How to Tune a Radar and Radar Theory

[@timothyboone5003]

I’m glad that you mentioned that licensed mariners are required to have the radar (and any other navigation equipment) on at all times and they should be functional. I was witness to an event a few years back. USCG made radio contact with the vessel I was aboard. Here’s the condensed version. USCG “ good evening Capt………. What’s wrong with your radar Capt?” Captain “nothing it works just fine” USCG “are you sure Capt? It doesn’t appear to be working or in operation at all” Capt “ well let me see” Capt proceeds out the wheelhouse door and climbs the ladder to the top nudges the radar arm and it goes to scanning. “Yes thank you sir. The radar on here is s little old it sticks every once in a while” USCG “but Capt you just told me it works fine” Capt “ it does as long as it’s spinning” USCG “Capt I suggest that you have your radar operational. Have a good day now”

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Tim. Yeah, that sounds about right. 😂 CUOTO

[@charlesmiller1446]

As a USN ETR2, I was constantly awakened by the officer of the bridge watch to tune the Raytheon Pathfinder radar which was a delicate front panel knob control easily messed up by watch standers. With a max range of ~10 miles and being on an aircraft carrier, the procedure was to adjust the radar to 'paint the bow' of our ship as a minimum range of detection and thus allow full range detection. I never got compensated for lost sleep even after posting full direction for tuning on the CRT hood for watchstanders. Oh well, such is Navy life. Great episode, thanks! PS: This was ~1970-1973.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching and for your service Charles. CUOTO

[@seattleboatguy]

A great radar info video. I have seen reflections on my radar, and thought it was some malfunction until I watched your video. I completely agree about the importance of radar practice in good weather. If I get into a situation on my pleasure boat where I really need the radar but I'm a little rusty on which radar setting does what, I end up spending way too much time stumbling around the Garmin radar menus, and not nearly enough time focused on the safe operation of my boat. My favorite radar story happened years ago on an overnight sail in the Bahamas. I noticed on my radar screen that there was a brand new island ahead of me that no one had bothered to put on my chart! It turned out to be a nice little round rain shower falling ahead of me, unseen in the dark night. Nature has an odd sense of humor.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching. Oh yes. Radar is very good at finding rain. CUOTO

[@leeoldershaw956]

Had the cheapest Furuno with 7 deg. Beam width on Morgan OI 41 and it worked fine. Have steered narrow dredged channel with day markers about every 1000 ft in Florida thunderstorm. Very sensitive could see flocks of birds, jet ski wakes, wooden rowboat at 1 mile. $1000 20 years ago. I was a E.E. radar designer and Airline pilot so used a lot of radars. It failed once returning from Bahamas to Palm Beach. Furuna service came to home and found set screw on motor drive pulley loose. Though out of warrantee by about a year, Furuno ate the $180 service call

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Lee. That's great you have had such good luck with furuno. CUOTO

[@lance31415]

Practicing with your tools is such good, prudent advice - a dark 'n stormy night is no time to figure out gain/clutter settings.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching. CUOTO

[@robertrishel3685]

Well done. I have seen guys that were otherwise very experienced wheelman who cannot properly tune and set up a radar…. They made us do an additional radar certification for our licenses that was absolutely irrelevant to how we use radar sets on the rivers and inland canals. NEVER have I used a grease pencil to plot a target CPA in my career! It’s laughable! Yet, that is what the certification and class consisted of. We would have all been served better with basic set up and “how to” instruction over something none of us could take seriously. Thanks for another great video👍

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Robert. I am glad you liked it. CUOTO

[@eddieram435]

You can see the movement of the radar antenna as it does it's 360°. Do you the same tuning to both the pilot house and upper pilot house as well sir? I hope one day you can teach all of this good knowledge in a maritime academy. This channel is gold for all merchant mariners looking for a career in the tugboat industry.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Eddie. We have three radars, and we tune all of them individually. CUOTO

[@wetsuit5]

In a former life I was a trained RADAR expert. At 5:15 the stuff in close is mostly radar recovery range. In addition to beam width there is pulse width and pulse repetition frequency. The size of the antenna is for the sensitivity of the unit and it's ability to decern smaller targets. I've operated RADAR that could pick up a mast the thickness of your wrist at 250 miles. The analogy I use to explain RADAR is a garden hose. RADAR is a series of squirts in bursts that you walk around in circles around you. The beam width is the adjustment of the spray, the pulse width is how long you shoot out a burst of water, the pulse repetition frequency is how often you shoot out a squirt. The real analogy is that what is displayed, is what bounces off the target back to you. Imagine squirting your mate with a hose and the only thing you detect is the couple of drops that bounce back at you. Your example at 14:30 is putting out too much power or side lobing. I really like that you run a quiet display. Too often folks run the sweep too bright. The sweep tells you noting of what going on other than where the antenna is pointing. There is a lot more, but your explanation was pretty good.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching and I am glad you approve. I appreciate your kind words. CUOTO

