Jim Thompson wrote:

I bought radar before this past season for the first time. Real "eye
opener". Found it very useful, even in clear weather -- we only get
fog 4 day/month in the Northumbeland Strait. If I was venturing out
on a longer range trip I would not be without GPS, sounder and radar.

We have a radar set on the tugboat. A bit old, and doubtfully installed by DPO, but
it seemed capable of working. The return was very garbled and unclear, it would not
even pick up large buildings on shore from more than 1/2 mile away. I was convinced
that we should buy a new one, but going through the tuning & timing procedure in the
owners manual (at least the DPO saved them) improved the return picture a LOT.

Over the past year I've tweaked the thing a little here and there, as time &
opportunity came along, and after some coaching by a retired Navy OS Master Chief, we
get a great return picture out to about 16 miles. It will pick up a floating soda can
in calm water, show rain squals, outline marshy shore, etc etc.

Our radar has proven to be a really good tool for use in marginal visibility and for
tracking ship traffic. When we first bought the boat I was not convinced of it's
usefulness, especially not that particular set. But now it works great.

BTW thanks Jeff for your comments about magnetron life.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King