FCC refuses to act over beacon modification case

The FCC has turned away a strange complaint regarding an Emergency Beacon Locator device purchased from an unnamed vendor in the United Kingdom by a resident of France.

Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, has the details:

In a letter dated October 24, 2008, Jean Pierre de Lutz of La Garde Freinet, France, submitted a complaint regarding ACR Electronics, Inc. which is located in Great Britain.

In his letter, Lutz stated that ACR duplicated the hexadecimal code for his 406 MHz Emergency Position
Indicating Radiobeacon and that this duplication caused him and his crew to be placed in life-threatening storm conditions at sea unnecessarily.

According to Lutz complaint, he purchased the device in 2002 and immediately registered it with the United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

In 2007 he activated the beacon when his vessel encountered storm conditions during an Atlantic crossing.

But in the intervening years another beacon manufactured with the same code was also sold and when it was registered with NOAA it overwrote the entry for Lutz unit.

As a result Lutz claims that the duplication of the code
between his emergency beacon and that of another vessel resulted in a potentially disastrous delay in the dispatch of Coast Guard personnel to rescue him and his crew.

But the FCC disagrees. In its findings, the agency says that ACR is not at fault. It says that the two ACR beacons in question had unique hexadecimal codes until Lutz beacon was altered by the vendor. The FCC added that while it is concerned that this situation occurred, it finds no basis to
conclude that ACR violated any rules.

Don Wilbanks, AE5DW
Amateur Radio Newsline

• The FCC did advise Lutz that any complaint regarding the vendor’s alteration of the hexadecimal code should be referred to United Kingdom authorities.
In addition, comments regarding emergency beacon registration procedures in the United States should be addressed to NOAA. It says that NOAA has changed the registration procedures to ensure that similar duplications do not go undetected, and that the correct user registration information is retained.

ARNewsline, FCC