Sec. 80.1055  Special requirements for Class B EPIRB stations.

    (a) A Class B EPIRB must meet the following:
    (1) The EPIRB must be turned on automatically, as by water activated 
battery, or manually by an on-off switch. A positive means of turning 
the equipment off must be provided. Where an on-off switch is employed, 
a guard must be provided to prevent inadvertent operation;
    (2) The equipment must be designed to be deployed, its controls 
actuated, or its antenna erected, each by a single action task which can 
be performed by either hand;
    (3) Meet the requirements in Secs. 80.1053(a) (4) through (8), 
(a)(14), and (c) through (i) of this part. EPIRBs with water activated 
batteries must, additionally, meet the requirements contained in 
Secs. 80.1053 (a)(10) and (a)(11) of this part,
    (4) Bear a designation that indicates it is a ``Class B'' EPIRB.
    (b) A Class B EPIRB may have a manually activated test switch which 
meets the requirements in Sec. 80.1053 (b) and (c).
    (c) If testing of an EPIRB with Coast Guard coordination is not 
possible, brief operational tests are authorized provided the tests are 
conducted within the first five minutes of any hour and are not longer 
than three audio sweeps or one second whichever is longer.
[ 51 FR 31213 , Sept. 2, 1986;  52 FR 35246 , Sept. 18, 1987, as amended at 
 53 FR 8906 , Mar. 18, 1988;  56 FR 11517 , Mar. 19, 1991]