[@edswider9309]

Tim your company is rare they care for the equipment and men years ago you mentioned they changed a generator based on run time and rebuilt the top end of the engine also based on run time it’s a real class act

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you Ed. I believe so. But oil companies these days usually look for very squared away towing companies to move their products because of liability. Either way, I am blessed to work for a good company. And just so you know, the computer controlled main engines these days are starting to switch from engine hours to fuel burned for maintenance intervals. A much more accurate way of scheduling maintenance. CUOTO

[@EllwoodSunnell]

Thanks a lot Tim! A very informative piece. It's tough to explain the subject I know. As an RF Engineer, I continue to be challenged even to this day, with some things I have to "read" on a radar screen no matter what the experience. I've come to use radar as a sensory aid device whereby other conditions and perceptions have to play with regard to situational awareness and collision avoidance. Many folks who don't use radar much often have a preset lack of trust in what the screen is reporting. The more it is used, the more my brain learns that radar is an inclusion device for operational judgments, not an infallible centerline.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Elwood. I really appreciate your kind words. CUOTO

[@realulli]

Rain clutter - I've seen some sailors use the radar to track squalls, especially at night. On your tug, you can probably ignore it, but on Paquita, it might be something to keep in mind to get early warning of a squall arriving at night. But thanks for the video, I've been on boats with radar and they had radar that was way too cluttered to be usable. Now I know how to at least try to clean it up.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching. Yes. Infact I was going to talk about that in the next radar video. That's why we have 72 mile radars or in SVP's case 24 mile radar. Most of us will never see another ship or land that far away, but we can see the cells coming, their speed and direction. CUOTO

[@jonwatt678]

We had an early Bendix radar on the 40' CG boats in the mid 70s. It was a real PITA and sometimes the tuning procedure involved smacking it like an old TV that won't stabilize. Boston harbor at that time was a mess with everything from logs to junk of all shapes & sizes. Many of which offered very little return on radar. I once had to tow a damned dumpster out of the channel. I don't know if wind blew it off a pier or maybe some yahoos shoved it overboard.... They don't tow well at all...LOL ..

[@TimBatSea]

😂😂😂 Thank you very much for watching Jon. I can't say that I have any experience towing dumpsters. 😂 CUOTO

[@stanleyedwards3023]

Hi Tim , Back in the 60’s I learned radar on a kelvin hughes 1.9 meter open antenna with a 12” booted monochrome crt. I think it was a analog 12k radar and was placarded danger near antenna. The radar was all manual and you learned by twisting knobs and the magnetron made quite a noise. I forget the max range but remember it had a ¼ mile range for close in and docking. My boss was a gadget nut and I loved it….along with loran c…but that’s another story! Take care and smooth sailing. Love your vids.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Stanley. Yeah, I bet you could cook a chicken with that thing too. 😂. CUOTO

[@carlosmariollanoscorrea3218]

Cap. Interesante, me gustó la manera como esplica sobre el radar. Gracias bendiciones

[@TimBatSea]

Gracias por ver Carlos. Me alegro mucho de que te haya gustado. CUOTO

[@firstlast1047]

Running crew boats, our port captain insisted we run the radar during the day, in clear weather, so as to familiarize ourselves with the harbor at night and in fog.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching. That's the idea. 👍 CUOTO

[@garthjones3747]

great lesson Tim and the sound affects were a bonus

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Garth. 😂 I'm not sure I know what sound effects you are speaking about. 😂 CUOTO

[@garthjones3747]

@@TimBatSea the beeps and things you were saying lol

[@slapshot1343]

YESSSSSSS!!!!! CAN WE GET MORE RADAR VIDEOS WHILE IN TRANSIT!? RADAR VIDEOS ARE MY FAVORITE

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching. I'll see what I can do. CUOTO

[@mikeryan1832]

