Category: Uncategorised

A civil and military observer with SERABEC (www.serabec.org) was at Gatineau Airport to visit Vintage Wings of Canada (www.vintagewings.ca) and was surprised to find a yellow griffin landed there.

He went into the airport and met with one of the pilots who invited him and his wife to meet the crew who were waiting out a thick fog that made it dangerous to fly.

They snagged pics and a SAR tech gave him an insignia patch from the 424 Squadron based in Trenton, with whom the observer had trained previously.

An exercise to evaluate the SERABEC region 06 is scheduled for spring 2016 in Lachute, Quebec.

Our thanks to him for sharing the pics and story!

For a printable pdf version of this notice, click here.

SAFELINK EPIRB in Auto housing

SAFELINK Manual EPIRB

Part No’s Affected K1202311 K1202367

Description EPIRB SAFELINK Manual+ GPS EPIRB SAFELINK Auto GPS

Date Range All All

Orolia Limited, owner of Kannad Marine has become aware of an issue affecting Kannad SAFELINK EPIRBs which could result in the beacon not operating in an emergency situation.

If you suspect that you may have an affected beacon (only Safelink EPIRB auto and manual), you should not use the SAFELINK as the primary Search and Rescue beacon on board your vessel. Please register your ownership, location and contact details via the dedicated website: www.safelinkepirbsupport.co.uk 

Once registered, Kannad Marine Support team will direct you to your local partner to arrange a replacement of your beacon with a Kannad Sport Pro + Auto or Manual, with a 5-year warranty, free of charge.

For further information, please contact Kannad Marine using one of the methods below:

Email: safelinkinspection@kannadmarine.com  France Tel: +33 (0) 29702 4931 UK Tel: +44 (0) 2392 623950 USA Tel: +1 (800) 262 8722

 

DDR	Destination MCC	Maximum Number of Alerts Requested after Position Confirmation (1)	LGM Operational (2)	LGM Report	LGM entry in Operation Date	FGB ELT(DT) (3)	SGB (4)
Central DDR	CYMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2023	Nov-19	JC-38	JC-40
	FMCC	0	YES	JC-30	Dec-16	JC-36	EWG-3C/2022
	GRMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2021/S1	Jun-21
	ITMCC	999	YES	JC-36	Mar-22
	NMCC	0	YES	JC-31	Sep-17	JC-38	EWG-3C/2026/S2
	TRMCC	0	YES	EWG-3C/2020/S4	Dec-20
	UKMCC	999	YES	EWG-1/2019	Jun-19	JC-39
Eastern DDR	CMC	0	YES	EWG-3C/2022	Sep-22	EWG-3C/2025/S2
	INMCC	999	NO			*	*
	PAMCC	999	NO			*	*
North West Pacific DDR	CNMCC	0	YES	EWG-3C/2023	Jun-23
	HKMCC	0	YES	EWG-3C/2026/S2**	May-26	EWG-3C/2026/S2**	EWG-3C/2026/S2**
	JAMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2020/S4	Apr-20
	KOMCC	0	YES	JC-38	Feb-24
	TAMCC	0	YES	EWG-3C/2022	Mar-22	EWG-3C/2025/S2**	EWG-3C/2025/S2**
	VNMCC	1	NO			*	*
South Central DDR	AEMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2023	Aug-23
	ALMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2020/S4	May-20	EWG-3C/2025/S1	EWG-3C/2026/S1
	NIMCC	999	NO			*	*
	QAMCC	999	YES	EWG-1/2019	Oct-19
	SAMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2023	Jul-23
	SPMCC	999	YES	JC-32	Jan-19	JC-37	EWG-3C/2025 /S1
	TGMCC		NO	Under Development		*	*
South West Pacific DDR	ASMCC	999	NO			*	*
	AUMCC	999	YES	JC-32	Jul-19	EWG-3C/2023	EWG-3C/2023
	IDMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2025/S1	Aug-24	EWG-3C/2025/S1	EWG-3C-2025/S1
	SIMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2020/S2	Apr-20	JC-39	JC-39
	THMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2025/S2	Oct-25	EWG-3C/2025/S2	EWG-3C/2025/S2
Western DDR	ARMCC	999	NO			*	*
	BRMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2025	Jan-25	EWG-3C/2025/S1	EWG-3C/2025/S1
	CHMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2021/S1	Nov-20	JC-40	JC-40
	CMCC	999	YES	EWG-3C/2026/S2	Jul-26	EWG-3C/2026/S2	EWG-3C/2026/S2
	PEMCC	999	NO			*	*
	USMCC	999	YES	JC-30	Dec-16	JC-36	JC-36

