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IMPORTANT – It is ‘STRONGLY’ advised that when using the AU9 plb for diving that it is fitted to
an SMB in order to give the maximum possible transmission distance by extending the antenna
up vertically. With the AU9 fitted to an SMB the unit can be deployed on a line from under the
water, at depth, already transmitting when the AU9 hits the surface it will activate the alarm on
the dive boat alerting them immediately of an emergncy. This combination means the dive boat
will be already searching for you by the time you reach the surface after decompressing… saving
valuable minutes in an emergency situation. Ity also provides a very visible marker for the final
0.5km of a search. Using the AU9 without the SMB will restrict the tracking range.
2.2.5 To test your unit refer to section 1.5.0 of this manual.
2.2.6
Your AU9 can be used on it’s own to provide an ‘SOS’ homing signal for the Coastguard
SAR to home into once they have been notified you are missing, or it can be used as part of a ‘self
managed lost diver locating system’ which utilises a dedicated monitor/directional homing unit
fitted to the dive boat, called a SARfinder®. The SARfinder will monitor for an ‘SOS’ signal from an
AU9 plb and give the direction of the signal along with approximate range indication.
Fig. 47
Fig. 48
2.2.7
The SARfinder® has an NMEA output which when connected to the boats GPS plotter
will automatically plot the position of the boat at the time the ‘SOS’ transmission was received
giving a starting point for the search, for more information refer to operator manual.
