Jenni Miller, of Corwen, says that people who enjoy the countryside are denied ownership of personal locator beacons which could dramatically lower the time it take emergency services to find the injured and sick in remote areas.

"I was not aware of a vital piece of equipment that I, and others that enjoy the countryside, are denied the ownership of until recently after a fall off my horse," said Jenni.

"I was lucky and had a companion with me as well as mobile phone reception and we got emergency help quickly.

"In many places in the Welsh hills and beyond search and rescue services (SARs) have a hard time locating the injured and sick because in the remote areas mobile reception is mostly impossible and also the population is sparse.

"Personal locator beacons are about the size of a mobile phone and when activated send a GPS emergency signal via satellite to the marine emergency service who can then pinpoint your location.

"This can save lives by taking the search out of rescue."

Jenni said that on investigation she found that they can be bought in the UK but can only legally be used for marine purposes, for example at sea or on land-locked water and rivers.

"Hobby pilots can use them ten minutes from land since May 2007 indicating a relaxation in the licensing law," said Jenni.

"The unit has to be registered with the PLB registry and licensed for use with OFCOM. At present if you use one on land you can have the unit confiscated, be fined and even imprisoned for unlicensed use of a transmitter."

She added: "It is amazing that the licensing laws haven't been changed to assist the search and rescue services who are very often volunteers."

A petition has been set up to change this by Jenni and needs as many signature as possible.

You can register your support by logging on to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/personal-beacons/

Jenni would welcome emails to her jenni@equineramblersuk.co.uk for adding to the web page http://www.equineramblersuk.co.uk/personal-locator-beacons.php