The International Telecommunications Union (the radio arm of the United Nations) has recently standardised identities (numbers) for Man Overboard Devices, AIS SARTs and AIS homing beacons fitted to 406 EPIRBs.

The new numbering formats are detailed below:

 

970XXYYYY    AIS-SART

972XXYYYY    Man Overboard devices - using DSC and/or AIS

974XXYYYY    AIS homing transmitters on EPIRBs

 

Where:

XX = manufacturer ID of 00-99

YYYY = becon serial number

 

So, if you receive a DSC alert with three leading digits of 972, it will be from a man overboard device.