One of the fellow members of our UK yacht club (Reading Offshore Sailing Club)
has a funny story about entering Le Havre in fog with their active radar
reflector. Based on the size of their echo, the other traffic was expecting a
much bigger ship entering the channel, and had cleared out of the way.
On Friday, February 2, 2018, 6:23:21 PM GMT, Frederick G Street via
CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
That’s one of the more weird things I’ve heard… radars are specifically
designed to try to filter out any signals not their own.
Other boats might have something like the CARD system aboard to pick up other
vessels’ radar:
http://nordkyndesign.com/collision-avoidance-at-sea-ais-alarm-project/
But those systems haven’t been available new for a decade. The other type of
device that you could have on your vessel to help other radar-equipped vessels
see you better would be an active radar target augmentation system like the
Echo-Max:
https://www.echomax.co.uk/radar-target-enhancers-x-band-dual-band.html
Or a Search and Rescue Transponder (SART):
http://www.offshoreblue.com/safety/sart.php
— Fred
Fred Street -- Minneapolis
S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^(
On Feb 2, 2018, at 11:42 AM, Damian Greene via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com>
wrote:
Here's a question for your collective wisdom:
We regularly have fog here in Maine, and my normal practice is to hoist a Davis
emergency radar reflector in the shrouds (so I hopefully will not get run over
by a lobster boat). So this year I decided to get the yard to mount an EchoMax
reflector on the mast, and be better prepared.
However, reviewing my work-list with the yard maintenance manager yesterday, he
asked why I was doing this, as I have radar, and the signal from my radome
would light up on other boats' radar better than a reflector.
That's something I've never heard before, so I told him I would investigate and
get back on that. Frankly, this does not make a lot of sense - why would people
bother with radar reflectors - but he has more than 20 years' experience with
Hinckley and others.
I'd like a definitive answer (Fred?) to resolve this.
Thanks,
Damian Greene
ex C&C 34 Ghostnow Sabre 38 FreefallBass Harbor, Maine
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every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal
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