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Radar effectivness
On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 14:41:28 -0400 (EDT), (Ron
Thornton) wrote:
Rodney,
About 2 years ago. A google search of the boats groups should find a
number of comments from both users and radar techs.
Well, I have no doubt 4KW is better than 2KW, but the simple 1.5 KW
Furuno 1720 I used from 1989 to 2001 could see significant targets in
rain. It took to much manual diddling to do so, in retrospecy.
The 2KW Raytheon I got in Sept 2001 is highly computerized, and its
default behavior is better than I could do manually, I am sure.
One clever thing it does is show rainshowers on 6 NM range, and filter
them out on 3 NM, allowing me to see other boats. Popping back and
forth is remarkably informative.
This is not a plug for Raytheon. I expect a Furuno with present-day
technology is similarly improved, perhaps with different emphasis.
That said, if I were equipping a power boat, or a sailboat so heavy
that the radar antenna weight is not a consideration, I would go for
the most powerful I could afford. But the Raytheon has more capability
than I expected, and weighs enough more than the Furuno to bother me.
Indeed, I had to get a sturdier tower. :-(
Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a
"Happy is he that taketh thy little ones and dasheth them upon the stones." __Psalm 137
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