MR 109–( ) OPERATION MANUAL
T01008-MRR-0000
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6.
BEACON OVERVIEW AND OPERATION
6.1.
VERY IMPORTANT
The following instructions must be followed absolutely in order to avoid triggering false
alarms and inducing unnecessary processing in the Cospas-Sarsat global system. It is very
important that the Cospas-Sarsat system is kept available for real distress alerts. A positive at-
titude will highly contribute to helping save lives.
6.2. General
Description
The MR109 Personal Locator Beacon is an emergency transmitter device operating on 406.028 MHz
and 121.5 MHz. The integral GPS receiver allows fast and accurate acquisition of global position. This
global position is encoded in the digital message sent via the 406.028 MHz transmitter. A homing
transmitter operating on 121.5 MHz will be used by the SAR mission to locate the beacon during the
final approach.
The MR109 can be operated in 3 different modes: Active mode, Self Test mode and Maintenance
Mode (IR programming mode).
In the maintenance mode the MR109 may be tested or reprogrammed using the STPE, PC based
bench with a specific IR Interface. This mode is only accessible to Becker maintenance shop person-
nel.
The MR109 does not require additional Becker equipment to be used in Active or Self Test mode,
however, in the Maintenance mode the following Becker equipment is required:
Module Function
STPE
System Tester and Programming
Equipment
IR109 IR
Interface
XXXXXX RS232
Cable
XXXXXX USB/RS232
cable
6.3.
PLB Operating Modes
The MR 109 has 3 operating modes, but only 2 modes are user accessible, as shown here:
User Level
OFF
Maintenance
Mode
Self Test Mode
Beacon Active
Mode
Authorised
Maintenance
center Level