When you've declared an emergency on area frequency in the circuit at Bourke you can come back and talk to me.
The traffic that is within range to hear you on 121.5 will be in range to hear you on Area.
Anytime you have a second radio doing nothing, it should be on 121.5.
You don't even need to have a second radio. Some modern VHFs let you TX and RX on one frequency while monitoring another. A push of a button and it's active.
Walk me through the disadvantages of activating an ELT or PLB
and transmitting a MAYDAY on Area.
What earthly reason other than laziness would you have for not being competent to activate an ELT or PLB in the air?
I think lots of people do not understand that an activated 406 ELT or PLB transmits on 121.5, and an activated 406 ELT or PLB with an inbuilt GPS will transmit accurate position information directly to people whose job it is to arrange help.