- Oct 3, 2006
- 4,404
- Boat Info
- 280 Sundancer, Westerbeke MPV generator
- Engines
- twin 5.0's w/BIII drives
I am very new to Radar and still learning.
I have not yet depended on it in fog or night. Instead I keep it on as we cruise and play with the settings, adjust the range, adjust the gain, compare what I see on the screen to what I see with my eyes, etc.
I don’t use the radar for navigation. My GPS Chartplotter does a great job of this.
My #1 goal is to avoid hitting a small unlit boat at night or in the fog or rain.
We seem to have some fishermen in small skiffs that don’t keep their light on at night. We don’t get fog often but do on occasion, so same would apply here.
Here are some questions.
#1) I’ve noticed some small items like a wave runner show up very well however a low profile jet boat may not even make a blip even with the gain at 100%. Am I doing anything wrong?
#2) What range to you normally keep your Radar at when in use for avoiding boat collisions?
#3) Do you keep “trails†on or off?
#4) Do you keep “rings†on of off?
#5) Is your confidence in the radar high enough to run at plane speed in the fog, beyond what you can avoid with eye sight alone?
#6) Any words of advice you’d like to share with a radar newbie?
I have not yet depended on it in fog or night. Instead I keep it on as we cruise and play with the settings, adjust the range, adjust the gain, compare what I see on the screen to what I see with my eyes, etc.
I don’t use the radar for navigation. My GPS Chartplotter does a great job of this.
My #1 goal is to avoid hitting a small unlit boat at night or in the fog or rain.
We seem to have some fishermen in small skiffs that don’t keep their light on at night. We don’t get fog often but do on occasion, so same would apply here.
Here are some questions.
#1) I’ve noticed some small items like a wave runner show up very well however a low profile jet boat may not even make a blip even with the gain at 100%. Am I doing anything wrong?
#2) What range to you normally keep your Radar at when in use for avoiding boat collisions?
#3) Do you keep “trails†on or off?
#4) Do you keep “rings†on of off?
#5) Is your confidence in the radar high enough to run at plane speed in the fog, beyond what you can avoid with eye sight alone?
#6) Any words of advice you’d like to share with a radar newbie?