Gimballed radar & SSB

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yachtadina

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I'm considering putting my radar on a gimbal to increase its efficiency of returns. I've seen some which attach to the backstay. I'd like to know what the likely problems are with sharing a single backstay with the SSB. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

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I've heard of these gimballed radar devices, but never seen one in UK or the med, not convinced of there usefullness.

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I've heard of these gimballed radar devices, but never seen one in northern europe or the med, not convinced of there usefullness.

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When you transmit on your SSB, very high voltage goes through the backstay - hence the insulators on the backstay. Anyone holding the backstay during transmission would get cooked if you didn't have insulators.

I don't actually know, but would guess that the radar might not handle the high voltage either.

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My Raymarine unit says that it functions at up to 30 degrees of heel, either port or starboard. There are few occasions when I heel that far and probably even fewer when I would want the radar at the same time.

Another point is that I'm not sure that a backstay is a sufficiently stable base for radar mounting. It seems that display problems are likely if the radar scanner is vibrating or otherwise moving independent of the boat.

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I think the gimbal mount you are thinking of is of American manufacture and uses a rigid tube which fits over the lower backstay. I beleive they work fine but are expensive. A backstay antenna would make this installation messy, although I suspect the radar would survive as it operates at a much higher frequency band than anything you would transmit from a backstay antenna.

I used a separate stern mounted pole with a simple manual heel adjuster of 20 degrees each way. This with a typical small boat radar would give perfect results for at least 35 degrees heel angle. The radome mounting plate was mounted on the top of the pole via flanges fore and aft and a swivel bolt through the pole. A quadrant with a handle and 3 holes for upright, 20 stb'd and 20 port was used for the adjustment. So when heel went over more than 15 degrees and the radar was in use, the helmsperson just reached up and moved the quadrant appropriately - very simple.

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Re: Gimballed radar

Like this ?
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Re: Gimballed radar

That must be the baby!! Interesting!! But I think mine will stay on the mizzen mast.

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sharing a backstay.

putting electronic gear near an ssb antenna is expensive. when i transmit, every led on the boat glows and an expensive carbon monoxide detector was fried despite only being close to the shielded coax between transmitter and atu.

i'd give your radar a 10% chance of lasting through the first transmission!!

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