ART needs your help - PLB false alerts in Berthoud Pass area

So it just stopped? Or?

Nah, we did something else. If Woody wants to chime in, his explanation helps. If you have a plb, use it like a plb.

Buff Johnson wrote:Nah, we did something else. If Woody wants to chime in, his explanation helps. If you have a plb, use it like a plb.

Bobby Hanson wrote: I hope Woody chimes in...

Here is a recap of what has happened with our PLB mystery.

From December 14th to January 5th, there were 9 activations from the same PLB here in Colorado. Eight of these activations where in the Berthoud Pass area and the other lone activation was in an area north of Crested Butte. This PLB was not registered after being purchased so there was no way to determine the owner of this specific PLB. Through the efforts of ACR, REI and the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s office, it was determined that this PLB was shipped from ACR to REI on July 1, 2009. It was further determined that 12 of these beacons where sold in Colorado between July 1 and December 13. The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s office made contact with the 12 owners that purchased the PLB's. Although no one has come forth and admitted that this was their beacon, there has not been an activation since these folks where contacted.

It has always been felt that we didn’t need to know who the individual was but instead that they be educated on the use of the PLB. With the public awareness of this situation and the help of the Sheriff's office, media and other internet public forums, we feel this has been accomplished. We thank all of you for your help in this matter.

Paul “Woody” Woodward
Alpine Rescue Team

Interesting discussion point.. should there be penalties for incorrect operation of PLBs? We're only going to see more of them in the future. Valuable resources will certainly be used to chase down bogus signals. I think some kind of fine or deterrant makes sense.

No, then you'll have people that "think they may or may not" need help; won't call it in due to the potential of being fined.

When in reality, their situation is worsening, the weather is deteriorating, what could have been just a minor medical situation will now become a life threatening one; all the while, resources could have been used in time to save lives but weren't, because of a fear of being charged.

If you have cooler heads prevailing when there really is no ill intent, some simple educational discussion can go a long way.

What would really help also is having the retailer perform the mandatory registration at the point of sale; like something similar to what is verified when you get your hunting/fishing license or CORSAR Card.

OK. I see your point. Mabye mandatory education before you get one is the solution. You need a "license" to operate a ham radio, but we're giving anybody a device that mobilizes rescue teams at a button push.

I take a personal interest in this as I've been on many "rescues" with the military that put recuers' lives in danger looking for a bogus rescuee.

Anyways, just a thought. Good luck getting the manufacturers and retailers to cooperate.

A friend of mine found a SPOT PLB about six months ago and posted up on a forum about it. Just the other day, I unscrewed the battery plate and called up the company to see if it was registered to anyone. You have to register for the service for the device to even work. Yep, you guessed it. The unit serial number was not registered.

So not only was the unit completely useless to its previous owner, it can't be returned to them either.

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!
Thanks to the hard work and diligence of at least three different county sherff's departments and equally as many SAR teams, the PLB owner has been discovered. Let's just say the problem will NOT happen again. Sounds like a misunderstanding of just what the device was designed for (it is NOT an avalanche beacon!)led to it's misuse.

Tom Wood wrote: Sounds like a misunderstanding of just what the device was designed for (it is NOT an avalanche beacon!)led to it's misuse.

Ralph Kolva wrote: Does this qualify them for a "Darwin Award" nomination?

$1 is still on that they were intentionally calling false alarms.

Rescue group finds ignorant beacon owner who triggered false alarms: denverpost.com/search/ci_14…

HAHAHAHA!!!! That is probably the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Unfortunately a ton of money, time, and resources were spent looking for this person.

It really blows my mind that someone actually thought it was a Avalanche Beacon and that he skied with people on Berthoud Pass and no-one else realized that either. Obviously some intelligent Backcountry users.

PLB's need to be seriously reconsidered on how they are used.

There is some good discussion on Lou Dawson's blog as well where he mentions that 98% of all PLB alerts are False Alarms: wildsnow.com/2323/plb-rescu…

What's really scary (not funny) is that there are people out there who would deign to use something like an avy beacon without bothering to read the instructions, let alone the back of the box.

It's been a while since I've skied in the backcountry with an avy beacon but we used to always do a circle test to check that each unit was broadcasting properly. Do people do this any more?
Mal

I'm speechless. How the *bleep* could anyone do that???

Serious case of chronic Cranial Rectal Insertion.

The built in warning voice message indicating what the unit is doing should be added for sure. That services tend to want to charge more for extra "features" that seem like the bare minimum of service like two way texting will probably derail that being a standard function. As it is the SPOT will only send out certain canned messages and will not send tracking information unless you get a premium subscription. Documentation with BIG LETTERS saying what the unit is for could be added to packing immediately.

THIS UNIT SENDS OUT DISTRESS MESSAGES TO ALERT AUTHORITIES. IT IS NOT AN AVALANCHE BEACON.

Malcolm Daly wrote:What's really scary (not funny) is that there are people out there who would deign to use something like an avy beacon without bothering to read the instructions, let alone the back of the box. It's been a while since I've skied in the backcountry with an avy beacon but we used to always do a circle test to check that each unit was broadcasting properly. Do people do this any more? Mal