Tucker, with the PLB you are right - it is all or nothing and if you activate they send the world looking. Off north Florida and Georgia I have a problem reaching anyone onshore from 40 - 50 miles off with my 25W VHF and an 8 ft antenna. Maybe it's the radio - A fairly expensive ICON. I have to get a relay by someone closer to shore. Wonder what the range of a standard 25W VHF signal should be. I thought it was all line of site - the higher off the water you transmit, the father your signal will reach beyond the curve of the earth. Seems I remember a formula that said for very foot off the water your line of site increased by "x" amount - whatever "x" is. My brain fails me at times...