Radar Detector

Radar Detector. Why You Need One and Why This One in Particular. A Life Hack from the Captain What do getting away with speeding on the road and safety on the Ocean have in common? — A radar detector An absolutely essential and indispensable piece of equipment. It consists of a control and alarm unit and a remote antenna resembling a GPS antenna. The control unit looks simple: four LEDs indicating the sector from which a radar is transmitting towards you, an ON/OFF switch, and a rheostat that adjusts the detector’s sensitivity. Its power consumption is next to nothing—0.3 amps. But its value is priceless! The control unit. Screwed to the overhead in the wheelhouse .. How the detector works When a radar signal is detected in one or more sectors—ahead to starboard, ahead to port, astern to starboard, astern to port—the corresponding LEDs light up and an obnoxious, shrill alarm sounds, one you react to immediately, no matter how deeply you are asleep. . Experience In all our years of yachting, we have encountered only one BJS (big iron ship) operating without radar, south of Jamaica. But, it must be said, its AIS was switched off as well. The unmarked tanker was hiding either from pirates or from the authorities. Perhaps it was carrying smuggled petrol from Venezuela. We detected it solely by visual observation. Of course, AIS is also effective for detecting vessels... But! Most fishing vessels (meaning fairly large vessels, not eight-metre wooden boats with outboard motors) do use radar, but want nothing to do with AIS. Accordingly, it is the radar detector that detects them. Fishing vessels have right of way for two reasons: under the COLREGs and the Law of Gross Tonnage. So the choice is obvious—a radar detector! Fishing vessels in the harbour of El Hierro, Canary Islands Other articles in the “Tech from the Captain” series: Watermaker Windvane Self-Steering Satellite Communications for a Circumnavigation Fresh Water on a Yacht