"Keith" wrote in message
...
Hey, don't laugh. I tracked something one day that had to be either a bird
or a UFO. Although I'd have preferred to see the latter, I have to believe
it was a bird.

I've heard the air defense radars follow easily crows and other reasonable
size birds. And that it isn't nice for the birds - somehow they can detect
it and tries to dodge.

JV

Is there a way to tune our small boat radars to help see birds? I have a JRC
1500.

Earl


JV wrote:

"Keith" wrote in message
...
Hey, don't laugh. I tracked something one day that had to be either a bird
or a UFO. Although I'd have preferred to see the latter, I have to believe
it was a bird.

I've heard the air defense radars follow easily crows and other reasonable
size birds. And that it isn't nice for the birds - somehow they can detect
it and tries to dodge.

JV

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 13:22:07 -0300, Earl Haase
wrote:

Is there a way to tune our small boat radars to help see birds? I have a JRC
1500.

Earl

No, you don't have NEAR enough power......

The bird-seeing radars are running MEGAWATTS, not kilowatts.... Many
military radars can cook a seagull, in flight, if stationary pointed
in its direction....They are VERY dangerous to be around.....


Larry

Extremely intelligent life must exist in the universe.
You can tell because they never tried to contact us.

Try turning up your gain manually as much as you can without obscuring the
screen. Some of the fishing boats around here can see flocks of birds
feeding, indicating fish.

--


Keith
__
A critic is a man who knows the way, but can't drive the car.
"Earl Haase" wrote in message
...
Is there a way to tune our small boat radars to help see birds? I have a
JRC
1500.

Earl


JV wrote:

"Keith" wrote in message
...
Hey, don't laugh. I tracked something one day that had to be either a
bird
or a UFO. Although I'd have preferred to see the latter, I have to
believe
it was a bird.

I've heard the air defense radars follow easily crows and other
reasonable
size birds. And that it isn't nice for the birds - somehow they can
detect
it and tries to dodge.

JV

In article ,
(Larry W4CSC) wrote:

.....something that
MUST reflect radio waves....which isn't wood, fiberglass or anything
else non-conductive to electricity.

Bzzzzzt, Wrong answer, Would you like to try again, or go for what is
behind "Door Number 2"?

Xband Radar Transmissions will reflect of any surface that is flat and
over 4 wavelengths square. It doesn't matter what the material is as
long as it isn't some type of Stealth Carbon Composite or the like. Wood
& plastic boats show up just like steel ones do, given the same size and
surface area. Modern Commercial Marine Radars have excellent Log
Receivers, and I have painted "Single Seagulls" sitting on the water
of Lake Union in Seattle, Wa. with a Furuno 448, and that was 20 years
ago. What makes a "Great" Marine Radar is the Antenna Gain and
Horizontal Beamwidth. The higher the Gain, and the smaller the
Beamwidth, the better the radar. 40 years ago we needed 20 or 40 Kw
just to paint Mountain Tops out at 48 miles, now that can be done with 6
or 7 Kw and units now only have one tube. (the Magnitron)

US Power Squadran has a course on the Operation and Use of Small Boat
Radars that might be of interest to the original Poster. Also there are
a number of schools that teach Radar Navigation and Radar Observer
courses for "USCG Six Pack Masters License preperation".

Bruce in alaska