Hey! What do you teach? I am in the same business/
BTW, I have sailed from NZ to Antartica...

 

ITIL 2/3/4, Business Relationship Management, Python Fundamentals, among others.

 

LOL,, I wrote mainstream ITIL v1 and v2 courseware. I'm a java and security and IAM expert. I play with all the big boys. I used to visit Burlington MA a lot in the days before the Oracle purchase...

 

Small world. I was an APMG assessor for ITIL and ISO 20k (taught that too) for North, Central and South America and some Europe, in English, Spanish and Portuguese (and sometimes in languages I don't know, like Italian... ever try to get an Italian to speak slowly because you're struggling with the language?). Also did some work for Cabinet Office. You haven't lived until you get two dozen V2 Service Manager exams in Brazilian Portuguese dumped on you just before the deadline for transition to V3, have never marked a single one before and have had but 30 days training in the language.

 

All of the airliners still monitor 121.5, and they can hear calls from the ground, unless maybe you're in a cave you'd have LOS to most of the sky and at least a couple airliners anywhere in CONUS. But yes you'd have to know your location and EPIRB would be better for austere environments. I just happen to already own the VHF.

 

Airliners can only hear handheld VHF radios if they are within range of the measly 5 watt signal (3 to 8 miles, 15000 to 40000 ft). And that assumes brand new batteries. This bet is not a good one.

 

Just last year I did the update to the marine VHF course. Prior to that I was all old school analogue. So much has changed for the better.

 

Somebody actually did some testing on that and most handhelds should get up to the mid-30's just fine. Better range vertically, vice horizontal through moisture, ground effect, etc. Maybe get a good handheld.

We certainly hear a lot of annoying background chatter from unauthorized use of the freq, a lot of it is workers (logging, mining, etc) so I assume those are walkie talkies vice base stations.

Maybe I'll try it out, find out when one of my buds is flying over San Diego between Baja and LAX (not on 121.5 though haha).

 

Those are the numbers I gave you, the results of the testing. You can buy a lightweight ACR RLB-33 EPIRB on eBay with an expired battery for under $80 and pick up the entire replacement battery module for $99. Plug it in and you're all set. An aviation VHF handheld (the regular ones cannot tx or rx on 121.5) with six watts of transmit power will run you 2-3 times as much and you don't have to pray someone's flying over your location or hope they stay in range long enough for you to explain where you are located. And I am done with this thread, if you really think a VHF handheld is better than an EPIRB, knock yourself out.

 

I certainly don't think it's better, and I said as much. I just happen to own one, and it supposedly has the range. Maybe I'll test it out myself and see.