Wescom Group’s new V300 sMRT MOB Beacon now available
Wescom Group’s new sMRT V300 Class M Man Overboard emergency distress beacon is now available worldwide. Its first public viewing will be at the Navalia Ship Building Exhibition in Vigo, taking place May 21-23 (stand G96).
The sMRT V300 is the latest in the new series of emergency distress beacons from Wescom Group. A commercial-grade man-overboard device, the sMRT V300 offers an extended signaling range to enhance localised man-overboard alerting, locating and recovery. With automatic water activation technology, audible and visual indicators, and multiple fixing options for life jackets, this exciting new device, will be manufactured at Wescom Group’s state-of-the-art facility in Hull, UK.
The innovative features of the sMRT V300 include two-way signaling, real-time location tracking via AIS (Automatic Identification System), a 121.5MHz homing frequency, and the use of DSC (Digital Selective Calling) to alert nearby vessels to calls for help. The sMRT V300 represents the latest development in the sMRT commercial distress beacon range, which has served as the backbone of offshore and oil and gas marine safety for over a decade.
The sMRT V300 is also one of the first commercial products on the market designed to meet the new Class M regulation ECC Decision (22)02, which will restrict AIS-only MOB device use of core AIS channels in certain countries from January 2025. Only Class M devices such as the sMRT V300 – those with GNSS and internal DSC receiver – will be compliant with the new regulations.
Wescom Group VP Marine Sales David Duffin stated: “The sMRT V300 is a step forward in man overboard beacon technology building on MRT’s class leading offshore distress beacon range. The sMRT V300 meets the latest Class M AIS/DSC requirements and is easy to fit to lifejackets and has accelerated alerting features including water activation. Following on from the successful launch of the award winning sMRT ALERT MOB, Wescom Group’s electronics division continues to drive safety and security in the harshest marine environments.”
The sMRT V300 costs from £360 {$457} RRP and is now available to order worldwide through Wescom Group’s network of international distributors.
For more information: www.smrtsos.com/products/distress-beacons
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Wescom’s new AIS MoB beacons — which I saw previewed at METS — sets a new standard in several ways. While they are somewhat like the ACR AISLink MOB with added DSC alerting that I tested in 2021 — panbo.com/testing-ais-mob-beacons-acr-dsc/ — their DSC radios are two-way. Thus a nearby vessel can acknowledge the DSC distress message on their VHF and the person overboard will get visual confirmation on the sMRT v300 discussed about.
And the same is true of the sMRT Alert model, which costs less but lacks the 121.5 MHz low power homing signal that’s especially useful in commercial situations. smrtsos.com/products/distress-beacons/smrt-alert
These beacons also activate automatically when the V300’s tethered dongle or the Alert itself is submerged for two seconds, so they don’t have to be rigged to activate by lifejacket inflation (which is not always easy or reliable). And besides several other advancements, and not even mentioned in this modest press release, the sMRT v300 (and Alert) supports an NFC app for testing and management, like the app I’ve found so useful with the ACR AIS PLB — panbo.com/acr-and-ocean-signal-add-ais-to-personal-locator-beacons-with-cherries-on-top/
In fact, “Launching Summer 2024” is the sMRT SHIELD+, a combination PLB and AIS personal beacon with all the attributes of the ACR AIS PLB (and its Ocean Signal sibling) plus the two-way DSC component: smrtsos.com/products/distress-beacons/smrt-shield-plus
Finally, here’s what I know so far about the new Class M standard: the countries that adopt it — probably many eventually — will not allow the sale of AIS MoB Beacons without the two-way DSC alerting component first seen in the two sMRT models and coming sMRT AIS PLB. And I’m told that ACR / Ocean Rescue will add it to their AIS and combination PLB AIS beacons as the need arises.
The big picture: personal safety beacon technology is improving significantly in a relatively short time.
It turns out that WeatherDock introduced a Class M AIS DSC MoB beacon last year, and in my view they do a better job of explaining what Class M means:
https://www.easyais.com/en/products/ais-rescue-transmitter/easy2-mob/
Also, today Datrex announced that they are distributing this new easy2-MOB in the USA:
https://www.datrex.com/product/weatherdock-ais-dsc-mob/