Jeff Morris wrote:
Bruce on horizon wrote:

I had a JRC 1000 on my first boat and now I am restoring a 43
Endeavour ketch and it is time to think about radars. The JRC was a
nice unit but woefully underpowered. I would like to see out 8 to 10
miles with the radome mounted 20-30' up the mizzen. I know that the
4kw will give more power out and thus burn thru in foggy conditions
but most of the 4kw units have the big displays. Everyone on this
group knows the drill...what will give me the biggest bang for the
buck with the best reliability amd a thin small display.


The RayMarine equipment lets you mix and match the displays and the
domes so you get what you need now, and upgrade later. BTW, the radar
horizon is about 7 miles from a transmitter 30 feet up. Large targets
will of course be seen at a larger distance, but I can't say that I've
had any problem with my low power Raytheon, and I cruise in Maine and
Cape Cod.

I've had minor second thoughts on this after checking the specs. In the
"old days" more powerful domes were heavier and used more power - that
is not the case now - the 4kW Raymarine dome only weighs a few pounds
more and uses 1 or 2 Watts more juice.

I'm still not sure of the value for long distance viewing, but the high
power dome will have finer resolution, so that a pair of channel buoys
will be resolved as two targets further away with the more powerful
unit. Navigation is easier, since coastlines will more closely resemble
the chart. However, this takes a lot of practice and you're better off
relying on a good gps.

The downsides of the large unit is almost double the cost (a $1000
premium on the RayMarine list) and a much larger dome (an issue for
those trying to hide the dome from the jib).