T
timbartlett
Guest
Ean P wrote [ QUOTE ]
Hi Hedwig
Can you tell me were the 'legal' requirement to carry a reflector is please. I have the MCA requirements for craft over 13.2mtr (I think), but they don't mention radar reflectors as a legal requirement.
[/ QUOTE ]
It is one of the (fortunately few) SOLAS V requirements that apply to small craft, but it's been a legal requirement since 2002. See page 4 of MCGA "information pack"
As to whether my comment about the value of radar reflectors was "harsh" or not, I can only say that it is based on many "real world" and laboratory tests that I have carried out for various magazines over the past twenty years or so.
Yes, *some* radar reflectors can make you more visible. But they can also make you *less* visible.
Very few of the published tests of radar reflectors take account of the fact that even a small yacht has a significant radar cross section of its own. Back in 1999, my 7m Sonata had its RCS measured by the Defence Research Agency (later renamed "Quinetiq"), and had a "bare boat" RCS that averaged just over 40sq.m. The "best" radar reflector increased that average to 71, and the "worst" reduced it to 14.
I accept that these numbers are simplistic (I still have a file of results that is about 3 inches thick), but there is nothing in there that convinces me that radar reflectors are worth their weight, space, or money.
That is particularly true when you bear in mind how few ship yacht collisions actually occur, and how many of those few involve yachts that *do* have radar reflectors.
Ouzo, Whispa, and Wahkuna all had radar reflectors -- to name but three. Whispa and Wahkuna also had radar.
Hi Hedwig
Can you tell me were the 'legal' requirement to carry a reflector is please. I have the MCA requirements for craft over 13.2mtr (I think), but they don't mention radar reflectors as a legal requirement.
[/ QUOTE ]
It is one of the (fortunately few) SOLAS V requirements that apply to small craft, but it's been a legal requirement since 2002. See page 4 of MCGA "information pack"
As to whether my comment about the value of radar reflectors was "harsh" or not, I can only say that it is based on many "real world" and laboratory tests that I have carried out for various magazines over the past twenty years or so.
Yes, *some* radar reflectors can make you more visible. But they can also make you *less* visible.
Very few of the published tests of radar reflectors take account of the fact that even a small yacht has a significant radar cross section of its own. Back in 1999, my 7m Sonata had its RCS measured by the Defence Research Agency (later renamed "Quinetiq"), and had a "bare boat" RCS that averaged just over 40sq.m. The "best" radar reflector increased that average to 71, and the "worst" reduced it to 14.
I accept that these numbers are simplistic (I still have a file of results that is about 3 inches thick), but there is nothing in there that convinces me that radar reflectors are worth their weight, space, or money.
That is particularly true when you bear in mind how few ship yacht collisions actually occur, and how many of those few involve yachts that *do* have radar reflectors.
Ouzo, Whispa, and Wahkuna all had radar reflectors -- to name but three. Whispa and Wahkuna also had radar.