Starpath School of Navigation
 

I was thinking of taking the marine radar course at $279.

Is the course worth that price.

Starpath School of Navigation
 

On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:15:25 -0700 (PDT), Bill Ewald
wrote:

I was thinking of taking the marine radar course at $279.

Is the course worth that price.

It depends what you are hoping to gain and what you already know.

Are you looking for a radar endorsement on your captain's license? If
so, does the course meet USCG qualification standards?

Are you already an experienced navigator and just looking to sharpen
your radar skills? If so, you might be able to learn what you need
on your own without a formal course. It depends on your learning
style and what your objectives are. Basic radar operation is not all
that complicated on modern equipment but you do need to first
understand the basic principles of navigation with regard to taking
bearings on an object and plotting them over time.

Starpath School of Navigation
 

On Jul 25, 11:00*pm, Wayne B wrote:
On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:15:25 -0700 (PDT), Bill Ewald

wrote:
I was thinking of taking the marine radar course at $279.

Is the course worth that price?

It depends what you are hoping to gain and what you already know.

Hi, Wayne. I don't know much, except from the radar section of the
USCGAUX coastal navigation course.

Are you looking for a radar endorsement on your captain's license? *If
so, does the course meet USCG qualification standards?

Good question; I think the Starpath issues a certificate after passing
the examination, but I don't know what that certificate is good for
except hanging on the wall.

Are you already an experienced navigator and just looking to sharpen
your radar skills? * If so, you might be able to learn what you need
on your own without a formal course. * It depends on your learning
style and what your objectives are. *Basic radar operation is not all
that complicated on modern equipment but you do need to first
understand the basic principles of navigation with regard to taking
bearings on an object and plotting them over time.

I have looked at the Raymarine manual and one book on radar operation.
I need to learn at a pace similar to that in the classroom. To me the
problem is the combining of the GPS and radar on the same screen at
the wheel. To me at least, radar should be a separate operation.

Thanks for your response,

Starpath School of Navigation
 

On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:56:41 -0700 (PDT), Bill Ewald
wrote:

To me the
problem is the combining of the GPS and radar on the same screen at
the wheel. To me at least, radar should be a separate operation.

A lot of modern chart plotter/radar combination units offer the option
of overlaying the radar display on top of the chart image. I find
this ocassionally useful, particularly for quickly determining whether
or not a blip is a nav mark or vessel. I do not normally operate in
that mode however since it tends to clutter the display.

If you are trying to learn how to manually correlate what you see on
radar with the chart data, I recommend rotating the chart in the
direction that you are moving since the radar display is normally
oriented as "course up". That can take some getting used to since
most people are used to looking at charts in "north up" orientation.