Instruction manual

PROFICIENCY IN SURVIVAL CRAFT AND RESCUE BOATS OTHER THAN FAST
RESCUE BOATS
11
8
Fig. 11.2 EPIRBs ARC Global Fix iPro, Global Fix Pro and ACR Satellite
Fig.11.3 EPIRB secured to a liferaft
SARTs : SART installations include one or more search and rescue locating
devices. These devices may be either a radar-SART (Search and Rescue
Transponder), or (from 1.January 2010) an AIS-SART AIS-SART (AIS Search and
Rescue Transmitter). The radar-SART is used to locate a survival craft or distressed
vessel by creating a series of dots on a rescuing ship's radar display. A SART will
only respond to a 9 GHz X-band (3 cm wavelength) radar. It will not be seen on S-
band (10 cm) or other radar.
The radar-SART may be triggered by any X-band radar within a range of
approximately 8 nautical miles (15 kilometers). Each radar pulse received causes it
to transmit a response which is swept repetitively across the complete radar
frequency band. When interrogated, it first sweeps rapidly (0.4 microsecond) through
the band before beginning a relatively slow sweep (7.5 microseconds) through the
band back to the starting frequency. This process is repeated for a total of twelve
complete cycles.