Tim Great explanation of RADAR, especially of the beam width of the process. However, after an extensive dialogue with the Simrad sales tech at the Defender vendor day in 2022, he told me that beam width no longer matters. Long story short - I replaced my old R-21 Ratheon unit with a new Simrad Halo+ unit this past summer. According to Simrad, the software within the Halo unit works a bit differently than your unit, and the beam with is now irrelevant. I was going to purchase a 3 or 4' open array, but ended up with the 20" dome ( huge cost difference) I get crisp definition and apparently all targets in the field, as opposed to the old R-21 that got most but not all, as you depicted, as well as ghosts caused by that pesky reflection phenomenon. It is truly amazing what the new technology can do. Like accurately pick out the day markers in the marina at 20 yards in pea soup fog. You might look into the new technology, I am amazed... Mike

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Mike. The proof will be in your ability to use it. Sounds wonderful. Tech sure has come along way. Just be sure to never forget that a sale's man job is to sell. CUOTO

[@mikeryan1832]

@@TimBatSea True, so he failed completely. I was going to buy a 4' open array unit for $6,000, but he told me that unit wouldn't do anything more for me than the radome he sold me for $2500. This was confirmed by a fellow boater who was there, and is a couple boats from me on the dock. He has the 6' open array unit & told me it only performs South of Block Island when he is hunting tuna. North of the Island it is no better than the dome. 1st hand experience. He is a commercial fisherman, so his input was valuable & matched what I was told by the factory rep. So far, they are both correct The other issue is my dome is 10' above the water, so range is limited by the curvature of the earth. On your tug, I see the arrays are much higher, hence greater range. I don't remember how to calculate the range based on antenna heigh, but it matters...

[@chriscook8076]

Great video. Calibration is another aspect. You would think that making sure the radar is showing you a correct picture of what’s in front of you would be important, but I actually knew a person when I was stationed on Adak Ak that ran his boat into a sheer wall of rock because he’d never his checked his antenna. His forward sweep was off by about 90 degrees. He thought he was parallel to the rocks but alas….. tore up the front of a very nice boat in the fog. Adak is a very unforgiving place for mistakes.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching Chris. You see? If he had run his radar on the good days, he would have (hopefully) seen that things were off. Thank you again. CUOTO

[@oldcoastie2637]

Another informative video Tim, thanks. I assume you were in the lower house of your tug, very surprised to see all the fancy wood. The first ship I was on in the 1970's upgraded from 1950's era radar to state of the art for the time and OMG. Of course compared to today that was still primitive but worlds better. Keep up the good work CUOTO

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching. Do you remember those old ones with the hood you stuck your face in? They always smelled like cigarettes and once your face was sealed in, you couldn't get out. 😂 CUOTO

[@oldcoastie2637]

@@TimBatSea Tim the old systems had the hoods that were only used during the day, I didn't like them because I wore glasses! The newer systems were and still are used commercially (Raytheon Mariners Pathfinder) and did not require the hoods even in bright sunlight. BTW I was a smoker so I never noticed the smell LOL. Be well.

[@glennlepien473]

Hello Capt.Tim ... at time 6':15" you tuned out a moving contact at 350° at the first range ring .. that demonstrated what we don't want to do, but I'm sure you didn't notice doing that. This was a fantastic video and a great demonstration of some basic radar mechanics ... Thanks for posting it .. much needed video training for a lot of people. BZ .. CUOT1 .. v/r Glenn

[@TimBatSea]

😂😂😂 Thank you very much for watching Glenn, but no moving targets on that day. CUOTO

[@sandcrabronco]

You can tune a radar but you can't tuna fish! Another great one Tim, easy to understand and good practical knowledge, #CUOTO!

[@TimBatSea]

😂😂😂 Thank you very much for watching David. CUOTO

[@Adam_Poirier]

Thanks for taking the time to make these videos Tim I have learned a lot from you. I have always loved tugboats, and being a heavy equipment mechanic those big marine diesels are really impressive to me. I noticed after you mentioned in the video that you have the thanks button now. The only slight downfall is unfortunately the platform here takes a percentage of the contribution, I would much rather mail you a check lol that way you keep the entire percentage. Regardless though I wanted to say thank you

[@TimBatSea]

Adam. First, Thank you very much! Second, great point. What would you think of a PayPal one time donation link? Thank you again. CUOTO

[@Adam_Poirier]

Yes I think a PayPal is a great idea, anyone that wants to contribute is going to do so regardless. This is just my personal opinion but if I'm already wanting to make a contribution I want you to have all of it, I would think most people would feel the same way but I could be wrong lol

[@espee9980]

Good to see you again Tim, great video and topic. Keep them coming.

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching. CUOTO

[@magnusmyhre8540]

Thank you so much for a very nice video Tim! 😃 I really like this kind of content. One thing is the reflections between targets as you mention, but do you often experience side-lobe reflections on modern radars? I haven't really seen it on my radar, but you read about it in the books..😅 And does that relate to the gain-adjustment in any way?