 as at 29-May-2026

Legend

0	MCC has requested that no additional alert messages for a particular beacon activation be sent to it after a message has been received that includes a confirmed position for that beacon.
999	MCC has requested to receive unlimited additional alert messages for a particular beacon activation even after receiving a confirmed beacon position.
[xx]	The number specifies the maximum number of additional alert messages desired by the MCC after receiving a confirmed position from a particular beacon activation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

(1) Maximum Number of Alerts Requested after Position Confirmation:

• All MCCs by default will receive continued transmission of MEOSAR data for a beacon, even after initial position confirmation (and will be shown as 999 above) unless the MCC has notified its nodal MCC and the Secretariat of a preferred numerical limit to messages after initial confirmation of a beacon’s position.
• Per document C/S A.001 section 3.2.5, the capability to limit the number of alerts after position confirmation is not required.

(2) For current operational status of MCCs, see the Cospas-Sarsat Quality Monitoring System (QMS) tables.

The following status information is provided from the EWG/JC formal recommendation when:
(3) the MCC is commissioned for FGB ELT(DT) capability.
(4) the MCC is commissioned for SGB capability (including SGB ELT(DT)).

* Since CSC-69 in 2023, new DMCCs shall be commissioned at the same time for the three following capabilities: MEOSAR IOC/FOC, FGB and SGB ELT(DT), and SGB.
** Capability commissioned but not declared as “FOC” due to nodal MCC restrictions.

MCC Selection to Receive Notification of Operational “Live” Beacon Tests Conducted Outside of Their Service Area

Matrix is available at MCC Selection for SIT 915 Live Test

Reference Beacon Status can now be found on the QARS pages here, under the “REFBE” tab: https://qars.cospas-sarsat.int/?tab=refbe

A new template has been made available to provide a MCC/SPOC Model Agreement to address the distribution and reception of Cospas-Sarsat distress alert data between Cospas-Sarsat Mission Control Centres and their supported search and rescue points of contact.

• MCC/SPOC Model Agreement
• MCC/SPOC Model Agreement (FR)

Cospas-Sarsat correspondence working group (CWG) meetings are informal working groups and take place in a variety of platforms.

The list below was updated 17 February 2026. For modifications, please send a message to <conference at cospas-sarsat.int>

CWG Name	Leader	Venue	Status
AI in MCC Operations	Dr. Hamad Albadry (hamad.ab at nsrc.gov.ae)	Basecamp 2	Active
Development of Operational Documents for the Implementation of MEOSAR Operations	Mr. Denis Hill (DenisAPHill at gmail.com)	Basecamp 2, E-mail	Dormant
FGB and SGB ELT(DT) and SGB System Test	Mr. Chris Hoffman (chris.hoffman at acrartex.com)	Basecamp 2	Active
FGB One-Way Communication (OWC)	Mr. Mike Reece (michael.reece2 at forces.gc.ca)	Basecamp 2	Active
GEOLUT CWG	Mr. Peter Andreadis (peter.andreadis at forces.gc.ca) and Mr. Mike Reece (michael.reece2 at forces.gc.ca)	Basecamp 2	Active
MEOLUT Performance Specification and Design Guidelines and the MEOLUT Commissioning Standard	Mr. George Theodorakos (george.j.theodorakos at nasa.gov)	Basecamp 2	Active
MEOSAR Space Segment	Mr. George Theodorakos (george.j.theodorakos at nasa.gov)	Basecamp 2	Active
Opening and Closing of Beacon Frequency Channels	USA (TBD)	Basecamp 3	Active
T.001/T.007	Unmoderated	Basecamp 2	Active
T.018/T.021	Mr. Anthony Foster (anthony.w.foster at nasa.gov)	Basecamp 2	Active
Two-Way Communication	Mr. Antonio Rolla (antonio.rolla at ec.europa.eu)	Basecamp 2	Active

