Radar - 18" or 24"

[Maren]

Originally Posted by mesquaukee

I prefer redundancy in all safety related systems. The list is 2 of: Radar, GPS, chart plotter and paper charts, dual steering systems (flip a valve), oversized dual fuel filters. Anything which if it were to fail in bad weather or during a nasty reef entry is only an inconvenience not a crisis.

Frankly, I think that's a really soild arguement. I go with the radar/AIS because of the complimentary nature of the two.

[David M]

At work we have boats with anything from an 18 inch dome antenna to a 4 foot open array antenna. I have also used larger radars with previous jobs. Its not distance that a larger antenna will get you, its resolution. Most yacht radars have at least a 24 mile range although most yachts do not have a line of sight of 24 miles to the horizon. I also have an unlimited radar endorsement (two contacts) on my license.

For most yachts, you really don't need the narrower beam width. If there is something out there, it will just be a wider contact on the screen and the difference in a degree or two between a wide beam or a narrow beam makes no difference in determining which course to take in order to avoid a collision. Unless you are actually going to use your radar for determining a relatively accurate relative motion line (RML), it makes no difference.

As far as seeing land, it makes no difference. The land contacts will not be as clear, but they will still show just the same.

Sea Clutter, Rain Clutter or Gain has nothing to do with beam width. That's a completely different function.

Modern digital radars all have the ability to make manual adjustments or leave it in the automatic settings, which is fine for newbies. If you really want to tweak your radar though you need to manually adjust it.

For how yachts are used, it seems like a waste of money to go with the higher resolution antenna.