I know I have hit a nerve when the only replies are of a childish and personal nature 'sticks and stones' etc.
TC - on another thread, other AA and police operators were worried about collecting a FJ up the exhaust - that is what a TDA should protect against but you don't want one. If a TDA prevents this then who cares if it disrupts aviation for mile around?
Mickey mouse HEMS jobs (your words not mine - nice view of your fellow operators) don't a TDA make - quite correct and if you bother to read my posts you will see that I haven't said it is necessary for a broken ankle in the hills - I am very happy with lookout.
No!!!!.... are there really people flying without radios in class G airspace - cor I never thought of that...........maybe we do have something to learn from the Germans.
Sasless - I think that the authorities should mandate 121.5 monitoring and that radios should be obligatory, whether in a helo, a microlight or a paraglider. I know that lots of Human rights campaigners and civil liberitarians will disagree but that is my viewpoint.
In Snowdonia, the Lake district and many other remotish areas of the UK, there is no-one to talk to at low level, even for FIS so , unless you have a company frequency and operate with other aircraft, your only hope of anyone hearing your mayday is to use 121.5 and hope that another passing aircraft (airliner probably or military) hears it and relays it - I would rather have that lifeline than not since the emergency services will be tasked immediately rather than waiting until you are overdue.
The ARCC, as you well know, does not control HEMS - it is only the tasking authority for SAR helos. If the call has come to them then it has often been through an ambulance control who have said 'non' due to the nature of the job.
The ARCC could set up a TDA for an overwater SAROP if they felt it was warranted.
There was nothing complicated about the broken ankle in Snowdonia so don't keep getting fixated on it - my thread was about 121.5 and TDAs and clearly most posters here don't agree with the need for either - that's your call, after all it's your ass on the line but just because it is inconvenient doesn't mean we shouldn't do it.
Most keen amateur sailors bother to buy a radio and listen out on Channel 16, all professional users of the sea are mandated to have certain levels of RT and distress signalling including the monitoring of international distress frequencies. They do this because they know that if they shout for help, any nearby vessel is likely to hear them and is bound to assist and if there are any urgent navigation or weather warnings they will be broadcast accordingly. It is self protection and mutual support but it seems that is not what the aviation community wants because they baulk at having to spend a few quid on a decent/second radio.