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Used Radars (any thoughts about these?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter nyrussell
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Save your money. I highly recommend you wait to find a radar with an open array antenna. the cute little dome radars, are just that "cute". The open array is so superior, they should ban the dome types. They are ok for looking at a storm front, but you need a raday that has narrow beamwidth so that it is useful at the waterline. I can see a crab pot bouy at 2 miles with my Furano open array that is on my Hat. I have a domed color Furano on my Fountain and it is useless. What is the size of your boat?
 
I'm with Chris. Open is much better and you should be able to find a used one at a reasonable cost. Furno is the way to go IMHO.
 
I wouldn't spend the money on the Furuno domes.

But - with that said, I had a Ray 4kw dome on my Hatt, and it worked GREAT. 48nm range was excellent for storms, and it found pots and markers in close as well - which is the point, right?

As nice as an open array? No. But half the price.
 
Raymarine makes some excellent units and are used extensively by the Coast Guard and come up as surplus often and are cheap. You can get some excellent bargains if you take the time to become familiar with a particular model. I have seen open array antennas sell for as little as $30 bucks on some auctions. You just have to know what you are buying. One of our forum members just bought an fantastic late 90's Ray unit for cheap. I like the way Furano integrates on the new stuff, but the Ray marine stand alone stuff is really good.

The open array is superior at all power settings for resolving targets, all of the radars have more RF power than you need for close in work, but there is a significant difference in resolving targets between antenna types. Take some time and read up on radar uses and do not bother reading the magazine reviews since they are just really commercials.

Personally, I like the old CRT displays better than the color LCD stuff when things get crappy.
 
There is no difference between the inside of the 2 types of arrays. It all depends on the size of the array, the power output of the unit and location, location, location and angle of use. I have 2 dome units and they both work quite well. One is a Furuno and one is a Raymarine. You can have a small size array and low power and see squat or a large array and low power and see good close in. You can have a large array and lots of power and still not see. Or you could fry meat on the boat next to you. Radar is NOT to be used in the marina as so many jerks do. Bigger is better as in any antenna. Radar must see to work. The biggest draw back in used radar is the life of the magnetron tube in the transmitter gun. It is the most expensive item in the unit that you can have repaired. They are a timed unit. Try to find out how many hours are on the used unit if you can. I don't know what kind of time you can expect. Like a light bulb it depends on how many times you turn it on and off. They do have a preheat on the newer units. Don't spend a lot of money on a used unit unless it is a cherry and worth repairing. Buy Nothing old, old. There are to many improvements in the newer equipment. I really like my color Furuno. I have a close up unit and a distance unit.


BILL
 
Okay, where do I find out about the Coastie Auctions?

And a couple hundred for a late 1990's with no cables?

Right now I need one to last a year or two (or longer if it works still) the one that came with the boat fried right after we got the boat so would love one for te trip to block and back.

Oh yes, size and model are in the Signature

Noel
 
My bad about not seeing your signature! LOL

a good place to check is this website http://www.govliquidation.com/ but it is just a beginning place.

There are hundreds of other government auctions as well. There also local auctions at military installations that you have to attend. A lot of people buy stuff at these auctions and then cannot find any information on the unit they bought, since some of these items may not have a direct commercial cousin. buying surplus is not for everyone. If you have the knowledge to know what you are looking at, you can obtain some real bargains. Some people just get lucky, but most do not. I have the knowledge but not the time. So I bought new units for my boats.

Radar uses microwave band RF which is dangerous to living tissue and most of these start at 2000 watts (2kw) and go up in power from there) so you do not want to just play around with a unit without knowing what you are doing. You wouldn't stick your head in a microwave oven would you? I see radar units mounted in front of flybridges all the time irradiating the people full blast with several kilowatts of microwave, I wonder how many suffer ill health effects and never understand what caused it. Radar should be mounted high above your operating position and checked for safe spurious RF radiation levels since it will reflect off metal objects nearby. All you guys with two units have twice the radiated power. I usually see these mounted one in front of the flybridge and one up on a radar arch. Big no no.

The US government standards for microwave exposure are: For normal environmental conditions and for incident electromagnetic energy of frequencies from 10 MHz to 100 GHz, the radiation protection guide is 10 mW/cm2. (milliwatt per square centimeter) as averaged over any possible 0.1 hour period (6 minute period)

Maximum exposure for 6 minutes. The Russian studies reduce this power level to .01 mW/cm2. Which is a thousand times less than our current standards for exposure.
 
