Mount Hood Rescue

[MississippiFlyboy]

Several climbers were rescued off of Mt Hood partially through what the news story calls a "radio beacon" anyone familiar with this story know if this is an EPIRB on the 406 mhz freq?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MOUNT_HOOD_CLIMBERS?SITE=MSJAD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Al Sayre]

I think it was a PLB not an EPIRB  There are some small differences.

[SAR-EMT1]

From what I have heard it was a PLB-GPS  issued specifically to folks climbing that mountain.

[RogueLeader]

Has CAP been called in to help?

[Chris Jacobs]

Its over and they never needed our help.  the rescue people basically knew exactly where they were and just had to go get them off the mountain.  on top of that we don't have any assets to do missions on the mountain in the winter.  Mt hood is a crazy place in the winter, the winds last night were sustained above 75 if i remember the weather reports right.

[sardak]

They had Mountain Locator Units (MLU) which are unique to Mt. Hood.

From the AP report:
"They'd known about the Mount Hood disaster in which three climbers died in December. But Liston said that wasn't the reason the group decided to take Mountain Locator Units, the small beacons that can send out radio signals to rescuers.

"We've been up on the mountain for many years," Liston said. "With the group we were going up with this time, we just wanted another extra level of security, just in case something happened, especially with winter conditions."
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A description of the MLU by Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue:

The Mountain Locator Unit is a solution to a particular problem. In 1986, the Oregon Episcopal School tragedy on Mt. Hood inspired a tremendous amount of energy toward preventing such an accident again.   Nine people lost their lives partly because rescue teams could not find their snow cave in time. The solution that was selected was an adaptation of wild life tracking technology.  In order to implement the system a special law exempting the manufacturer from tort liability had to be passed in the Oregon legislature.

Due to FCC and other regulatory challenges the MLU is only available and legal to be used on Mt Hood.

The system consists of transmitters that are rented to climbers and sensitive directional receivers used by search teams.

You cannot buy an MLU. Local climbing shops and a motel at Government Camp rent them for $5 per weekend. The climber is instructed on how to activate them in case of an emergency. The important thing to remember about MLU's is that when they are activated no one is listening. They send a pulsing radio signal on the VHF band. Upon notification that you are missing and that you have an MLU searchers are able to pinpoint your location in extreme mountain weather and environment.  The transmitter has a sealed-in battery that will keep transmitting for literally months after activation. The range the searchers can hear the signal depends on all the factors that affect radio waves such as terrain, body shielding, and antennae position.  It has been tested and detected up to 20 miles away from aircraft receivers.

It has proven to be an effective solution to a real problem but is not the solution to all SAR situations. 
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Mike