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Marine radar: How best to set up to have it plot perfect targets on screen

Written by Capt Rajeev Jassal on May 23, 2016
52
Marine radars Radars on board are probably the most used equipment during navigation. It is a good tool for the look out. We are so much dependent on the Radar that sometimes we use it more than we use our eyes for look out.  But what if I say that radar is also most under utilized equipment on board. Don't believe me, then try answering this questions in yes or no. Most of the times I do not use any controls other than gain, sea and rain. Did you say Yes or No ? Whatever your answer, but most of the people use only these three controls for setting up a radar. And that is undeniable fact. This is even when Radars have so much more than these three controls. And when we do not use all the controls to set the picture, the picture might look cluttered. Through this post, I want to discuss how best we can have radars paint a perfect picture of all the targets. Basic operation of Radar Before we start into the controls of the radar, it is important that we know how marine radars operate and some of the terms associated with the operation of radar. A radio wave is transmitted and received back by the scanner. The time is calculated between transmission and receiving back this wave. The speed of the radio wave is known and thus the receiver unit calculates the distance of the target. After processing, it displays this information on the...

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Comments (52)

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  • Vignesh May 23, 2016
    Thank you.. For an useful information
    2

    Rajeev Jassal May 24, 2016
    Glad that you found it useful Vignesh

    Abhishek Das March 28, 2020
    Why i am unable to post question capt.sir.

  • aniket May 24, 2016
    very helpful
    1

    Rajeev Jassal May 24, 2016
    Happy to help Aniket

  • Pawan Sahay Srivastava May 24, 2016
    Thank you sir This is very helpful teaching methods...
    1

    Rajeev Jassal May 24, 2016
    Happy to help Pawan. let me know if you have any question any time.

  • samarjeet singh May 25, 2016
    sir why ror is based on heading of vessels & not on their actual track?
    8

    Rajeev Jassal May 26, 2016
    samarjeet, Not entire ROR is based on that. Only the rules under section "When in sight of one another" are based on the heading of the vessel. For rules under this section, we are supposed to take action when other vessel is in sight and looking at a vessel we can judge its heading and not course made good by it. This is explained in detail in Speed over water and speed over ground blog. Check that out. Let me know if you have any question anytime.

    Doms June 19, 2016
    Hi.. I have question our x band radar pm test is 4.5 is that okey?.. The initial test during new magnetron replace is 7.5/18...My 2nd question is that there is a red circle on the radar screen on own ship. It suddenly appears what does it mean.. Hope you can help me with this.. Thanks you ver much

  • daninda September 26, 2016
    Great work..thaks alot sir..i studied more info from ur blog..
    1

    Rajeev Jassal September 29, 2016
    Glad you are finding the information useful Daninda..

  • NICOLAS September 27, 2016
    awesome article, I have spent hours reading radar manuals and I coulnd't get so much information, keep on posting, very good job...
    1

    Rajeev Jassal September 29, 2016
    Glad you found it useful Nicolas..

  • Skip November 13, 2016
    Very informative wish you would do one on Furuno FR8252. Had it for a few years and have not been able to find anyone familiar with the unit. Even Furuno techs seem to be less familiar with this unit.
    1

    Rajeev Jassal November 17, 2016
    Hi Skip, I will try to write on Furuno if I get my hands on a Furuno radar.

  • Ayush November 25, 2016
    Sir pls write something on radar ie when to use true motion and relative motion and difference between true and relative vector and which one use when
    2

    Rajeev Jassal April 30, 2017
    Will right on that Ayush..

    VISHNU August 1, 2020
    Would be nice to know that..its always a confusing one for me too..

  • aria January 18, 2017
    Good day sir. i highly appreciate your kind effort in these article which is seem to be perfect radar hand user guide, specially for those need straightforward answer and punch line for this matter. Best regards.
    1

    Rajeev Jassal April 30, 2017
    Glad to hear that Aria..

  • rjay April 6, 2017
    How high does the radar beam see vertically. I imagine 3 degrees; is that about right? Thanks
    0

  • aaron April 23, 2017
    hello sir...1 question for you.. What is another name for a calibration ring???
    0

  • suraj gudigar July 26, 2017
    sir i have one doubt regarding cover pulse and main pulse. How do i observe them on oscilloscope. Please guide me on setting the oscilloscope. On our test bench we have waveform and signal generator as source. So, please help me out.
    0

  • mamun July 27, 2017
    my radar is not working well.when i have hooked any contact it dose keep it properly at that time what can i do
    0

  • mamun July 27, 2017
    it dose not keep properly
    0

  • Bill September 17, 2017
    Info for kindergarden.
    0

  • JANA-30 October 10, 2017
    Good Day Rajeev, we have question regarding our radar (FURUNO MU201CR), how to fixed or adjust object on the screen if not on track (shifted clockwise at 0.5 NM)? Thanks alot in advance. Regards...
    0

