West Virginia

[mikeylikey]

So....Been watching the National News, saw that an 18 year old autistic guy was found in good condition after almost 4 nights in the WV wilds!  Any CAP involved in this search?  The searcher that found him, was from a private firm in the area I believe.  Anyone have more Intel than me??

[RiverAux]

The ABC news story on this incident went on to highlight a system where such folks wear radio beacons that can then be homed in on by local police.  I wonder what frequencies they use for this and if CAP already has the ability to search for them with our present equipment.  Seems like this will be a growing "market" and that we should want to advertise ourselves as capable of responding to these missions. 

[sardak]

The program with the radio beacons is called Project Lifesaver (PLS) http://www.projectlifesaver.org

The client, who can be any person that may wander and put themselves in danger (Alzheimer's, autistic, dementia, developmentally disabled, etc.) wears a bracelet with a very low power transmitter.  When a caregiver or family member discovers the person at risk is missing, they notify the local PLS provider, which is normally (always?) a law enforcement agency.

The searchers use a handheld DF that's two to three times the size of an old style Little-LPer.  The beacons transmit on several frequencies between 216 and 217 MHz.  The DF units provided by PLS are required.   Tests of other scanners and receivers to track the signals haven't worked.  LTronics even has a statement on its website that the new style L-Per receives those frequencies, but will not track PLS transmitters.

The upfront cost to register a client with PLS is $275 and there is a $10 monthly maintenance fee.  The battery in the transmitter is supposed to be replaced monthly.  PLS will only sell DF units (cost several thousand dollars each) to agencies registered with and trained by PLS.  In our county there are several civic groups that have provided funding for the client fees.

Our sheriff's office is a registered agency and has three DF units.  We've had searches for PLS clients, but so far all have been found by searchers visually, without using the DF.  Our SAR team has been trained in use of the PLS DF (and has ELT and avalanche beacon DF training) but all the PLS DF units are kept by the SO.

As for CAP involvement, just a couple of months ago another sheriff's office contacted AFRCC about using a CAP aircraft to track a PLS patient.  AFRCC didn't have a clue what was being requested, but passed the request along to the wing.  I took the call as the wing alert officer and contacted the SO.  I knew we had no equipment to track the PLS xmtr but offered to put a deputy and their equipment in a CAP aircraft.   The SO declined.

There are several concerns with the system.  The first is that it's up to the client's caregiver to start the alerting process.  If the client is not under constant watch or control, it may be hours between the client wandering off and first alert.  Then, our experience shows, some caregivers start a search of their own before calling 911. 

The second issue is the low power of the transmitters.  Even if there is little or no delay in calling 911, the person can wander out of the search area quickly.  The range on the transmitter is only about a half mile in a residential area.  Unless there is some other PLS or LKP, the search will start at the location from which the client left.  The client can be well away from there by the time the first DF unit gets in the area, which is why all of our finds have been made without using the DF.

Which leads to the third issue, that of there not being many DF units.

Mike

[RiverAux]

I'm confused -- how can a specific DF unit be required to pick up a frequency?  Wouldn't any radio set to that frequency be sufficient?

I think that the company needs to re-think its marketing strategy.  If they have somehow figured out how to keep others from homing in on a frequency on a non-company unit, that is only going to hurt them.  After all, it is in their interest to get as many people to buy their service as possible and restricting responders to just those agencies that want to buy their unit is going to hurt them. 

[SarDragon]

It also depends on the type of modulation. DF units generally use an FM receiver, but the proprietary unit might be looking for a modulating signal different from the sweep we have in ELTs.

[♠SARKID♠]

Sounds like an overcomplicated/overpriced system.  And sounds about as useful as those "FRS beacons".

It would be a helluva lot cheaper to just make a remote activated 121.5 PLB.  Just design it to turn on when a responsible party (parent/spouse) "calls the beacon" by phone over a high power paging system.

Having tracking units that cost thousands each do no good to anybody.  Families are relying on a tracking system that search teams dont have the money to buy.

[jb512]

It's all about the $$$.  It does about as much good as an alarm on your house.  You're trusting a private business who is exploiting taxpayer funded law enforcement to make a profit.  LE places the response on a normal to low priority level because of the frequency of false alarms and the company gets your money.

[sardak]

I would suggest everyone make an effort to find out more about Project Lifesaver before criticizing it.  PLS was originally started by SAR personnel, was adopted by several law enforcement agencies and is a non-profit organization managed by a board of retired LEOs.  It is endorsed by the National Sheriff's Association, a number of state sheriff's associations, Alzheimer's Federation of American, etc.  Civic groups support it by provding grants for client registration and battery replacement, and for DF purchases. 

Don't you think by now if the system was a rip-off or bad technology that the "exploited" LE agencies involved would have put a stop to it?

Complicated?  All a caregiver has to do is call 911, and the personnel with the DF units get dispatched.  Compare that to the way CAP gets alerted and responds for a DF mission or a missing aircraft.

PLS transmitters use pulse width modulation.  The 406 MHz signal on distress beacons is phase modulated.   Find a 406 MHz DF for less than several thousand dollars.  The MSRP for the Becker DF is $14,000.

I have no monetary or other involvement with PLS, so I don't care if someone likes it or not, but criticism should be fact based.  The system does work and has saved lives.  However, I'm not overly impressed with the system, but I have experience with it and have done research on it to base my opinions.

Mike

[jb512]

And it may be a very good system.  I was just comparing it to how alarm companies make money using government resources.  That's always bugged me.