About Radar
Radar is different to other on-board instruments.
For example, take a chart plotter. The chances are, if a reasonably experienced skipper simply turned an unfamiliar chart plotter on for the first time, the display would come up with something recognisable and useful. With a bit of experimenting with the controls, you could get it to do some, if not all, of the functions you wanted it to do. Then if you really wanted to use all the functions - routes, waypoints, tracks etc - you would need to sit down quietly with the manual and work it all out - and that's pretty much that.
Not so with radar. It's all fine and good to turn on the machine, using all the automatic set-ups and adjustments that modern manufacturers give you, and get a picture. But you still need to know stuff in order to interpret the picture. You need to know, for example, what the picture shows you, and what it doesn't show you.
And you may well need to make your own adjustments (and not rely on the automatic settings) if you want to be certain that you are not missing weak returns, e.g. from small craft. That's quite important in fog.
Then you might wish to really use the radar. It's primary use is for collision avoidance in poor visibility, but it doesn't just make the fog disappear! Trained radar operators spend many long hours learning to interpret the movements of other vessels that the radar detects, and deciding how best to avoid them: i.e. when and how to alter your own course and speed. Apart from the other difficulties, different collision avoidance rules apply when vesslel are 'not in sight of one another'.
What this adds up to is this: radar can be incredibly useful, and do for you what no other instrument can: but you would be very ill-advised to rely on it in low visibility unless you a) understand it and b) have practised with it.
Essential BOAT RADAR by Bill Johnson
Published by WILEY NAUTICAL
This book tells you not only how radar works (understanding that is actually quite important for interpreting the picture) but also how to use it, for its primary applications: Collision Avoidance and Navigation.
Unlike earlier books on radar, it also explains clearly how radar interfaces with other instruments on modern systems, such as chart plotters and AIS.
Each chapter outlines practical exercises that you can follow on your own boat, in order to gain confidence in using the radar effectively.
Who Needs This Book?
As explained above, If you own or use a Radar, or plan to do so, you need to understand it.
Also if you intend to use Radar in anger - particularly for collision avoidance in poor visibility - you need to be prepared before the fog comes down.
By all means attend the RYA One-day Radar Course which covers quite a lot of the subjects in this book, and of course enables you to practice with the guidance of an experienced user and instructor. This book will make a very good companion to the course, and a comprehensive reference for later when you are practising on your own vessel (as ever, that's when the real learning begins!)
But above all, use your radar regularly - in good and moderate visibility. And practise the exercises given in the book. Do this to gain confidence in the instrument, and in your use of it.
What is Broadband Radar?
'Broadband' is marketing hype for a new radar technology which has nothing whatever to do with Broadband internet access or, indeed, with any kind of increased 'bandwidth' or information content.
It's a good technology, and its proper name is Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW).