Cospas-Sarsat Beacon Coding Table of Contents

General Beacon Characteristics

	Transmission Characteristics (General)
	Message Preamble
	Format Flag
	Protocol Flag
	Country Code
	First Protected Data Field (PDF-1)
	Second Protected Data Field (PDF-2)
	Error Correcting Code for PDF-1 (BCH-1)
	Error Correcting Code for PDF-2 (BCH-2)
	Emergency Codes (Maritime and Non-maritime)
	Hexadecimal Representation of Beacon

Beacon Message Protocols

	Types of Beacons
	List of Available Protocols
	User Protocols
	Location Protocols User Location Protocols Standard Location Protocols National Location Protocols

Examples of 406 MHz Beacon Codes

Points of Contact for Beacon Matters in Countries/Administrations

NOTE: The information provided in this portion of the web site is intended to amplify the information provided in the following Cospas-Sarsat System documents:

"Specification for Cospas-Sarsat 406 MHz Distress Beacons, C/S T.001"; and
"Cospas-Sarsat Guidelines on 406 MHz Beacon Coding, Registration, and Type Approval, C/S G.005".

The above documents can be downloaded free of charge from the "Documentation" section of this web site. If the information provided on the interactive section of the web site conflicts with that provided in documents C/S T.001 and G.005, the official documents take precedence.

Furthermore, individual administrations may have additional national beacon technical and coding requirements that are not addressed in the above documents.