GROUP TEST
THE REFLECTORS
TOP PERFORMER
PREMIUM
ALUMINIUM PRESSURE
BUDGET BUY
FIRDELL BLIPPER
PRODUCT
BEST BUY
FIRST LOOK
COOKER 210-7 £154.50
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
RECOMMENDED
This was included because there has long The original white tube refl ector, the
been folklore surrounding the effi ciency of Blipper (in the manufacturer’s parlance), is
such products as radar refl ectors. It wasn’t an ‘optimised phase modulating helical
expected to do very well – and, as it array.’ In layman’s terms, that’s lots of bits
transpired, it didn’t. of metal arranged in such a way as to
cause maximium refl ection back to the
interrogating radar. We were unable to fi nd
ECHOMASTER 153
any fi gures for the RCS, which is a worry.
The manufacturers recommend fi tting it at
OCTAHEDRAL £79.49
least 4m above sea level. In practice, on a
yacht, the best place is usually on the
forward side of the mast,
A circular aluminium refl ector with a above the main spreaders.
diameter of 32cm. This is not a big A pair of mast
refl ector, but does have the advantage of mounting brackets
being able to be folded fl at when not for the Blipper
required. Designs like this have to be costs £39.99.
mounted in the ‘catch rain position,
suspended by three lines of equal length.
The model we tested can be hung, but is
also supplied with brackets for fi xing
to a fl at surface. It has been fairly
well proven over the years by
numerous studies that such
refl ectors don’t perform well
when heeled. This is backed up
by the absence in the instruction
manual of any performance
expectation other than when the
unit is vertical.
At a range of one mile,
whether we carried a
reflector or not made no
discernable difference
E
C
R
D
E
L
L
•
AC
TIV
E-X
• SEA-ME • ECHOMAX • TRI-L
ST149 Grp Radar Reflect_RTG.indd46 46 16/7/09 14:15:06
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