Bushwalk Australia

Hi i have a GME PLB with the GPS will it work if i go overseas?

absolutely, although the rescue response will vary depending on where you are going to...

Humpo wrote:Hi i have a GME PLB with the GPS will it work if i go overseas?

Yes it will, but as previously mentioned the response time will be somewhat delayed.
It's often best to hire a local unit.

The GPS PLB will work for sure, but dont take it for granted that every country has such an awesome rescue organisation as we do in Australia and NZ. The way it operates here tends to be "rescue first, ask questions later".

In some 3rd world countries like nepal, you need to show authorities evidence of having insurance that explicitly states chopper rescues are covered to $10,000, before you are able to obtain the required permit to climb a particular peak.
A mate was only trekking in the pakistani karakoram ranges and didnt need any climbing permit. He suffered a broken leg and called up relevant rescue aurthorities via sat phone.
Since his insurance policy did not state value of chopper rescue covered, the chopper operators decided they would not come rescue him unless someone back in Islamabad paid their company $5000 upfront!

Luckily his insurance got into contact with the chopper company and sorted everything out, but with just a PLB emergency beacon, i'm not sure how all this info could be conveyed back and forth between insurance & rescuers. From what I understood, leaving my mate out there with a broken leg was a real possibility if they were not paid upfront!

Yes it will, but as previously mentioned the response time will be somewhat delayed.

Not according to AMSA ... "If an Australian-coded distress beacon is activated overseas an alert will be sent to the Rescue Coordination Centre responsible for the region in which the distress incident is occurring. A second notification is then sent to RCC-Australia as the registrar for the beacon." Maybe the recieving rescue centre (MCC) does it due diligence but then they woudl do that with locals as well. All signals seem to go through the LUT, MCC, then RCC, regardless of beacons origin.

e.g. Canada ... "The information from the beacon is relayed from the satellites to the Canadian Mission Control Centre (CMCC) in Trenton, Ontario. From there, the information in the data registry is sent to the applicable Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), and can be passed to other MCCs internationally, and on to any of the Rescue Centres around the world"

roysta wrote:

Humpo wrote:Hi i have a GME PLB with the GPS will it work if i go overseas?

Yes it will, but as previously mentioned the response time will be somewhat delayed.
It's often best to hire a local unit.

the delayed response is little to do with the country of origin of the locator beacon. it's been mentioned on here by at least one person they took their locator beacon overseas and used it and got a prompt helicopter rescue well within the hour, theres little delay in the aus search and rescue coordinators handing over the information of your beacon alert to search and rescue coordinators to other countries.
the majority of any delay in rescue is down to the availability of search and rescue services in the area you set the beacon off and how far away you are from those services.
if you insist in travelling well off the beaten track in very remote areas and especially in poor countries, it could take a lot longer to get a response..
some people who insist on going to very remote places in poor companies will pay for one of the world wide services that guarantee rescue just about anywhere in the world, can't remember the name of one off the top of my head, they specialise in rescuing people in some of the more difficult places to be rescued.

Sweet thanks for all the answers.

theres little delay in the aus search and rescue coordinators handing over the information of your beacon alert to search and rescue coordinators to other countries....

No. Your beacon signal comes down to the LUT under the satellite. If you are overseas with your aus beacon this is handled by the local MCC which (in pretty much the same time they forward to their RCC) forward that info to the registrar of the beacon. You could be in spain or brazil or the north pole.

Just try to be somewhere with a pretty good rescue service.

I remember asking the DOC people in New Zealand about this question last year.
The answer I got from them was yes, but that the response time might be quicker with a locally hired unit.
Now I don't know whether that was just them spinning a yarn or not.
Anyway having a Delorme inReach with me on trips from now on will be slightly different.
At least I'll know that the SOS has been received and I'll have the luxury of being able to text.