Radar controversy

[Olli Wendelin]

I was there JUN - NOV 1977.

Olli Wendelin
BLUE MOON
Charleston, SC



wendelin@spawar.navy.mil

[Mike Quinlan]

All that math is impressive, but I've never been run over by someone who was 3.46 miles away, yet. As I figure it, that distance is to the waterline of the boat traveling 25 knots. You will be able to detect the boat as the highest parts of him become higher than your line of sight. For instance, I have detected ships at 20 miles and my radome is only 10 feet above the water. Their topworks were 75 feet above the water.
As far as the radiation danger goes, my manuel says less than 1 watt of power at 1 meter distance. I think that you will be ok if you don't stick your head in front of the dome for any amount of time.
I don't recomend the self leveling mounts for any ocean work. The wiring fails after about a month at sea.
Mikie.



mikieq@erols.com

[Warren Stringer]

Personally, I use a stern monted pole for the radome, and it works great. I am most interested in the short range performance, as that is when I need information about "hard things" the most..following channel markers through a channel, looking for the marina entrance in fog, trying to find the opening in a rocky shoreline, to a anchorage that is landlocked and hidden etc. Rarely do we use the radar at a range of more than 3 miles. Only when crossing Superior do I use the long range..and we generally see the ships visually about the same time we see them on radar, especially at night, as they light up like a city afloat. My nominally rated 16 mile radar seems to have an effective max. range of 12 miles when mounted on the stern pole. I would argue that this is more than sufficient for most requirements.

Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

Assuming infinite power, maximum range to detect a target:

range (nm) = 1.2 x (sq.rt. height of antenna in feet + sq.rt. height of target).

The "null zone" of the Raytheon RL72 is 50-60 feet.

Warren
(Replying from work e-address)



wstringer@aristotle.net

[Frank Vernet]

Hi Olli

I got there shortly after you departed: Dec77-May78. Never made it to prototype however...enroute I got diverted to the USNA Prep School in Newport, RI.

Frank Vernet
s/v Sirius, CD33 #84



frank.vernet@bmdo.osd.mil