Recently, Jay Honeck posted:

My son and I were active in Civil Air Patrol a couple of years ago.
The primary training mission was Search and Rescue, utilizing radio
direction finders that allowed us to find transponders that were going
off.

With the impending transition to 406 mhz transponders that will give
far more accurate location information upon activation, we will no
longer need fatigue-clad cadets trudging through the woods on SAR
missions.

CAP is a good organization for kids, basically "Boy Scouts With a
Mission". Given that Search and Rescue is their primary mission, I
wonder what's gonna happen to CAP?

I was in CAP as a teenager, due to my interests in aviation and lack of
money to pursue it other ways. Although there was too much marching to
suit me, I agree that it is a worthy organization with an important
mission.

The question at hand is whether the new transponders will really reduce
the need for S&R? It may reduce the search time somewhat, but it won't do
much to eliminate the rescue operations. Also, unless everything and
everyone stays in one pile, the search operation won't be eliminated,
either. I think the CAP's mission is safe for some time yet, and may not
be negatively impacted by the newer technology.

Neil