Increasing Your Radar’s Range and Performance

Here are some tips on how you can increase a radar system’s range and performance. They can benefit a wide range of boaters from long-distance cruisers to fishermen who stay closer to shore.

Radar Off Set is a feature in most radars that permit moving the center of the radar’s picture toward the bottom of the screen so the user can see farther in the forward direction. Some sets have the added ability to offset the radar picture to aft as well. This can add to safety particularly when visibility is limited because of poor weather or at night.

For a better view and understanding of surroundings, can place the radar picture right over the navigation chart on the screen. By syncing the radar picture with the chart plotter, a captain will turn the display into a living navigation map. This will show actual moving-vessel traffic in real time superimposed right on the chartplotter screen.

To overlay the radar’s picture on a chartplotter screen, a user needs to connect an electronic digital compass or heading sensor to the radar/chartplotter. These are provided by radar, chart plotter or auto pilot manufacturer as an option. Often, the unit can use the heading sensor that is part of most modern autopilots as long it is one that has “10 Hz” data output rating specification. An autopilot’s manual or electronics installer can explain how to do this.

Enhancing Radar’s Picture:

Additional capabilities can be added to many radars to improve its performance and usefulness.

AIS (Automatic Identification System):

AIS can double the margin of safety over that of radar alone. This places a vessel in complete charge of a situation of all boating activity taking place nearby. It will help predict the movements of other vessels in the area and even sharpen a captain’s navigation and seamanship skills. Many professionals consider AIS to be the best boating safety and navigation aid since the invention of radar.

AIS modules and antennas can be connected to a radar/chartplotter unit with the AIS module itself hidden out of sight not requiring any additional helm space.

See Rain Beforehand

Radar can be helpful as a rain predictor. Dense moisture laden clouds off in the distance can frequently be detected and seen on a radar screen. To monitor weather fronts, decrease or turn off the radar’s rain clutter control.

TIP: Use radar overlay feature to place advancing weather patterns on the navigation chart to better track its location and progress. When a boat is in heavy rain, advance the rain clutter control to better see through the storm and bring otherwise unseen radar targets back in view.

Customize Information

Create and place Data Boxes at the top, bottom or along the sides of the screen that contain digital information that is important to the user. This can include waypoint information, COG, SOG, miles traveled, time of day, miles to go and most any digital data that you would like to monitor and have in view. This gives the ability to see critical information at a single glance, all on one screen without the need to switch screens or look away to view the displays of separate instruments.

Radar is For the Birds

Find the birds and the fish will be there. Birds tend to hover above schools of surface-feeding fish and can often be detect on many radars. The best radars suited for bird detection are those rated at 4 to 6 KW or more power output that use 4’ (1.22 m) to 6’ (1.83 m) or larger open array antennas.

TIP: Detecting flocks of birds requires optimum gain and clutter control settings. Here are some adjustment suggestions:

1. Switch from automatic to manual control setting.
2. Decrease or turn off your Rain and Sea Clutter controls.
3. Advance the Gain control until “noise speckles” appear and cover the screen.
4. Note: Noise speckles move randomly about the radar screen. Look for a cluster of dominate speckles that tend to remain in the same area of the screen. Such a cluster points to a group of circulating birds above a school of fish. With a little practice, a user can become a proficient bird hunter.

Get Smart With Radar

There is treasure trove of tutorials, operation guides, user tips and instructional videos that can be found at manufacturer’s websites as well as on YouTube. Additional information can also be found at online user discussion forums. These free resources help unlock and master the full potential of radar and train to operate it like a seasoned professional.

Article by Ken Englert

Ken Englert owns and operates Maritime Communications, a marine-electronics dealership in Marina del Rey, CA. He has been the marine electronics columnist for Boating magazine for 45 years and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board and president of the Board of Directors for the Marine Electronics Journal. He is also a five-time winner in the annual Boating Writers International awards program. www.maritimecomm.com