  • Shabaz December 29, 2017
    Thanks a lot sir for the valuble information
    0

  • Prashant Negi February 18, 2018
    Very valuable information, also need to check how do we change TX time on JRC radar upon replacing magnetron. JRC JMA 9932SA
    0

  • Epe October 29, 2018
    How can I write in the the pm range
    0

  • chettu prasad March 16, 2019
    thanks for very realistic information sir....not like in the manuals academic language.....could you please explain about tuning in JRC rasdar
    0

  • captainKIDD April 17, 2019
    My search for radar pm made me come here. The blog is very informative as well as educative. Keep up the good work. I didn't get a chance to do Radar PM while onboard because of the busy schedule and lack of time. So, my question is: is it possible to check radar performance by observing the concentric circles or arc that appear during PM Test? What should be the distance of circle with respect to ship?
    0

  • Mark Johnson May 2, 2019
    Helpful and interesting article! Thank you! I seek clarification for another matter as well ... The radar equipment I use, is the same as the one described in your article. For a few days I've noticed an offset between the AIS target and the Radar target on the radar display. At first I thought there might be an issue with my GPS receivers so I've started investigating the problem in this direction. But, GPS receivers seemed to be working fine, satellites were connected, parameters were according with the maker's manual etc. With the first opportunity I've made few manual position fixes (by radar rng & brg) which resulted in a position offset of abt 2 cables. With the same offset values as shown by the ECDIS, I've adjusted the radar offset in the MAP DISPLAY SETTING menu --> Lat/Long correction. Now the radar image was alligned, AIS targets and Radar targets had the same position on the screen. Next watch when I come on duty, I see that the AIS targets and Radar Targets are again miss-aligned. (Nobody reset the offset in the mean time, were the same values typed by me) Then I start thinking there might be an issue with the radar itself.. So I entered the service-man menu, and performed adjustment of bearing and range from here. Basically I've aligned the radar echo with the AIS target - bearing of minus 2 deg from original value and rage from 350 units to 400. (I don't know what units are used for this range figures). Now the targets are aligned perfectly, and everything seems to be in order. But the question is: Where my adjustments in the service man menu right to do so, or I should NOT have entered there? How can I be 100% sure that now the radar shows the distances and bearings accurately?
    0

  • Prahlad October 30, 2019
    What could be the reason for frequent loss of targets on nav radar? And the suggested remedial actions. Regards
    0

  • Nyan December 22, 2019
    Special Thanks for your blog.
    0

  • Amar anand May 6, 2020
    Very good blog sir......stay healthy
    0

  • Raunak Kumar May 26, 2020
    I find myself blessed to have found your blogs terrifically seductive practical knowledge that it holds to shape a seafarer. I implore you to share as many practical maritime insights as is possible. Thankful to you triggering my knowledge up.
    0

  • Nishant Dubey September 22, 2020
    Can we reset the transmission and receiving switch to zero in jrc radar
    0

  • rpa training November 19, 2020
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    0

  • Vamoussa Diarrassouba February 28, 2021
    Bonjour Madame, Monsieur - pays : cote d'ivoire Objet: demande de cotation RADAR nous souhaiterons avoir un correspondent de votre société pour une demande de cotation de RADAR (10.4 Multi-color LCD RADAR 1835/1935/1945) . avec 15m de Câble Bien Cordialement
    0

  • Vamoussa Diarrassouba February 28, 2021
    Bonjour Madame, Monsieur - pays : cote d'ivoire Objet: demande de cotation RADAR nous souhaiterons avoir un correspondent de votre société pour une demande de cotation de RADAR (10.4 Multi-color LCD RADAR 1835/1935/1945) . avec 15m de Câble Bien Cordialement
    0

  • Doms June 12, 2021
    how to best detect squals ? please advise
    0

  • Value Market Research July 17, 2021
    According to Value Market Research, the latest technology trends and global market opportunity analysis in the Marine AIS Monitoring Solution Market industry growing with a high CAGR in the upcoming year. Our report has categorized the market based on technology, service, development, vertical and region. https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/report/marine-ais-monitoring-solution-market
    0

  • Dime Marine June 24, 2022
    Great Share! Can we use of Solid State Radar instead of Magnetron Radar ?
    0

  • Captain S February 18, 2023
    Dear Capt Rajeev Jassal, thanks for your valuable articles. Regarding the radar performance test to be done every watch, what is the supporting regulation this is based on ? Is it a local MCA rule or international IMO rule ? My ship is not on UK flag. Thank you.
    0

Capt Rajeev Jassal

About Capt Rajeev Jassal

Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 24 years mainly on crude oil, product and chemical tankers. He holds MBA in shipping & Logistics degree from London. He has done extensive research on quantitatively measuring Safety culture onboard and safety climate ashore which he believes is the most important element for safer shipping.

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