EPIRB and SART Two Days Before the Season
Two days before a ten-day coastal charter season, you inspect the GMDSS kit on a 24 m US-flag passenger vessel restricted to Sea Area A1, carrying 49 passengers. You find: (a) a Category 1 float-free 406 MHz EPIRB with GNSS and 121.5 MHz homing, battery expiry next month, and a hydrostatic release unit stamped "replace by" 14 months ago; (b) the EPIRB's self-test gives a green flash and "test OK"; (c) the beacon registration database still shows the vessel's previous name, the previous owner's telephone number and the old MMSI; (d) a 9 GHz SART in the liferaft grab bag that has never been tested, and a deckhand who wants to switch it on in the harbour "to see the light flash"; (e) no record of any 406 or SART test in the radio log. The surveyor arrives tomorrow. The owner wants to sail on Saturday.
1. Which findings would stop the vessel sailing, and which are documentation issues?
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Hard stops: the battery expiry next month and an HRU 14 months past its stamped date. Both are life-limited items with no discretion. The HRU must be replaced by its date; the battery must be replaced by an approved service station before expiry - not "when it fails". Sailing with either expired is operating outside the certificate.
Documentation, but operationally serious: the registration data. If that beacon activates, the RCC will call the previous owner's number and look up a vessel with a different name and MMSI. That is not a paperwork problem, it is a delay in the one process the beacon exists to start. Fix it before Saturday.
Misleading: the self-test pass. It proves the battery has some charge and the internal electronics respond. It does not prove 406 MHz transmission, does not prove the GNSS position is encoded correctly, and it can pass on a degraded battery. Never let "test OK" override a date stamp.
If the battery and HRU cannot be replaced in time, the vessel should not sail until the Administration has been consulted in writing.
2. Why must the deckhand not switch the SART on in harbour, and what should be done instead?
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A SART is a radar transponder. Switched on, it responds to any 9 GHz radar that paints it, drawing a line of twelve dots outward on other vessels' and VTS screens. In harbour that is a false distress indication: it can launch a search, and it degrades other radars.
Instead:
- Use only the manufacturer's built-in test function, which exercises the receiver/transmitter at low level and checks the battery. Record the test and the result in the radio log.
- Check the battery expiry date and the set's physical condition.
- Confirm stowage: reachable in the grab bag, and capable of being mounted at least a metre above sea level in the liferaft, switched on and left on.
- Brief the crew: it goes on when the raft is inflated and stays on; it gives roughly 96 hours standby and 8 hours of transmission; it shows the rescue radar where you are, but it cannot tell anyone who you are.
One test switch-on in a harbour can generate a full SAR response and a very awkward conversation with the coast guard.
3. What must be done to the beacon registration, and what other checks would you make on the 406/121.5 data before Saturday?
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Update the national 406 MHz beacon register with: current vessel name; flag; the vessel's DSC MMSI (the MMSI programmed into the beacon must match the ship's, or transmission will pull the wrong record); owner/operator; two 24-hour contacts, at least one ashore; vessel type and passenger capacity; normal area of operation; and the beacon's hex ID/UIN, manufacturer and serial number. Confirm the entry after submitting it and keep the confirmation aboard.
Then check:
- 121.5 MHz homing transmitter - self-test per the manufacturer's instructions.
- Mounting: float-free, unobstructed, not inside a locker or under a canopy, marked with battery and HRU expiry dates.
- HRU installation - the weak link and release are correct for the bracket, and the lanyard is secured to the vessel, not to the bracket.
- The radio log: record the inspection, the beacon test, the SART test and the registration update, with dates and initials.
All of this is within a restricted operator's scope: you are not servicing the beacon, you are making sure the beacon's identity and dates are correct.