I've finally had it with my old radar.

It still works, after taking what seems like about five minutes for
the tube to warm up.
The display is fine, as long as it isn't daytime. During the daytime,
you have to look through a rubber "mask" that blocks out ambient
light- and also prevents you from seeing anything else *except* the
radar screen. The unit has been hanging from the headliner just about
an inch and a half too high for comfortable viewing through the mask,
so standing on tip-toe has long been a part of my radar routine.

The CRT display monitor is as big as a bread box, blocking vision to
an unneccesary degree even when radar isn't running (I run with it off
most of the time).

So this afternoon the whole shooting match was dismounted. It's off to
the
second hand marine consignment store with my Raytheon 2600
"Manufacture date, October 1981". I hope to get $300 for it, but will
probably have to take less. The next owner will appreciate that I
disconnected the wiring harness at both ends *and* have the original
Raytheon book and schematics illustrating where all the connections
should be remade.

RayMarine has a pretty god deal on the C-70 radar pack right now.
I thought the C-70 might have too small a display, but I borrowed a
full size graphic from the dealer to take over to the boat and see.
Turns out the screen is just as big as the screen on the Simrad CP33
plotter- which has never seemed too small and is about 2-feet farther
away than where the radar will mount.

The new unit won't require all the fiddling and twiddling with "sea
state" and "gain" knobs and will allow computerized target tracking
and other advanced features the oldie but goodie never dreamed of.

The C-70 can function as a full feature nav system, display AIS
targets,
hook up to a dpeth sounder, and much more. I have decided just to use
mine for radar. Already have a sounder, and I don't want to put all my
eggs into a single electronic basket. I'm keeping the Simrad CP33, so
if the radar monitor craps out I will still have a GPS plotter
working. (Using the entire screen for radar image also mitigates fears
of the image being too small- splitting a screen that small for 2-3
simultaneous displays may not be such a hot idea).

My most common nav tool remains the paper chart- but you can't beat a
plotter for confirming whether you are where you think you are on that
chart and you can't beat radar for seeing (and being seen) in dark or
foggy conditions.

I'll be installing the C-70 this week. The only tough part is adhering
to my standard practice of buying from a local independent supplier
whenever possible. My source has to pay more for Raymarine than I can
buy it, retail, at one of the largest marine supply stores in the
country. grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble.........at least standing
on priciple is only going to cost a couple of hundred bucks this time
around. :-)