RM Quantum Radar Performance

[BigAl.NZ]

Hiya,

A few months ago we were coastal sailing in almost glass conditions. In the distance (about 2-3NM) I could see about 20 18foot boats fishing on a known submerged rock.

I was unable to pick them up on radar until about 1NM. I was a bit shocked by this to say the least. Yes they weren't big boats but I do expect better performance.

The Radar, a RM Quantum 2 is mounted on the mast about halfway up, so range should be good. Maybe a very small dead spot due to front stay.

I had it radar in auto mode. Tried manually adjusting gain and didn't seem to make much diff, nor did heading change.

Any other quantum users out there? What has your experience been?

Cheers

AG

[Neptune's Gear]

Better than that. What range was the radar set to? 18ft glass boats are a hard target though. The shorter the radar range the better the small object detection. Also, depending on screen zoom, a few radar pixels may be missed. Shorten the max range, zoom to about that range, and detection should work.

[BigAl.NZ]

Good point, but when I estimated them to be 2NM away I did play around with what I estimated the correct range to be - no range setting got them to show up until I was about 1NM. (Maybe 1.5 I picked them up - cant quite remember now)

[Neptune's Gear]

So, Checklist
Sea clutter off
Rain filter off
Gain on Auto
Range say 2 NM
Zoom about the same
If nothing then, turn up the gain...

[BigAl.NZ]

Originally Posted by Neptune's Gear

So, Checklist
Gain on Auto
Range say 2 NM
Zoom about the same

Range - I know what range is. What is Zoom?

[Neptune's Gear]

Are you overlaying the radar on the chart?
If you are, zoom is zooming the visible chart to about the same as the radar range. If not, then there is no zoom.

Don't forget the rain clutter setting, or the sea clutter. Turn them both off..

Or do a radar course, which is a good thing anyway. You need to understand about true motion radars, relative motion, radar assisted collisions and possible errors in Arpa/Marpa systems. There are more to radars than many realize.

[SaltyMetals]

I just installed a Quantum on my boat (connecting on wifi to my Lighthouse II RM plotter and i took the precaution of mounting the Quantum on a self-levelling bracket) . I was impressed. it was picking up a sports rowing boat (coxed 4) at about 2nm.

What i have is the original Quantum, not the Quantum II which needs Lighthouse III which i do not hv on my plotter.
Andrew
"Genial Bee"

[BigAl.NZ]

Hmm, maybe something was not set right then.

Matt: I was in radar mode (no overlay). It was glass calm so heel wasn't an issue.

[CarinaPDX]

I'd second the recommendation to use manual settings - that radar should pick up the outboards on those boats but auto mode is not always optimal on any radar. As stated earlier, turn off the sea and rain clutter filters, then turn up the gain until just before the noise becomes a problem. Modern radars do a lot of things very well but the best results require a fair amount of knowledge and understanding.


Greg