Obsolete Gear

OLD BEACONS

Upgrade your beacon for any of these reasons:

• 2.257 kHZ: This old frequency that was replaced by 457 kHz in the 1980s. If you still have one of these museum pieces, donate it.
• Dual Frequency: from the 1980s transition era, these beacons transmit and receive on both 457 and 2.257, but they don’t do either well. Get a modern beacon
• Earphones: if your beacon requires you to stick something in your ear, get one with a speaker.
• No visual display: if you don’t have modern visuals, it’s time for a new beacon.
• Single antenna beacons. I know lots of people are hesitant to upgrade because they’re “faster with their old beacon”, they’re waiting “for the dust to settle” as new technologies standardize, or they just “don’t get out much”. Here’s why you should upgrade now …
  • Three antennae digital beacons generally won’t find single antenna (analog) beacons as well as digital units. That means if two people are buried close together, the one with the digital beacon is likely to be isolated first. Bad news if it’s you under the snow wearing the old analog beacon!
  • In a multi-burial scenario, signal overlap can be a significantly bigger issue with old beacons in the equation. Modern digital beacons are slowed down and again, it’s you under the snow who bears the cost.
  • Old analog beacons send out fewer but longer signals. That means in any given period of time there is less information available to process. This slows down a digital beacon. Consequently search speed slows down. Again, it’s you who pays the piper.
  • False maximum and complex deep burial problems aren’t an issue with modern three antenna beacons except for extreme cases (where burial depth is greater than probe length).
  • Multiple burial problems are generally easier to solve with modern three antennae digital beacons. And it’s only going to get easier as fewer old units remain in service.
  • Even in simple scenarios search times are faster with digital units – once you’ve practiced and learned how to use it effectively.
• Most manufacturers require preventative maintenance every three years to ensure they function properly. This is important because frequency drift, a broken antenna, or a myriad of other problems can affect performance causing the beacon to fail. Your old beacon should be costing you money. (It could be more economical to just get a new beacon – and learn how to use it effectively!)

If finances are truly a concern, we recommend you consider buying a used three antenna digital beacon (which can be function tested at select retail outlets for a nominal fee) over a new single antennae beacon.

AVY BALL

Spring loaded ball that packs flat but expands to about the size of a soccer ball when deployed. It’s attached to your pack with a 3m cord. The idea is that the light ball remains on the surface so rescuers can quickly follow the cord to the buried person.

AVALANCHE CORD

Old technology from an era before beacons. People would drag a 50m cord marked with little distance and direction indicators. They hoped the cord would remain on the surface to aid rescuers. Thankfully, this is but a distant memory from the past.