Broadband radar clearly shows the mooring piles on the left while the conventional radar picture is much less clear
Broadband radar clearly shows the mooring piles on the left while the conventional radar picture is much less clear
All of the radar sets mentioned in
magnetron and so has both lower power consumption and can be mounted
this article to date are the true linear
anywhere in the vessel. It also has greatly improved performance at close range. I
descendents of the equipment that was
tested one recently in Cowes Harbour and was astonished at the clear picture that
used in the Battle of Britain. They are
was displayed on the 400 ft (120 metres) setting. Individual boats, the harbour
powered by a magnetron (just like the
wall and even single piles could all been picked out with absolute clarity. Unlike
one used in microwave ovens). These
conventional radar, which will not detect anything closer than 40 metres, the new
emit pulses which bounce off objects
broadband radar has no actual limit and can detect targets very close to the boat.
within range, tell the operator how far
away they are as well as providing an
Broadband radar has been around in military circles for some time but this is the
outline of land in range.
first time that it has been available to the recreational sailor. It operates by using
a continuous transmission of microwaves rather than the separate pulses in
One problem with this type of
traditional radar.
equipment is that it does consume
considerable amount of power and the
Instead of a magnetron it uses solid-state technology which means not only no
radome has to be mounted in a safe
harmful emissions but also that there is no warm up period – switch it on and it
position (usually high up) where the
starts immediately. Tuning is automatic and it is claimed that sea clutter is reduced
microwave transmissions cannot harm
by a factor of five.
the crew.
Power consumption (12 volt) is claimed to be 17 watts in operation and 1.6 watts
This has now all changed with the
in standby mode – although the instant on and off facility would seem to make
development by Navico of a Broadband
this unnecessary. Range is a maximum of 24 miles, but in practice the maximum
Radar (not to be confused with
actual distance in which targets can be seen is likely to be lower depending on the
the internet) which does not use a
height of the radome. There are 15 range setting from 1/32 of a mile to 24 miles.
»
  JUNE 2009 : MULTIHULL REVIEW  33
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