Worldwide Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking System

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – Emergency beacon to help in distress, for on land, boat, airplane and when signal fails on your cellphone.

Historic rain caused rivers to rise rapidly in Milwaukee, where 2 people drowned and 2 are still missing reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A way to call for help in a disaster and be quickly located, is through a worldwide search and rescue satellite aided tracking system, which is available for us to use.

“There are many different countries that put satellites in space. They all have a search and rescue package on them.” explains Michelle Thornton the Search and Rescue Program Manager for the United States Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.

The 406 megahertz beacon emergency signal is a worldwide distress frequency. “So no matter where you are, you have one of these beacons and you activate it. A satellite will see it, receive it and send it to the closest rescue coordination center, who then helps find the closest most capable asset to come to help.” Sending helicopters, ambulances and other emergency rescue to you fast.

On July 17, 2025 an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) went off southeast of Kewaunee, Wisconsin. Reports from SARSAT U.S. Rescue say it was activated when a sailing vessel began taking on water while participating in a race. Coast Guard District 9 got the alert and sent a rescue boat from the station in Sturgeon Bay to the coordinates. The 5 crewmembers were found in the water, having abandoned ship after the boat sank. They were picked up by the rescue boat and taken to shore in Kewaunee.

On a boat, these devices are water activated. So if you sink, the tab on the beacon disintegrates and sends the signal.  In a plane, if it’s smashed, it goes off. Personal locator beacons are manually activated.

It transmits a signal that can reach a satellite over 22,000 miles into space. It goes directly to a local user terminal, which is a receiving station on land. This is all done electronically. It also sends a message to the United States Mission Control Center, where it matches the registration data of that beacon with the beacon alert. All of that packaged info goes to a local rescue coordination center. “Where a person actually looks at it and says oh, we have an emergency, we have to do something now.”

If you get one, it’s crucial you register it. These devices are available just about anywhere, online and in sporting goods stores. They are regulated by international convention, under the authority of Cospas-Sarsat. They are powerful enough to send out a distress signal regardless of cloud cover or severe weather conditions.

“It is the quickest way to get help when you don’t have a cellphone signal.” Thornton recommends having it for hiking, kayaking and anywhere you go off the grid.

The operation is manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.