merwin10 Site Admin


Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 440 Location: Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:20 pm Post subject: Radar selection |
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While selecting a radar for your boat don't get caught up in all the sales hipe about bandwidth and power - Your limiting factor is height of your antenna and height of the reflected surface - The physical distance is determined by the Earth's curvature - Distance is determined by a formula (distance = sqrt of antenna height + sqrt of reflective surface times 2.2) - Ok so what does this all mean say your antenna is 10 feet off the water and the boat you are looking at has some reflective metal 8 feet off the water the limit in this case is about 13.2 miles regardless of the power or beamwidth - So that 72 mile radar will still only see 13.2 miles given this senario -
There are other specifications to consider in radar such as Pulse width and pulse repetition rate that will define targets for collision avoidance -
If you have questions on radar purchase please post them here!
Mike -  |
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