Marine Electronics

Marine radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) is used to detect objects and their position relative to your location. It works by sending out a radio signal. When the signal hits an object it is reflected back to the radar unit which can then calculate the bearing of the object.

A marine radar device is an essential navigation aid for boaters. It is useful for detecting boats, birds landmasses, and weather systems even when visibility conditions are less than favorable.

Marine Radar: Top Features to Look For
The two most important features of any marine radar device are the transmitter power and the beam angle. Power can range from 2 to 4 Kilowatts. The higher the power, the better your transmitter can see through fog and rain and the further the signal can reach. Power is a factor in how well your radar does in bad weather. Blinding rain can cause low power marine radar to be less than effective.

Beam angle is determined by the size of your marine radar's antenna. A long antenna will produce a narrow beam that gives good discrimination between objects close together. A short antenna has a wider beam angle allowing the radar to scan a wider area at one time. Antennas are often customizable or configurable and can be purchased separately.

Guard Zone Alarm
Most marine radars allow you to set a guard zone around your boat. You specify the safety distance and set an alarm. If your vessel detects a buoy, landmass or other obstacle within the proximity of your guard zone, the alarm sounds.

Split Screen Displays
Split screen displays allow you to monitor objects close to your boat and objects further away at the same time. This feature is useful, among other things, for navigating buoys as you leave the shoreline while heading out towards a more distant spot.

Best Use of Marine Radar
One of the best features of marine radar is its ability to determine where you are with respect to where you were a few minutes ago. This "echo trail" feature can be used to determine how well you are navigating an obstacle as well as how well you maintaining the bearing you have set for your vessel. The echo trail is displayed on the radar's display screen so you can quickly assess visually what is going on.

Integrated Marine Radar and GPS/Chartplotters
Marine radars are fairly expensive; many units run in the thousands of dollars. It is a good idea to talk with other boaters and see what they are using and what features they like before committing that much money. To get more bang for the buck, look for marine radars that are already incorporated into other marine electronics such as GPS units and Chartplotters. Integrating your marine components reduces the complexity of your visual displays and reduces overall cost of items. Even though sometimes you have to compromise with the features of each component offered in the integrated package, integrated marine radars offer good value for hobbyist boaters.

Tracking other vessels with Marine Radar Systems
Whether you are at sea on a relaxing sailing holiday, engaged in a commercial fishing trip hundreds of miles off shore, or carrying freight from one location to another, keeping track of any other objects such as other boats and larger ships in the area is essential if you want to maximize your safety on the water. By using one of the latest generation of marine radar systems, you will be able to take advantage of a number of technologies that make tracking other vessels easier than ever, and even mark their positions and routes on the screen.

The sea can be a cruel mistress, and a change in conditions can come on pretty much instantly. One minute you can be scudding along over practically smooth water, the next, a fog can come down obscuring the world around you, and you can be battling against thirty foot waves and high winds.

This ever changing nature of the ocean means that as conditions change you can face different challenges that can impinge upon your safety. The key to ensuring that you remain as safe as possible is to remove as many of the factors that can change from the overall picture.

Other vessels are often the biggest threat any seaman can face. Smaller boats in particular are often not picked up by the radar systems of large container ships and cruise liners, and this can make things quite dangerous. It is incumbent upon all sailors to keep a check on the sea conditions around them in order to stay safe from other vessels.

Thankfully, even the fastest ships do not usually move at more than about 25 knots, which means that if you have a radar that covers 50 nautical miles, you will have roughly 30 minutes from the moment when you first make contact with another vessel until the time when you would meet, which should give you plenty of time to react and plan your navigation accordingly.

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