Mike Hill who from the Rescue Coordination Centre recommends steps that can be taken to assist rescuers after you’ve activated your PLB

1. It’s important to have the beacon aerial as high as possible, and ideally in a clear location – giving maximum line-of-sight access to the sky
2. Make yourself visible – especially at night. This may mean waving a torch when you hear a helicopter or flashing a mirror if it’s daylight. A beacon’s homing signal may bring a helicopter to right above you but in New Zealand terrain that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be seen
3. If you have turned a beacon on by accident, leave it on. Turning it off once it has been activated will not stop a search, just add to the concerns of rescuers. If anything, the worst will be feared and efforts will intensify