racon

BCC Forum
1

i personally am joyful when i pick up a racon at night- since i’m looking into broadband-not so sure if i am willing to give that ability up, and apparently broadbank cannot “see” racon beacons. tell me it isn’t so!

do you find it a significant factor?

2

Hi Jo Anne -

i personally am joyful when i pick up a racon at
night- since i’m looking into broadband-not so
sure if i am willing to give that ability up, and
apparently broadbank cannot “see” racon beacons.
tell me it isn’t so!

For now, that is the consensus. RACONs were designed
to be triggered by a radar pulse; broadband radar
does not send what they are looking for.

This page from the UK says they tested RACON response to
“new technology” radar and found that there was some, but
it wasn’t great:
http://www.gla-rrnav.org/other_projects/racons.html

They say:
“This report proposes that consideration be given to modifying existing Racons to improve their response to NT radars. Further trials should also be arranged to clarify the results and test the effects of any modifications to existing Racons. The results should be made available to IALA, so that there is awareness of the potential effect of NT radars on Racon performance and of the strategic options available.”

There have been comments that the US and Canada may
use AIS to replace RACON, but that is not certain and
probably not anytime soon.

do you find it a significant factor?

Not me. I had to look up to find out where the closest one to
me is – I will have to sail there this summer and test it
with my radar. I’m more concerned with avoiding the moving targets.

 - Norris
3

norris,

have you had a chance to see it perform in rain? how would you judge its ability to see approaching squall lines/see markers through the rain?

thanks alot -
best regards,

4

Hi Jo Anne -

have you had a chance to see it perform in rain?
how would you judge its ability to see approaching
squall lines/see markers through the rain?

No, I haven’t tried it in the rain yet.

You might be interested in the comparison Navico makes
between pulse and broadband radar (they sell both) on
page 14 and 15 of “Broadband Radar: The Essential Guide”.
(on the Navico sites: Simrad, Lowrance, Northstar)

There’s a table there of how far you can expect to
see rain. I saw a comment somewhere that the distant
ranges were optimized for showing rain. I don’t know
if that is true, but it would make sense, since the radar
horizon would not limit how far you could see rain.

  • Norris
5

norris-

thanks for the info and the tip on the write up