Boats 4 All
Tips For Boats ,Yachts And Boats Accessories

Boat radar is not like most of the other navigational aids that boaters use.

It is more pricey when you go to buy it, and it demands more power to run. You also need to have someone with skills to set it up and make adjustments according to the conditions you’re in.

Having someone who knows what they are doing is required to read what’s on the screen, too.

The main idea of boat radar is somewhat similar to an echo sounder – it will transmit a pulse of energy and then measure the time that goes by before the echo of that pulse returns.

Rather than utilizing ultrasonic sound, boat radar uses high frequency radio waves, also known as microwaves.

Boat radar can measure the range of the target object from the elapsed time of the pulse to make it to the target and then back.

Boat radar has seven controls that are normally used.

The first is on/standby/transmit, which is used to power the unit up.

It will need to warm up before use. Brilliance control will determine how bright the picture is on the screen.

It should be clean and clear, and not too shiny.

LCD boat radar units may need to be adjusted, depending on the angle from which you are viewing the screen.

Gain is the amplification amount that is applied to the echo that is returning. This setting is similar to the brilliance control, but with gain, you’re actually adjusting whether some targets will appear or not.

Range refers to the boat radar control that you will use to adjust the range that the set will operate at, usually in steps of one-eighth to one-quarter of a mile.

Short ranges are of more use for piloting, and medium ranges will help you to avoid collisions.

Tuning will adjust your receiver so that you will get the best possible reception of the signals coming in.

Echoes returning on boat radar are very weak, so you need to match up the transmitter with the receiver, on your boat radar.

Sea clutter control is sometimes referred to as swept gain, and it helps to remove the clutter sometimes caused by wave echoes.

With your sea clutter turned low, it will reduce the amplification of the early returns (from close by waves) and leaving the father returns’ amplification intact. Rain clutter or differentiation removes the clutter caused by hail, snow or rain.

Heavy rain will reflect back pulses, but they aren’t the same type as those sent back by solid objects.

When you look at a boat radar screen, it looks crude, since we are so used to HD TV’s. You will need to practice to learn how to properly read boat radar.