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Originally Posted by Wotname  Interestingly 121.5 / 243 MOB devices can still be activated.
Anyone know the difference in the transmitted signal between a 121.5 EPRIB and the 121.5 MOB device (perhaps the modulation?).
As far as I can tell from the radio communications act (in Oz), 121.5 Mhz still remains a legitmate distress frequency. |
I think the confusion lies in that 121.5 Mhz remains as it has been the International Air Distress telephony frequency for civilian aircraft and 243 that for military aircraft. It will no longer have any relevance to maritime services except for direction finding on 406 EPIRB's (and the same for aircraft ELT's) - taking Sandy's comments/warning on the value of this to heart.
With respect to whether a 121.5 beacon alert will be responded to, as I understand it the satellite transponders are killed as from February 2009 so no hope there. It is possible that an aircraft or ATCC monitoring 121.5 might pick up the tone if close enough but I doubt if much would happen - after all, most countries do not initiate search and rescue now on the basis of 121.5 alerts, unless there is some other corroborating evidence of distress or likelihood of distress, due to the very high incidence of false alerts and inability of checking the veracity of the alert.