 

Project forums for correspondence groups are set up in a third-party site called Basecamp, from which you will receive an invitation to set up an account.

Details will be provided to all CWG leaders on how to arrange conference calls.

Please contact the leader listed above to be included in the correspondence working groups.

Please note the following procedure regarding correspondence working groups:

1)  At the conclusion of a CWG’s work, the leader of the CWG shall produce a summary of the work and conclusions reached by the CWG in a format based upon the JC Splinter Group Report. The content of this report shall be agreed by the CWG members.

2)  In addition, the CWG leader shall also produce a draft of the relevant specification, output paper or other document which fulfills the task allocated to the CWG. The content of this document shall be agreed by the CWG members.

3)  The above documents may, if required, be combined into an input paper for submission to future Cospas-Sarsat meetings where the CWG Report and output document could form Annexes to the C/S input paper.

4)  Apart from the above documents no other records of the work of a CWG shall be maintained by Cospas-Sarsat once a CWG has completed its work and all communications, conversation threads and records of the CWG’s work will be deleted no sooner than one month after the completion of the CWG’s work.

 

 

Online Tools are offline until further notice.

 

The 26 bits forming the second protected data field (PDF-2, bits 107 to 132) are followed by a 12-bit Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) error-correcting code, in a field defined as the second BCH error correcting field (BCH-2, bits 133 to 144). This code can detect and correct up to two bit errors in the 38 bits of the second protected field (SPF=PDF-2 + BCH-2). The error-correcting code is generated from the content of PDF-2 as described in Annex B of Cospas-Sarsat Beacon Specification C/S T.001 (click here to download a copy of document C/S T.001 in PDF format). Therefore, it must be computed and encoded together with the PDF-2.

In the case of location protocol beacons, when updates to the PDF-2 are required for encoding position data, the error-correcting code (BCH-2) must be regenerated after each update.

The 12-bit BCH error-correcting code must be computed and encoded in the second BCH error correcting field (BCH-2) of all protocols using the long message format (with the exception of orbitography protocol which are intended for use only by the Cospas-Sarsat System operators).

The terminology used in Cospas-Sarsat to define the second protected field (SPF), the second protected data field (PDF-2) and second BCH error correcting field (BCH-2) is illustrated above.

 

21-Bit First BCH Error Correcting Field (Bits 86 – 106)

The 61 bits forming the first protected data field (PDF-1, bits 25 to 85) are followed by a 21-bit Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) error-correcting code, in a field defined as the first BCH error correcting field (BCH-1, bits 86 to 106). This code can detect and correct up to three bit errors in the 82 bits of the first protected field (FPF=PDF-1 + BCH-1). The error-correcting code is generated from the content of PDF-1 as described in Annex B of document C/S T.001 “Cospas-Sarsat Beacon Specification”. Therefore, it must be computed and encoded together with the PDF-1.

In the case of location protocol beacons, when updates to the PDF-1 are required for encoding position data, the error-correcting code (BCH-1) must be regenerated after each update.

The terminology used by Cospas-Sarsat to define the first protected field (FPF), the first protected data field (PDF-1) and first BCH error correcting field (BCH-1) is illustrated above.