Technology might never take the search out of search and rescue, but for outdoors enthusiasts in trouble, the ability to get help became a lot easier this month.
Personal locator beacons (PLBs) use satellites to alert national dispatch centers and give rescuers the name of the owner and the longitude and latitude readings of the point of origin - the backcountry equivalent of a street address.
"These are not just glorified cell phones. These work where cell phones won't," says Lt. Dan Karlson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Knowing who you are and where you are is a big step for search and rescue."
NOAA oversees the satellite system from the U.S. Mission Control Center in Suitland, Prince George's County, three miles from Andrews Air Force Base. There, technicians monitor and verify information around the clock and forward rescue calls to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Langley, Va.
The technology behind personal locator beacons has been used on ships and aircraft for decades and by the international adventuring community for a number of years. It has aided the rescue of more than 15,000 people worldwide since 1982, NOAA says.
But it wasn't until last year that the Federal Communications Commission cleared the way for PLBs' land use here. They've been legal since July 1, and at least five companies are selling the devices, which cost from $500 to $700. More units are expected on the market as time goes by.
The less expensive units send out a signal picked up by low-orbiting satellites passing overhead every 100 minutes. Using the Doppler shift, a satellite locks on the ground position and relays it and the 15-digit identifier code to a tracking station. The system can narrow the search field to a half-mile.
High-end beacons contain global positioning system (GPS) units that send a location signal to one of three stationary satellites over the equator, a faster and more accurate approach that can narrow the search area to the size of a football field.
Karlson believes PLBs will make search and rescue operations more efficient and help save lives.
However, there are skeptics. Some search and rescue veterans say they have been burned by outdoorsmen's excessive reliance on electronic gadgets, such as GPS units and cell phones, and fear the same will happen with the beacons.
Stories abound of unprepared, ill-equipped hikers calling 911 and putting rescuers at risk. Or hikers who grow tired of walking and want to be picked up.
"We're getting enough crap from cell phone traffic now," says Irwin "Buzz" Caverly, the head of Baxter State Park in Maine since 1971. "The risk with these contraptions is that people bite off more than they can chew, and then they expect us to come get them.
"Modern technology is a wonderful thing for civilization, but for the wilderness it is not a replacement for being woods-wise."
Rick Wilcox, a mountaineer who leads a volunteer group in New Hampshire's White Mountains credited with many winter rescues, says electronic devices can adversely alter the decision-making process.
He notes the 1999 case of a retired doctor who nearly died on 6,288-foot Mount Washington when a snowstorm trapped him above the tree line. His cell phone battery died after he called for help but before rescuers could get specific directions.
"He had a little bit of water, no food and his cell phone. Take away that phone, and I doubt he would have headed into bad weather if he thought no one could come and get him," says Wilcox.
However, Karlson says the other side of the coin is Aron Ralston, the climber who had to amputate his arm to free himself in a remote Utah canyon. Had Ralston been able to buy a beacon in April, he would have had a means to contact rescuers.
"The PLBs have a major time advantage," he says. "You hit the button and you set in motion an entire rescue process."
Lt. Todd Borgardus, the search and rescue team leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, says he doesn't envision the beacons as a "troublesome technology," but does see a disadvantage.
"The units tell us there is a problem, and they tell us where the problem is. But they don't tell us how many people are involved and the severity of the problem," he says. "We have to treat it as a life-threatening situation until we know otherwise."
Karlson acknowledges that there could be false alarms or overstated emergencies, something he calls "the price of doing business." But he notes that an experiment conducted in Alaska, which has been authorized to use PLBs since 1994, paints an optimistic picture. In 2001, Alaskan officials recorded 54 rescues triggered by PLBs, with just one false alarm.
Karlson says people who buy a beacon must register it with NOAA (an online registration system will be operating by Aug. 4), and many states will be requiring outfitters that rent the units to supply a 24-hour point of contact to local rescue teams.
The units also include an "oops factor" safeguard, a 50-second delay to allow the user to cancel the signal before it is sent.
People convicted of malicious use of the beacon, a federal offense, can be punished by up to six years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution to the rescue agencies.
Borgardus predicts that someday a hand-held unit will allow people in trouble to answer with the push of a button three "yes or no" questions to aid rescuers.
But rescue experts say that no matter what technological gadget you take into the wilderness, always have the skills to back it up.
"If you want to go out there for that Davy Crockett experience but you need to have your hand held," says Caverly, "hire a guide."
For more information, visit NOAA's satellite Web site at www.sarsat.noaa.gov.
