Personal underwater pinger, diver search locator

[popgun pete]

Back in the day there was a "Wet Beacon, Wet Finder" gadget that was an acoustic beacon unit that you moored on the bottom and a similar gadget that was used to locate the beacon by progressively narrowing down the search beam as you swung the locator from side to side. Now electronics-wise these were almost Stone Age to what we have now in all sorts of modern electronic gadgets, plus they were 9 volt battery powered with those batteries you often see in smoke alarms and were prone to snapping terminals off when you changed them.

It occurs to me that a freediver could wear a much smaller device on his back so that he could be located underwater if an emergency arose and visibility was poor. Other divers would be equipped with the same gadget operating on different frequencies or pulse modulations while someone carried a finder or tracker so that in the event that things went pear-shaped the lost diver's bearing could be located. Miniaturization and more powerful compact batteries may make such gadgets practical today. Activated by diving would conserve battery life and a deep-water alarm could also be incorporated for alert at dangerous depths. The search function would need to isolate the required diver frequency and ignore the rest. At a low enough cost everyone could be similarly equipped when engaged in deep water hunting.

Just searching around modern equivalents are still available, but these are for relocating an object after weeks or months in the water, a diver unit will not require the endurance or the range (hopefully!).

[popgun pete]

This is the modern equivalent to the wet beacon system, although it is an object relocator rather than a moving target locator.
http://www.jwfishers.com/products/locators.html


For diver monitoring or search something smaller is envisaged.

[popgun pete]

Another gadget brought to my attention which may fill the bill, I have not read all the details yet.
https://seamarshall-us.com/marine-re...uba-diver.html
https://seamarshall-us.com/406-local...-receiver.html



https://seamarshall-us.com/406LERManual12-12-12.pdf

[Mikel_24]

Pete,

You have to look into the opposite direction to find what you are looking for.

We, alpinist/climbers/rando-skiers and pretty much anyone who "plays" in the snow have been using the ARVA's for ages. The ARVA acronym stands for "Appareil de Recherche de Victime d'Avalanche". It is a french thing as you can see.

It has two modes. By default you have it locked into SEND mode... if you go on a hike with your buddies and an avalanche takes place and wipes one or seveal of you out, the ones who got out unharmed switch their devices to SEARCH mode, which allows them to find the buried partner.

Long ago you had to rely solely on bipping sounds, but right now they are equippped with up to three antennas, have a digital display and while still some training is required (and strongly recommended), they help you A LOT to locate victims.

Mikel

[popgun pete]

I think that this type of transmitter will not do the job underwater as while snow is frozen water it is much less densely packed than water is. I was looking into this as a result of Kosta's loss and thinking how awful it is when seconds count and not knowing where to start to search if someone is still submerged. You need to be heading for their location almost immediately as soon as you hit the water and are going down.

[PigStikr]

I have an idea for a locator device but the market is minuscule and the liability is huge. Regardless of whether it works or not you will be required to prove beyond all doubt that you are innocent. Bad things tend to happen in the ocean but you will get the blame.

[SEATUX]

Originally Posted by popgun pete

Back in the day there was a "Wet Beacon, Wet Finder" gadget that was an acoustic beacon unit that you moored on the bottom and a similar gadget that was used to locate the beacon by progressively narrowing down the search beam as you swung the locator from side to side. .

Im not sure we are talking about the same thing, but I remember a unit you could tag onto the anchor line ( near the anchor) and later find that beacon with the one you were carrying...
I never bought one, wish I had...it would be SO DAMN NICE to be able to locate where the anchor is and follow the rode to the surface ( and the boat!)
Is what you are looking at what I am talking about????

[OWS]

Here are two:

Navimate
https://www.navimate.com/

Uwatec Neverlost Underwater Navigation unit
https://www.ebay.com/itm/142983922298

[SEATUX]

https://www.navimate.com/ @ $1500....Slick!