ICAO Requirements: The International Civil Aviation (ICAO) has recommended since 2005, all aircraft under the jurisdiction of the ICAO Convention and used for international flights carrying an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) operating at 406 MHz for compatible with the Cospas-Sarsat System, and for purposes of 121.5 MHz homing.

406.0 MHz beacons

There are currently three different types of 406 MHz beacons:

# ELT - beacon for aircraft.
# EPIRB - Radio Beacon used for boats.
# PLB - EPIRB for personal use


406 MHz beacons is associated with a 121.5 MHz homing signal to aid in the detection of last mile. Have a search radius of 2 nautical miles (4 km). Compared with antiguaradiobalizas of 121.5 MHz and 243.00 MHz (now obsolete) which has a search radius between 15 and 20 nautical miles (30/40 miles).

All 406 MHz beacons, in their memory, a hexadecimal code with specific information such as name of vessel / aircraft, a country in which they were registered, and so on. This information is used in the COSPA/SARSAT to determine who owns the mark, speeding up the search, as well as to consult with other control centers in the world

Why register?

When generating a detection frequency of 406 MHz within the service area assigned to the country, is received at the  COSPA/SARSAT a warning message like the one shown below:

   COSPA/SARSAT TRANSMIT TIME: 06:40 UTC 24-08-05
FORMAT FILE: RCC406.FMT
1.       DISTRESS COSPAS-SARSAT INITIAL ALERT
2.       MSG NO: 20490 ARMCC REF: 04194
3.       DETECTED AT: 21 MAR 01529 UTC BY SARSAT 11
4.       DETECTION FREQUENCY: 406.0250 MHz
5.       COUNTRY OF BEACON REGISTRATION: 366/ USA
6.       USER CLASS: USER-LOCATION -EPIRB SERIAL ID 34434
          MMSI (6 DIGITS):
7.       EMERGENCY CODE: NIL
8.       POSITIONS:
            RESOLVED - 15 55.2 N 085 56.2 W
            DOPPLER A - 15 55.3 N 085 56.4 W PROB 60
            DOPPLER B - NIL
            ENCODED - NIL

9.       ENCODED POSITION PROVIDED BY: NIL
10.     NEXT PASS TIMES (UTC):
          RESOLVED
          DOPPLER A - 21 MAR 11 1807
          DOPPLER B -NIL
          ENCODED - NIL

Then the  RCC/SPOC/SAR/CENAMER, operates as follows:

1. Transmitting the alert to the SAR authority of jurisdiction.

2. Search Hexadecimal code 15 Beacon (lines 2 and 11 of the alert message) on the registration database for: Contact information of the beacon owner, the emergency contact information and identifying characteristics of the vessel / aircraft.

3. This information allows SAR services: Respond appropriately in a timely manner and to confirm if the warning received is real or fake.

If the information received through the system of satellite distress alert can not be verified reliably, due to missing or being these outdated, it generates a significant waste of time at the beginning of the search and rescue, the unknown, for example: What type of vessel or aircraft in question, characteristics, colors, number of occupants etc.

Make sure your mark is registered properly and accurately!

YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON THIS ACTION!