search by Bermuda Harbour Radio and the US Coast Guard -- was solved last Thursday when it was discovered an emergency position indicating radio beacon had malfunctioned aboard a sailing vessel tied up at Dockyard.

Report of the beacon was called into Harbour Radio on the night of April 7 by a high-flying aircraft, which plotted its position some ten miles south of Bermuda; a few hours later SARSAT, a search and rescue satellite, began reporting the signal Harbour Radio was also monitoring a faint signal and by the morning of April 8 had calculated the source to be somewhere in the vicinity of the Island's West End, said Senior Radio Officer Scott Simmons.

By then a US Coast Guard C-130 search and rescue aircraft had been diverted from another mission off the US East Coast to join in the search. Within a few hours the Coast Guard had pinpointed the source to the Island's West End as well.

"In the morning we suspected it might not be an actual distress signal so we began asking vessels at sea to check their equipment,'' said Mr. Simmons. "We also phoned the Dockyard Marina and Marine and Ports to have them check their equipment on all Government vessels.'' Despite the checks, the mystery signal -- now fading in and out -- continued.

Harbour Radio, in a radio appeal broadcast across the Island later that day, requested all boat owners check their EPIRB's, but with no success; the signal, now becoming a nuisance, continued until April 9.

It was not until 7 p.m. on April 10 that a Harbour Radio technician dispatched to the west end finally pinpointed the source aboard the Golden Rule , presently moored at Dockyard.

The culprit said Mr. Simmons, was a brand-new distress beacon "not even out of the box''.

"These things are designed to run on their own (battery) power for about 72 to 96 hours.'' False signals, said Mr. Simmons, are a fact of life in the search and rescue business and can be avoided if owners ensure their equipment is not accidentally activated.

"Considering the expense, it's something we want to avoid for sure. The cost of the C-130 that was diverted can run up to $4000 per hour,'' he said, and other than the time spent (on regular shifts) looking for the source, Harbour Radio did not incur additional expenses.

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