C/S G.003 - INTRODUCTION TO THE COSPAS-SARSAT SYSTEM Issue 7

The beacon activation mechanism is specified regionally by national Administrations, and not by Cospas-Sarsat. Although most EPIRBs and ELTs (including ELT(DT)s) are designed to support activation without human intervention, they usually also support manual activation. SSAS beacons and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are, by their nature, manually activated.