Tow Bee Boating Safety Tip: Wear a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)

PLBs are portable units you can use wear that emit a signal that rescuers can use to find you should you need to be rescued on the water. These beacons can only be activated manually and operate exclusively on 406 MHz.

Similar devices are called EPIRBs which stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon and they also have a built-in, low-power homing beacon similar to the PLB. However, an EPIRB is much larger and attaches to a boat, not to a person, and the signal is often automatically sent in an emergency.

In both devices, the emergency signal rescue forces to find the distress beacon through the satellite system which provides the necessary position information.

Upon purchase, you need to register your PLB or EPIRB with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is easy to do on their website.

Captain Debbie Hanson from SheFishes2 talks about the importance of having and using a person locator beacon in this video.