The 'teensy-weensy' octahedral jobs are no better than 'emotional support' toys. I carry passive reflectors for use in reduced visibility.
#Yacht radar reflector how to
Radar is not a 'fit', for every single time I have shipped on board a sailboat with radar, no-one but myself had the faintest notion about how to make effective use of it, or even apply the relevant Colregs. It adds some warning, and the possibility of avoidance action by the others. That doesn't include continuing as if all was well. In restricted visibility, I treat that as a 'hazard situation' and change my course, location and practices to address the hazard as far as I can. Thus, in daylight and/or good visibility, I rely on lookout. I believe I know enough about its strengths and limitations to make choices FOR MY PURPOSES.
I'm one of the 'not very many' who had the benefit of a deeply-professional training in radar - both theory and practice - and used it daily in my day job. This is a convoluted topic, with no straightforward and simple answers. QinetiQ Funtington’s report (Annex 4) concluded that, bearing the above factors in mind, it was unlikely that deployment of the radar reflector on Ouzo would have made very much difference to the RCS of the yacht. The problem is further compounded because many of the reflectors come supplied with holes drilled for connecting to a halyard (Figure 13), which encourages the units to be hung in the incorrect orientation, 45° removed from the optimum “catch rain” position. Furthermore manufacturers are not required to supply instructions on the optimum method of deploying the unit, and most do not do so. This type of radar reflector, although popular and widely sold, is of little benefit on board a yacht which is frequently heeled. However, if the unit is tilted even a few degrees from this orientation, the reflected energy drops very significantly, thus reducing the RCS. This type of radar reflector gives optimal performance when deployed in what is termed the “catch rain” orientation (Figure 12). From the report, it can be seen that, although any radar reflector is better than none, the type of reflector fitted to Ouzo can theoretically produce a reasonable peak increase in the RCS but, in practice, its overall performance is poor, and it is now evident that at best there was only a 50% probability that the ship would have been able to detect Ouzo on the radar at close range.
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