Locating devices
Locating devices and rescue communications
also: EPIRB, SART, two-way VHF
The electronics that guide rescuers to survivors: the EPIRB beacon, the SART transponder and portable VHF radios.
Key facts
- The emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) transmits position and identification through the COSPAS-SARSAT satellites.
- The SART or AIS-SART transponder guides the radars and AIS receivers of rescue units.
- The two-way VHF radios serve communications between the survival craft, the ship and the rescuers.
Watch out
An easy mental shortcut to get wrong. The SART transponder and the two-way VHF radios used to sit in regulation III/6 ("Communications"). Resolution MSC.496(105) moved them to Chapter IV and left paragraphs 1 and 2 of III/6 empty ("Reserved"). The change has applied since 1 January 2024. The EPIRB was never in Chapter III: from the start it belongs to Chapter IV as part of the GMDSS. What stays in Chapter III is the line-throwing appliance, regulation III/18.
Legal basis
SOLAS Chapter IV (GMDSS); the move of SART and VHF out of III/6: IMO resolution MSC.496(105), adopted 28.04.2022, in force since 01.01.2024.
This is not a legal text: when in doubt, the current wording of the Convention and the LSA Code decides.