Ok, so at least in the US (and maybe Canada?), when you push the button on a PLB it sets off the alarm at the closest "Rescue Coordination Center," which would be US Military (usually Air National Guard). If your complaint is not life or limb, they have the option of billing you for their response. I believe in AK it can be up to $30,000. That may be uniform throughout the US.

On the other hand, if your wife reports you overdue, the most likely responder would be the local SAR group. Even when SAR responds with helo support, it is very unusual for local SAR teams to bill for unnecessary rescues.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO, if you have to hunker down due to illness or minor injury thus making you overdue, is to STICK TO YOUR ORIGINAL ROUTE PLAN and either continue to your end point or return to your start point, BUT DO NOT DEVIATE FROM YOUR PLANNED TRAIL! DO NOT TRY TO TAKE A SHORTCUT! If you're on a 5 day trek they will try to drop searchers into the middle of the trail, as well as send searchers in to hike in from your point of origin as well as in from your ending point. If you're on a 2 day hike they probably won't try to insert people in the middle. If they can't get to an area by air (i.e. rough terrain, no LZ), they will come in on 4-wheelers or snow machines.

I know it is a hard call to make, but sometimes illness can overwhelm you without you realizing it. Dehydration can cause you quickly to become "stupid". You might not even realize how bad off you are until you are too bad off to remember to push the PLB button. If you are hunkered down somewhere with severe vomiting and/or diarrhea and your resting spot does not have a source of water to rehydrate you, you could be in real trouble, real fast. Even if the cause of your illnees remits, it you are severely dehydrated and unable to rehydrate, you're not going to be able to move to a place that has water. I would say that if you have N/V/D and are more than 24 hours without water then heck yes, push that PLB button. It isn't just about what the complaint is, it is also whether you have to tools to recuperate enough to self-rescue. If you run out of food and water, particularly water, before you are able to get back on track, that would constitute a life-or-death situation.

Otherwise, it is ok for SAR to get called out when you are overdue, especially if your wife has detailed plans and knows what the agreed upon "panic point" is. We often get called within just hours of someone failing to show up at their car. Many times we will be walking in from the end point and will run into the overdue hiker. Sometimes they've been injured, but usually they've been delayed by weather or other circumstances, but were otherwise fine. No problem there - we've practiced our skills and had a successful outcome. Like Search Dogs needing a "find" to reinforce their training, so do us SAR folks. So many times we respond to body recoveries, having a live find every once in a while is good for morale.

MNS