons over water, they go to the US Coast Guard.  But PLB activations are people in distress, which is a County Sheriff mission; neither of the agencies above are the officials for this type of mission.  So the USMCC decodes the data, sends it to the AFRCC who then contacts the 24-hour point of contact for the state the signal is originating from. 

 Who is the point of contact for Oregon ?  What will they do with the data?

Oregon Emergency Management (OEM) is the point of contact for this information.  When activated in Oregon , the PLB data will be sent by the AFRCC to OEM and received by the Oregon Emergency Response System (OERS).  OERS will contact the State SAR Coordinator who will look at the data and contact the appropriate County Sheriff ’s Office.

 If a PLB is activated in my County, what will I get and what should I do?

A PLB activated in your county means that a person is in distress and needs immediate assistance.  The Sheriff’s Office needs to treat this like any other SAR notification.  Your first notification of the event will probably be a phone call from the State SAR Coordinator with the following information: subject’s name, address, phone number, emergency phone number, and latitude and longitude of the signal.  Make sure your 24-hour answering point understands the nature of the phone call.  This is an emergency!  When heading out to the field, don’t forget to bring the Tracker^® provided to you by OEM.  With this device, you can DF the 121.5 MHz homing signal generated by the PLB. 

 We’re not picking up the homer and we’re at the location of the signal.  There’s no sign or clue of the subject.  Can OEM help?

Civil Air Patrol (CAP) has installed the necessary equipment into their aircraft to DF the either the 121.5 or 406 signal. 

 I have more questions.  Who can I talk to?