radar

How parsimonious are you?
I have the JRC1800 which I like, and combines as a GPSchart plotter which was 1250 quid including C MAP NT+ chart. Latest is of course a MAX.
All in colour whoopee!
24miles range. Hmm. No, not really, its good at 12miles though. Mine is mounted on a locally made stainless pushpit pole, so not at the top of mast.

The JRC 1000 has its followers, but they have stopped making them, and they were around 700 quid. There is a Furuno on offer at the mo as well sub 1000 quid. Both monochrome.

Of course the whizzo Raymarine E series are lovely, but they are more than I paid for my first boat.
Pays yer money, takes yer choice.

You can come and see mine if you PM me, I am just up the river from you.
 
I was very pleased when I bought our current boat and it had radar. I imagined all sorts of uses for it, and one day it will come in handy, just not yet. It's a JRC 1000 and it comes with a timer to measure useage; my suspicions about how rarely these things are used were confirmed when I checked it just after we bought the boat - in 3 years it had been used for 2 hours and 42 minutes. In 20 plus years I've only sailed in fog once and would have loved radar then, maybe I've been lucky but if I bought a boat without radar then I wouldn't rush to fit it.
 
I've only ever sailed on one boat with radar which was combined with a chartplotter and the combination was so relied on by the newbie skipper that I really feared for his crew once or twice - with a bit of common sense, though, I think the combination provides a very powerful tool.

I have been in fog a lot of times (bad luck and optimism combined) and found the biggest boon by far was when GPS came along, but even though I loathe gadgets I would certainly consider radar if money and power consumption permitted (well ahead of a liferaft, as it happens).
 
Interesting point about combined radar/plotter - that's the only regular use of radar I can imagine as you would use it to confirm your plotter position. Your comments about relying on a plotter are well made. I've only recently got my first one. On it's maiden use (a 4 stage 150 mile trip in December) I was shocked at how within a couple of hours of use I had completely stopped plotting any GPS fixes, which I used to do every half hour without fail. Something about that little blue arrow on the screen made me think 'I must be where it shows I am'. When the fuse blew on the distribution panel on day 3 I realised how stupid I had been and out came the handhelp GPS and the charts!
 
if you are parsimonious (thks Jim)there are a few older green screen CRT ones around at bargin prices as people upgrade to LCD colour monitors. Most non commercial ones have very few hours.
 
Agreed,

I got a Raytheon 20XX which is a CRT unit with MARPA and various other useful features for £150 recently.... including the mast bracket..... that had 102hrs on it, and just 8hrs since a Microwave replacement...... not as neat or flash as a modern unit, but perfectly useable, and at 4Kw does 24km comfortably, and has very narrow beam (better than most new units) for excellent target definition and resolution....
 
I have old raymarine crt that came with the boat.
Godsend when crossing shitting lanes. Dont have to be dark or fog, just dusk/dawn with a film of mist.

cant really see the need to link it with gps chartplotter.
gps tell you where you are - and where your going.
radar tells you that the tiny light to starboard is either a) a fishing boat at 1 mile doing 2knts or b) a tanker at 10 miles doing 20 knts. actually a) is a worse hazard in my book.

Of course if you are stupid enough to think the top of the screen is north, then you definitely need a chartplotter display
Otherwise crt is great.

Mind you in heavy weather it does take a bit of buggering with the knobs to get a clear return, what happens with digital I would like to know. (time for a side by side test)
 
If I had too choose between Chartplotter and Radar, Radar would win hands down every time.

Chartplotter tells you only where you are. Radar tells you where everyone else is as well.
 
Radar overlay on a chart is a great asset

The advantage of having the radar image overlayed on a chartplotter image is that you can easily see which blobs are probably other vessels and which are reflections from the land, rocks and navigation marks. For someone who uses radar for a few days each each year the radar only image is most confusing and I find poor visisbility is quite stressful anyway. Without it I doubt if I would understand what I am seeing, or it would take up so much time I would not be able to cope with a fast changing picture.

The sets with radar overlay on a chart often also have MARPA which is very helpful to take the work out of plotting and give a very fast indication of the relative course of other vessels. I find it easy to use and allows me to concentrate on planning avoiding action if it is required. However, you do need gyro stabilisation for it to give reasonably accurate output - even with stabilisation it will show rocks moving at up to 2 kts!

The third advantage of radar overlay on a chart is that in rock strewn entrances or passages it provides a cross check on the accuracy of the chartplotter cartography and your position on it. This cross check on the visible outcrops can be reassuring when some of the reefs are submerged.

I have the C120 with its large screen which I am very pleased with. It was recommended to me by a ship's captain and yachtmans who, even with his experience of interpreting a radar image, finds it valuable.

A final consideration is the location of the screen. I find having the display in the cockpit is useful for learning in good visibility (I use it on all passages and it helps to pass the time when things are a bit boring). It is good if you suffer from seasickness. If you are shorthanded it makes watchkeeping safer and easier.
 
I had a Ratheon lcd radar on my last boat and my present boat came with a Furuno 1623. The Ratheon is by far the better set in my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top