n. avalanche transceiver, col. (avo) tranny, pieps
An electronic device to allow those caught and buried in a snow avalanche to be rescued.
A person travelling with an avalanche transceiver places the unit on transmit while in the mountains. Should they become caught and buried, any other person within a range of 50m - 150m will be able to locate the exact position of the victim by placing their own unit on receive and progressively tracing the signal of the victims unit.
The transceiver provides a mechanism for locating the victim to within 1m of their position by attenuating the level at which the receiving unit can receive a signal from the victim
All transceivers in the world work on a frequency of 457kHz. Never purchase a unit which works on any other frequency. Older standards of 2.7kHz are no longer used.
The transceiver is a simple AM radio transmitter which outputs short pulses approximately once per second.
Avalanche transceivers are not protection from being caught. They are a device to assist after the event. A successful rescue depends on at least one person not being buried in the slide
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