think it's also illegal to use them now as well.
Why Fred? The 406 MHz PLB's use 121.5 for homing. Also as the International Distress frequency, why can't a bushwalker use them to guide a helicopter that is equipped to home in on the frequency, especially if the bushwalker is in a known area and he has left the equivalent of a flight note.
I have also been told they should be destroyed, but don't see the sense. Old battery perhaps could make them unreliable.