The latest statistics on maritime accident alerts are again
demonstrating a high percentage of
false alarms from Emergency Position Indicating Beacons
(EPIRBS) in Spanish waters. Of a total
number of 243 received distress alarms, only three were real and 123 were
never identified;
a very similar situation exists in the rest of Europe. To address this
problem, as well as
IMO Resolution A.814(19)/23.11.95, there is a Spanish proposal to install
a receiver
(121-5/243/406 MHz) on board ships, so that the
seafarer can detect accidental activation of
an EPIRB. The installation of EPIRBS, which had
seemed to be sufficient to solve the problem
of locating vessels in distress, apparently needs the help of other tools.
One such tool could
be the very high frequency radio direction finder
(VHF/DF) proposed in this paper. Recent
experiments using VHF/DF carried on board the ships
Salvamar Tenerife and Punta Salinas, in
conjunction with the traffic control tower of the Rescue
Coordination Centre (RCC) of Santa
Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands), demonstrated a number of advantages
which are described
in this paper.