moving radar

[motion30]

I am trying to clear my hardtop. In preparation for installing solar panels. I have moved my satellite tv dish and my regular TV antena to the lower rear deck .my question is if I move my radar antenna down there will it still work properly? You can see the rear deck in the pictures

[St. Elsewhere]

I do not see any pictures. The radar antenna should be as high as practical, and it should have minimal obstructions to a 360 degree sweep.

[motion30]

Here is a picture. See lower. About 3' down from hardtop

[Biggusstickus]

Im no expert on this but you should keep your radar higher up for at least 2 reasons.
1) you want the best reception possible
2) You don't want to be in the line of path while its operating.

I can't help but think you will be sacrificing Sat Tv reception, Normal Tv reception and Radar reception for the sake of a few solar panels. Anyway there are far more qualified on here to offer their opinion so goodluck with it all.

[Adelie]

The reading I've done indicates that 16-24' above waterline is best.

Below 12-16' you are starting to cut ultimate range down below 16nm and radiation on deck starts to be an issue.

Above 24' you aren't gaining very much ultimate range but you are starting to sacrifice close in returns which can very very useful navigating near shore in fog or darkness.




Adelie

[FamilyVan]

You definitely don't want to move your RADAR down there. It will render it nearly useless.
RADAR is an acronym
Radio Direction And Ranging.
The principle it works on is it sends out electronic pulses from the antenna the pulses bounce off the first solid object they hit, return to the antenna. The computer measures the time it takes for the pulse to return, and notes the direction of the antenna when the pulse goes out.

It calculates this data and then creates an image on your monitor. What would happen in your case is the first thing the pulse hit would be the back of your cabin. This would render your RADAR blind for about 180 degrees. Worse yet it's the 180 degrees in front of you.

I could offer a possible solution. Build a RADAR mast out of tubular steel. You can off set it either to port or starboard so it doesn't interfere with your solar panels and your RADAR will still function as intended.

You could even make it a fold down mast to maximise your under bridge clearance.


Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[motion30]

See rear lower roof. perhaps I can put the radar on a pole and still keep the elevation the same

[UNCIVILIZED]

There's a reason that the Navy mounts theirs higher than pretty much everything else onboard ( well several reasons actually). The most important ones being range & the ability of the unit to "see". And the other is to keep the RF energy away from the crew.
You kinda' don't want to microwave them what runs the ship.

Needs be, mount yours on an aluminum, carbon fiber, or fiberglass pole (less weight up high - a KEY issue). And if height's an issue, for clearing things, mount the pole inside of a slightly larger diameter one (aka sleeve it) so that you can drop it several feet vertically, when the need arises. Just remember to account for such when re-wiring it.

[DeepFrz]

Nice looking boat. I see you already have an arch just at the rear of your Bimini. Perhaps mount it on a short pole extending up at the same angle as the arch which would move it back away from the solar panels unless you get most of your solar radiation from the stern of the boat. What is the orientation of your slip?