The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I was told by a Breitling Dealer "If you buy this watch and turn on the transponder, Search and Rescue will show up". After researching this my understanding is Search and Rescue would need to be "NOTIFIED" by someone who has recieved the transmission on the 121.5 frequency. Since this frequency is now obsolete, the likely hood of anyone being notified is very very slim. If I "CALLED" search and rescue or somehoe "NOTIFIED" them that I was in distress and had a device transmitting at 121.5 they could "theoretically" locate me. Am I currect in my assumptions? Or are their still entitites who monitor the 121.5 frequency and thus, I may acutally have a snowball's chance in hell of anyone even "hearing" my distress signall, let alone eventually notify the local "Seach and Rescue" people and thus get found. I talked to someone who worked for search and rescue where I live and he told me they do not monitor the 121.5 frequency. Can someone please tell me how the local search and rescue would be notifiied if I were to activate my emergency watch?

Hi and welcome to the site.
This thread will probably answer most of your questions.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4996&p=72951&hilit

The 121.5 MHz is not obsolete!!! Every single commercial airliner has a receiver continuously tuned to 121.5 MHz, as does every air traffic control facility. Since commercial aircraft now pretty much blanket the world, any 121.5 MHz distress beacon will be detected almost immediately unless you are in Antarctica or something.

The only thing that has changed about 121.5 MHz is that the Cospas-Sarsat satellites (I think there are 2 of them, unless they added more) no longer monitor that frequency. This is not a big deal, since their ability to detect that frequency was extremely limited to begin with. 121.5 MHz is not a good frequency to attempt to detect from space. It's usage predates space flight. Consequently, it takes many hours (sometime 12 hours!) for a satellite to successfully detect and confirm a genuine 121.5 MHz signal. Given that the odds are 99.999% that your signal will be picked up by a commercial aircraft long before a satellite comes close to detecting your signal, satellites no longer bother to try.

I cannot believe how much fuss has been caused over the discontinuation of satellite monitoring of 121.5. The technology was always imperfect and rarely utilized anymore. It's like complaining that you can't mail the fire department when your house catches on fire when you can call them on the phone instead.

///M

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." --Dave Barry

I also believe that IF there would be any changes in frequencies, Breitling will fix that in our beloved Emergencies

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Breitling Navitimer Vintage
Breitling Emergency Mission

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BREITLING EMERGENCY + UTC CORAL DIALS
BREITLING AEROSPACE TITANIUM PROF (SOLD)
ROLEX SUBMARINER BI-COLOR BLUE DIAL
LOUIS VUITTON TAMBOUR DIVERS
PANERAI LUMINOR

Here we go again on 121.5..............

The only change that happened to 121.5 is that satellites no longer monitor it. Given that the transmitter in an Emergency isn't powerful rnough to be picked up by satellite then that change is completel irrelevant.

Breitling have already stated that they have no plans to move the transmitter to 243 because there is simply no need.

Oh wait! What I meant to say was, um, that 121.5 MHz is totally and completely obsolete. Any of you out there who own antiquated Emergencies can just mail them to me. And because I'm such a nice guy, I'll even pay for the shipping! Now that's a deal you can't refuse...you don't want to have to keep paying Breitling for servicing your obsolete transmitter, do you?

///M
(who still wants an Emergency)

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." --Dave Barry

They had them on 243 in the beginning of the production, but that was for military only.

Wow! That's neat! I did not know that they could actually instrument a 243 MHz transmitter that small.

I think the negative is that you get less range (with a given power draw) at 243 and 121.5. Or, to get the same range, you will have shorter battery life. So for such a small package, the 121.5 is actually better unless you have a need for 243.

Do you know if the military model was more expensive?

///M

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." --Dave Barry

Yes sorry bnewbie I should have been more clear.......

The generally available version will remain 121.5 MHz because that is more than adequate and monitoring of the frequency is not going anywhere.

I am sure if a military came back with a large order then they would have a 243 installed, but not for the general watch.

@mofongo - can't really say if the military one was more expensive because it was never for sale - it was solf directly to national militaries as mass purchases. I doubt that one will come up for sale too often as I believe they were all considered to be issued equipment and therefore subject to return.

Don't apologize, You are doing a magnificent job in the forums.

I'd imagine some were "lost" though. But i'm curious as to whether they'd be worth a premium over the standard. Surely Breitling, amongst others, would be suspicious if you actually ever set it off? I mean, it'd serve its purpose i'm sure, but won't they be a bit pissed if you have the military version and you're a civi?

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Men are from Mars, women are from Hell.

I'm not sure that it would ever get that far. The Emergency / Emergency Mission have to be registered with Breitling so if you tried to re-register a 243 transmitter watch then I assume that Breitling would flag it as military issue and seek confirmation from the original owner.

It's possible of course that a watch got 'lost', resold, not re-registered, never sent to Breitling for servicing after the sale (which would highlight the fact that it hadn't been re-registered), not reported to Breitling as lost by the military that issued it and activated. In that case I imagine that Breitling would replace the watch, but likely seek validation from the original purchaser that the watch could be reissued to the new owner.

I guess that could become an interesting discussion between the military and the 'loser'

That cracked me up.

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Men are from Mars, women are from Hell.