NZ's RSM comes to the rescue of old faulty beacon

A recent case has prompted New Zealand's Radio Spectrum Management to remind all users of emergency beacons to ensure that batteries have been properly removed prior to disposal.

Last month, the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) contacted an RSM Radio Inspector regarding a beacon which had been active for two days.

After an unsuccessful initial land search, the Radio Inspector and the RCC team flew around the area where satellite data had located the beacon, but could not locate it from the air. They landed and conducted another shore line search but could not hear any signal. The team waited for another satellite pass and, although a brief indication of a beacon was captured, no position was indicated.

Eventually, they used another aircraft to detect the beacon around some industrial buildings at the south end of Levin.

The RSM coordinator made enquiries in a workshop.
They knew of no boats or aircraft in the area but one person remembered that a very old beacon had been removed from a shipping container where a deceased person’s effects had been stored. This beacon was found leaning up against the outside of the container and proved to be the source of the problem. It turned out we had to be within about 30 metres of the beacon to hear it clearly. This very weak signal was the reason for the poor satellite positions and difficulty in locating it from the air and ground.

There was no obvious reason why the beacon had activated as its activation pin was still in place. It was thought that it was unlikely to have been touched in at least 20 years and yet its batteries still were good enough to produce the weak signal!