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching and supporting the channels Magnus. I believe you are correct in thinking that the whole side lobe reflection has been sorted out 8n modern radar. I had completely forgotten about until now. CUOTO

[@deanraf]

Thanks, great advice. With telescopes it called resolution and to test it there are specific location with stars to see if a scope can see one or two stars. In fact, the north star is a binary. You adjust the radar the opposite of what I have been doing. I can't wait to get to Maine next year and try your way. Cruising in Maine can be a challenge due to the fog. I'd be lost without my 30 y/o Furuno. Stay safe....#CUOTO

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Dean. Give it a try. You will like it. CUOTO

[@macw2234]

Super interesting! Thanks

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much for watching Monty. CUOTO

[@James-seafan]

interesting video tim thank you

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching James. CUOTO

[@James-seafan]

your welcome tim

[@KRM02]

Very informative Capt Love it

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching and welcome to the channel Kyle. CUOTO

[@ClassXIRoads]

Thanks for the video Capt. I run my radar overlaid on my chart screen, I have never been in the dark or bad weather as we only are fair weather boaters, but I really want to get used to what the radar screen is showing me, in the event we are caught out in rapidly changing weather or are delayed and have to come home in the dark. We unfortunately have put the boat on the hard for the winter and will have to revisit this video in May when we relaunch. CUOTO

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching and supporting the channels James! If you only use the overlay, I would highly recommend that you set your radar overlay color to something that really sticks out like red so you don't lose a return in all of the chart data. CUOTO

[@richardwest9054]

Thanks, Tim. As both a commercial captain and owner of a private yacht, how do you feel about radar reflectors for small craft?

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Richard. I feel very strongly about having them! I have a huge one 3/4 of the way up one of my stanchions and will most likely add another on the other side before we head to the Azores. You see, the problem is this; sailboat one goes out on a beautiful calm day with sailboat 2 close behind. Since it is so nice out, sailboat one decides to play with his electronics. He fires up his radar and calls sailboat two to report, "I see you on radar beside me at 3/4 of a mile. You are a good target. How do I show up on your radar?" Sailboat two responds "I see you! You are a good target and show up well." Now the two of them have confirmed their bias. They both believe their boats show up well on radar. Now a month later, sailboat two is sailing overnight and the wind is blowing. the seas are about 4 to 6 feet. Sailboat two is heeled over at 23 degrees. Tim is in a tugboat with a $100K radar and has to tune his radar because the sea state is showing all the returns of the waves. Since sailboat two is heeled over, his mast is now reflecting Tim's radar energy into the clouds and does not show up on Tim's radar. A cheap reflector could have helped this situation and AIS (transceiver) would have almost eliminated this situation. CUOTO

[@richardwest9054]

@@TimBatSea Great insight, Tim. Thanks for the reply.

[@allensanders5535]

awesome

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you Allen. CUOTO

[@Adam_Poirier]

Haha The title of this video makes me think about that episode of deadliest catch where the time bandit guys dressed up their greenhorn in tinfoil and made him run around so they could " tune the radar" i'm not much for reality TV but those crab fisherman up north are the real deal. Awesome video Tim you have a great capability of explaining things

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much Adam. That means a lot to me. CUOTO

[@jacob-ux1pr]

Super intrestent.thanks Tim 💪👌👌

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Jacob! CUOTO

[@edswider9309]

So those boats like yours with two radar antennas one small one longer are different band withs

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you again for watching Ed. Tug Boats are required to have almost two of everything for redundancy. We actually have three onboard here. CUOTO

[@edswider9309]

So you got narrow bandwidth , wide bandwidth , and another

[@edswider9309]

Again another good video learned a lot now I know those guys with there radar antennas on there high arks and running hard boat squatted bad all they see is sky lots of laughts

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Ed. Yup, they are out there. CUOTO

[@paratyshow]

👍☑🏝 Good talk Tim!

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you very much. CUOTO

[@cornell833]

Greatly enjoyed 💪 🚢

[@TimBatSea]

Thanks for watching Ron. CUOTO

[@svcyclops]

What type of sailboat do you have?

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching. I have an Island Packet. Please go over to my other channel, SV Paquita, and have a look. CUOTO

[@edswider9309]

Hey man how do you all the know it alls

[@TimBatSea]

Thank you for watching Ed. We all had to goto radar school and up until just recently, we had to goto radar recertification every 5 years. CUOTO

[@edswider9309]

I thought so tell these armchair skippers that