Beacon Function
There are a lot of gadgets and gimmicks on many of the avalanche beacons. And if you’re into the tech stuff and practice using your beacons, they can be very useful. But when you find yourself in a life-or-death situation, there is one main feature you hope those involved are familiar with—search.
The victim’s beacon will do it’s job just fine … assuming three things: 1) The beacon is attached to his body; 2) It is turned on; 3) Battery life is sufficient to transmit a strong signal.
But for the rescuers, there’s really no time to pull out the Owner’s Manual and figure out how to find a burial victim. By the time you do figure it out, you’ll be digging up your buddy just to have to bury his body again the next week.
You can have no doubt or hesitation on getting all unburied beacons switched over to the search mode. You have to have confidence that once you pick up a signal, you are moving closer to the victim, not farther away (remember, signals are linear by nature so your beacon’s antennae—most commonly three—is designed to find the line and the distance). You still need to figure out the direction.
Most beacons have a manufacturer’s distance range between 60-40 yards. We found that true with our testing. Most beacons initiated contact with the buried signal around 50 yards (with fresh batteries … which we’ll address shortly) down to about 35 yards (with batteries less than 80 percent).
Many beacons are designed to find multiple victims. But they will only serve to find bodies if you don’t know how to use them efficiently. Your beacon will most likely pick up the strongest signal which can be dictated by two things—proximity of burial and strength of battery.
Beacons range in price from $250 to $500 (with the most common price range around $350. Most feature three antennae to facilitate search. But perhaps the best thing you can do after making the initial investment on a beacon is to maintain its power with a quality alkaline battery (which runs about $1.50 each … or $4.50 for three). And a set of fresh batteries should last a season.