RYA Radar Course
This is a one day course, contact us for prices and availability here
Switching on and setting up
- The main components of a radar set
- How a radar set measures distance
- How a radar set measures bearing
- The limitations imposed by the power, antenna size and display size of a typical small craft radar
- Switch on a typical small craft radar set; adjust its’ brilliance, contrast, gain, range and tuning
Understanding the picture:
- How antenna size and frequency affect beam width
- How pulse length and Pulse Repetition Frequency are varied with range
- The factors that determine the strength of echo returned by the target
- The effect on beam width on discrimination
- The effect of pulse length on discrimination
- The effect of blind arcs, shadow sectors and radar horizon
Refining the picture:
- The cause and cure for sea clutter
- The cause and cure for rain clutter
- The cause and cure for interference
- The purpose of echo stretch
- The dangers associated with clutter clearance tools
- The difference between Head Up, Course Up and North Up modes
- Adjust sea clutter and rain clutter controls to suit prevailing conditions
- Identify whether a radar is in Head UP, Course Up or North Up mode
Radar reflectors:
- How radar cross section is measured
- Types of passive reflector in common use (octahedral, stacked array lens)
- Types of active reflector in common use (RTE, Racon, SART)
- The limitations of passive radar reflectors
Understands Collision Avoidance:
- The principles of relative motion
- The existence of automatic radar plotting aids
- The implications or IRPCS Rule Numbers 5, 6, 7 and 19 (look out, safe speed, risk of collision, restricted visibility)
- The practical limitations of small craft radar
- Assessing the risk of collision with another vessel
- Assessing the closest point of approach of another vessel, and determining whether it will pass ahead or astern
- Assessing the course and speed on another vessel
Fixing position by radar:
- The principles of a three-point fix
- Selecting landmarks for a three-point fix
- How to take and plot a position fix using the EBL
- Limitations of the EBL for position fixing
- Plotting the vessel’s position on a chart using the VRM
Pilotage by radar:
- ‘Eyeball’ pilotage by radar
- The imitations of ‘eyeball’ pilotage
- The principals of parallel indexing
- Preparing and executing a simple pilotage plan using clearing ranges