Operation Manual
2.SelectPowerupRadartoturntheradaron,orPowerdown
Radartoturntheradaroff.
3.SelectRadar:Txtostarttheradartransmitting,orRadar:
Stdbytostoptheradartransmitting.
12.4Radarrangeandimagequality
Maximumradarrange
Theusablerangeoftheradarislimitedbyfactorssuchasthe
heightofthescanner,andheightofthetarget.
Maximumradarrangeisessentiallyline-of-sight,soislimitedby
theheightofthescannerandtheheightofthetargetasillustrated
below:
a
1
a
2
h
H
D16 43-4
R
ma x
R
ma x
= 2.23 ( h + H )
1
3
2
ItemDescription
1Radarequippedvessel.
2
Curvatureoftheearth.
3
Target(Cliff).
a
1
Radarhorizonofantenna.
a
2
Radarhorizonoftarget.
R
max
Maximumradarrangeinnautical
miles.
R
max
=a
1
+a
2
hRadarantennaheightinmetres.
HTargetheightinmetres.
Thetablebelowshowstypicalmaximumradarrangesforvarious
radarantennaheightsandtargetheights.Rememberthatalthough
theradarhorizonisgreaterthantheopticalhorizon,theradar
canonlydetecttargetsifalargeenoughtargetisabovetheradar
horizon.
Antennaheight
(meters)
Targetheight
(meters)
Maximumrange
(Nauticalmiles)
33
7.7
31010.9
5
38.8
5
1012
Radarimagequality
Anumberoffactorscanaffectthequalityofaradarimage,including
echoes,seaclutter,andotherinterference.
Notallradarechoesareproducedbyvalidtargets.Spuriousor
missingechoesmaybecausedby:
•Sidelobes.
•Indirectechoes.
•Multipleechoes.
•Blindsectors.
•Sea,rain,orsnowclutter.
•Interference.
Throughobservation,practice,andexperience,youcangenerally
detecttheseconditionsveryquicklyandusetheradarcontrolsto
minimizethem.
SideLobes
Sidelobepatternsareproducedbysmallamountsofenergyfrom
thetransmittedpulsesthatareradiatedoutsidethenarrowmain
beam.Theeffectsofsidelobesaremostnoticeablewithtargetsat
shortranges(normallybelow3nm),andinparticularwithlarger
objects.Sidelobeechoesformeitherarcsontheradarscreen
similartorangerings,oraseriesofechoesformingabrokenarc.
128NewcSeries/NeweSeries