The newer units you can set them to only scan a pre programed pattern.

BILL
 
Well, that 2kw ERP is not continuous - its pulse energy, and with a very low duty cycle.

Nonetheless, the most sensitive area for that sort of energy is "the boys". Not quite the way I'd want to go about it, but it might work if you didn't want any more kids....

Next up is the eyes. You know, cataracts? Yep.

I see people with 'em mounted where they blast the flybridge all the time. You have to wonder what people are thinking..... or not....
 
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?? I get a kick out of FB mounted units at GONAD level. The 3 KW Furuno radome on my gas boat is 18 years old and great for a 10" monochrome crt. Which BTW has a "sag" in one corner. The mag is rated for about 1000 hours and they recommend standby mode instead of continuous.
A replacement cable is about $200. I pinched a wire on mine when installing it new and Furuno gave me a new cable for gratis. I will buy from them again!
The sub has a 8KW 72 mile color crt open array (1411?) and performs flawlessly. Kudos again to Furuno!
Ray Jefferson / raymarine is in the dark ages. FORGET the LCD stuff. Its poor in the sun and worse in the dark. The only advantage is size, like for a 20' CC that you dont need radar on anyway. ws
 
Noel, I have a Furuno 1721 MKII which is a 24mile dome including a brand new cable ($200). $400 and it's yours. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send some pics. Mike
 
Our local Coasties, Marine patrol, Sherriff, are using Furuno, RayMarine, Dome and open array. Depending on the size of boat. I'll keep my Furuno. Like Karl said Pulse radar with the extreme short duty cycle. Is not about to change your gender or make you blind. Maybe if you were doing something stupid with it. And it does not effect our pace makers. I checked this all out years ago with my heart doctors and the pacer makers. It's NOT the same as a microwave oven.

BILL
 
I've found 24" dome radars from both Furuno and Raymarine very satisfactory.

I currently have a 24" open array 1999 Furuno on a radar arch and a 1989 Raymarine 24 " dome on the roof of my 48 YF. There may be a slightly better discrimination with the open array Furuno (as expected with it's narrower beam width) but it's sure not obvious. Both units serve me well crusing in dense fog.
 
I have a RayMarine R80 with a 10K 72"open array and it's older but still works great. If you could find one of these I highly recomend it. The beam width, and the open array make it very clean and the fact that its an older mono CRT it should be affordable second hand.
 
You are correct about it not being a microwave oven which is a continuous on RF power source. However, pulsed RF energy is still energy, and Peak power is still peak power. Average power will be based upon the duty cycle of the pulses. Microwave energy below 10 GHz penetrates deeply into human flesh, the lower the frequency the deeper the penetration. It heats the skin first, and also greatly affects the human eye. If you want a laymans example of this, think of a flashing strobe light. The period of darkness is longer than the duration of the light pulse. Measuring the effective light would probably equate it to a mere candle, however we all know that you will still be seeing spots after looking at even one pulse of high intensity light. Believe what you want about the safety of pulsed marine radar.
 
Just tape a Hershey bar on the dome... ws
 
yachtsmanbill said:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?? I get a kick out of FB mounted units at GONAD level. The 3 KW Furuno radome on my gas boat is 18 years old and great for a 10" monochrome crt. Which BTW has a "sag" in one corner. The mag is rated for about 1000 hours and they recommend standby mode instead of continuous.
A replacement cable is about $200. I pinched a wire on mine when installing it new and Furuno gave me a new cable for gratis. I will buy from them again!
The sub has a 8KW 72 mile color crt open array (1411?) and performs flawlessly. Kudos again to Furuno!
Ray Jefferson / raymarine is in the dark ages. FORGET the LCD stuff. Its poor in the sun and worse in the dark. The only advantage is size, like for a 20' CC that you dont need radar on anyway. ws
Click to expand...

Bill,
I have that same 8kw model with the 6' wand on it. It works great, especially for a 20+ year old unit. I like the CRT units better than those LCD's as well. It's nice to be able to see the screen from any angle and in varying light conditions. Let me know if you ever replace that beast. I would be interested in another one for parts.
 
For you pal--no problem!! ws
 
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