Absolutely not! Not in the UK at least, under any circumstances.
Testing the ELT?
Practice PAN?
Anything is possible, but in my personal opinion, the odds on the first case being approved is about 1 in 10 million. Again in my personal opinion, the odds on the second case being approved ia about 1 in 10 billion. Based on those odds, Iâm going to go buy a lottery ticket for the $735M USD lottery being picked tonight, as the odds of me winning that are likely better than either of those being approved, and certainly better than both being approvedâŚ
For 123.45, I would suspect VATSIM would simply say, for the one in a million use cases, use text or use Discord or similar.
For 121.5, there are at least a few dozen reasons for a âyeah, noâ, but some of those include user maturity, supervisor availability, and the fact that we already have another frequency to accomplish that mission with the appropriate voice range restrictions to try to find the right balance between allowing proper coordination vs. being a nuisance.
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Either an ELT check (in which case you were not transmitting, only the device was, so your writeup is misleading), or you were ATC doing emergency transmitter checks. These seem much more common at military fields, but civilian facilities do them as well.
There is no valid reason to use 121.5 or 123.45. Necessary operational information can be exchanged on 122.8 by voice or text, or by direct text message. Non-operational information can be exchanged by direct text or some other method such as Discord.
Even when youâre transmitting on 121.5 with voice, itâs still the device that is transmitting. In both cases, the human is triggering the transmission. 
Many thanks to all posters who added to this thread. I appreciated your thoughts and direction. My whole purpose of this presentation was to make it âas real as it getsâ and in alignment with real world procedures. Again, thanks! Oh, I almost forgot. Those who answered that I was checking ELTâs when transmitting on 121.5, give yourselves five stars. That was the correct answer. I would do this when conducting Annual Inspections on real airplanes. The times I did this were at the top of the hour until five minutes past the hour.
Regards, to all!
Ed Ward, Jr
AMT (A@P) 2076394 IA
Thank you VATSIM
You listened to all the good information posted on this thread. As I understand it, 121.5 will play a major role starting Oct. 1, 2024.
Again thanks for bringing VATSIM in line with real world policy and regulation.
Regards, Ed Ward, Jr.
You misunderstand. It will not be playing a major role. It âmayâ be used in accordance with real world procedures but will not be mandatory. I cannot think of any situation where using the emergency frequency will be necessary.
Same. Maybe for controllers trying to reach pilots instead of using a contact me or something, but other than that I fear it may just be a lot of meows - weâll see how it goes, I guess 
I can.
You can use Guard to contact a pilot who is not on your frequency or was given the wrong frequency after handoff, especially if they did not return to their previous frequency for clarification. This is another tool we as ATC can use outside of using .contactme to send a DM to that pilot to get them to contact them.
In short: .contactme. If that doesnât work, Guard. If that doesnât work, .wallop for a SUP.
Using Guard to get hold of a pilot not on your frequency or missed a handoff is exactly what they do real world.
BL.
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âGuardâ is not an ICAO term and has no meaning in most of the world. The correct term is âemergency frequencyâ.
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If we are going to get specific and pedantic about itâŚ
ICAO Provisions in Annex 10 Volume II
5.2.2.1.1.1 Aircraft on long over-water flights, or on flights over designated areas over which the carriage of an emergency locator transmitter is required, shall continuously guard the VHF emergency frequency 121.5 MHz, except for those periods when aircraft are carrying out communications on other VHF channels or when airborne equipment limitations or cockpit duties do not permit simultaneous guarding of two channels.
5.2.2.1.1.2 Aircraft shall continuously guard the VHF emergency frequency 121.5 MHz in areas or over routes where the possibility of interception of aircraft or other hazardous situations exist, and a requirement has been established by the appropriate authority.
5.2.2.1.1.3 Recommendation.â Aircraft on flights other than those specified in 5.2.2.1.1.1 and 5.2.2.1.1.2 should guard the emergency frequency 121.5 MHz to the extent possible.
5.2.2.1.3 Aeronautical stations shall maintain a continuous listening watch on VHF emergency channel 121.5 MHz during the hours of service of the units at which it is installed.
This is why they call it Guard - it is a GUARDED frequency, which is why they have it commonly stated as that.
BL.
This confirms the correct term is âemergency frequencyâ.
Again, weâre getting pedantic.
shall continuously guard means that the object (the frequency) is guarded, hence why it is commonly called Guard - the guarded frequency.
But again, being very pedantic here. Regardless, everyone (ICAO, FAA, Eurocontrol, etc.) knows what is being discussed here, along with 243.0.
BL.
What is the point of monitoring guard on a virtual network? The rules say you canât simulate a emergency on unicom. You can only do it while controlled and only then if the controller says its ok.
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Hereâs the point: NORDO.
Controllers use Guard to get hold of those NORDO pilots who may not be on the correct frequency. For example:
N856KG, Las Vegas Approach ON GUARD, if you hear this transmission, contact Las Vegas Approach on 125.9. N856KG, on Guard, contact Las Vegas Approach on 125.9. Acknowledge with an IDENT.
This is used all the time on Guard if a pilot is lost, NORDO, or has not gone back to their previous frequency if they switched to the incorrect frequency they were told to use.
This provides another layer for ATC to use to get hold of a pilot, especially on frequency. After that, we go to a .contactme. If they donât respond to those, then we .wallop.
BL.
.contactme should be the first option on VATSIM.
NORDO traffic should be a contact me. As for being on the wrong frequency you simply switch back to the one you were on to clarify. You donât need guard for that. IRL I have been given the wrong frequency and simply switched back and notified them that is either the wrong frequency or I am getting no response.