Radar Reflections

[TonyMills]

From the pictures of the JAC 08 kick off I can see several Radar Reflectors and at least one RADAR set.

Does anyone have experience of the SeaMe radar signal enhancer, reflector and warning device. I am considering one for single handed challenge (me -v- ocean) round the Indian Ocean Islands.

Preciate the advice.

Regards
TonyM

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

I have sailed with my brother quite a lot over the last five years, first in his Southerly 100 and more recently in his Vancouver 32. He had one fitted to the Southerly and we were both so impressed that he had no hesitation in fitting one to his new boat, well its not new (1988) but you know what I mean.

We were in communication with one of the firing ranges around Pembrokeshire a year or so ago when I asked them if the SeaMe made any difference if I turned it off. We did this and their comment was “considerable difference”.

SeaMe uses a very small amount of electricity and is therefore suitable for sailing boats as well as motor boats, see their website if you wish to know exactly how much.
www.sea-me.co.uk/

There are one or two points that are not so good,
1. Any thing electrical can go wrong, so you should have an ordinary reflector also just in case.
2. It only covers the X band not the S band, however X is I believe always used in close quarters, and larger vessels that have both bands usually have the X band turned on all the time. There are others on this forum who have much more experience of larger vessel than I, I hope they correct me if I am wrong.

In the new boat we have fitted a buzzer with separate switch so that the SeaMe can warn of ships it is responding to. This is only of any use way out to sea when it is not responding. If you are single handed you can switch it on and it will wake you if you come within the radar range of some other vessel.

Hope this helps. George

 

[TonyMills]

Thanks George

Your experience is useful and reinforces the claims made for the system. It does seem to me to be very expensive but in my case it should prove reassuring in the open ocean. Most of the mid to large boats will have X band radar. I'm not sure whether or not they are on all the time though and if they are on whether they are monitored.

In the end it all comes down to an equation - the extent to which risk is reduced and the value you want to place on that reduction. The calculation is likely to be a judgement - but at a reasonable cost it seems to me to be the way to go. I've not read any thing particularly convincing about the passive radar reflectors.

I'll be in UK in August and I expect to follow up on the info by visitng the chandlers and contacting the manufacturer. (I cant find a supplier in Australia).

Thanks again.
Tony Mills

 

[eebygum]

Tony,
I've just fitted a See-me radar reflector on my boat for similiar concerns. I would just add that they are a very good supplier ..... I 'thought' I had a problem with the control unit and returned it to them for checking as it was under warranty and they sent me a new unit, no questions asked fairly quickly.

I subsuequetly found I had damaged the cable during instalation (which I learnt was easy to test with a multimeter), and the unit was A-OK.

Cheers

 

[ronwestcott]

Hi Tony

I also have a Seeme fitted and my experience with it is very positive. One point re fitting an alarm, however, is that I initially did this but even with the Seeme only 3 metres above the waterline it was picking up radar signals from a considerable distance and as a result sounding the alarm all the time in the Channel. I found the American CARD system better as an alarm as the sensor can be mounted low and the sensitivity adjusted so that you limit the range at which the alarm is triggered.