406MHZ PLB renewal

Your PLB units may have a 5 year battery life but it must be re-registered every 2 years with NOAA. Something good to put on that condition inspection list .

http://www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov

Is there any reminder sent out to the registered operator as the time gets close? Seems like this would be an easy one to lose track of.

Notice

Yes, you are suppose to receive a notice two months prior. In my case it was not sent or simply lost in the rest of my snail mail.
Also be aware that the website has changed. Most users will have to create a NEW account and add their existing beacon to it.

Is this just for the PLB or ELT also?

jdeas said:

Yes, you are suppose to receive a notice two months prior. In my case it was not sent or simply lost in the rest of my snail mail.
Also be aware that the website has changed. Most users will have to create a NEW account and add their existing beacon to it.

Click to expand...

Tried that and it didn't work.

However a real live person on the other end of the toll-free number did the job quickly and I got an email confirmation...

bret said:

Is this just for the PLB or ELT also?

Click to expand...

Anything 406 I believe... Separate registration for each device.

Just to confirm Gil's response - YES - a separate registration for each device.

Each device has its own Beacon ID, thus it has its own registration. If not, imagine the chaos that would ensue if you were out flying in your 406 ELT-equipped airplane and your wife had borrowed your PLB to go hiking. How would the Rescue Coordination Center know which person/device was in need of help? Once registration per device is the simple solution.

Please ensure you use current, accurate contact info in the registration - after all, that's what's going to be used to try to find you via a communications search.