Radar Feature: Rain
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Last Updated on December 4, 2020 by Amy
Rain and fog greatly reduce visibility and increase the risk of a collision while boating. Thankfully, your radar has built-in features you can use to “see” through the rain better and avoid a deadly mistake.
While sailing around in the Maldives, we were near our friends Slow Flight and approaching a pass into the North Male Atoll. Unfortunately, we were trying to outpace a storm….and losing. The rain was heavy and we were tracking the storm using radar. However, there were also a lot of boats running around that weren’t on AIS; ferries, liveaboard dive boats, and supply ships.
This is where the rain feature of the radar comes in. By adjusting the rain feature, the radar can eliminate most of the noise from the rain and focus down to land and other boats.
In this example, we had a known boat to track – Slow Flight – and found that dropping the rain to 65% eliminated a lot of the rain, giving us a more clear view of the surroundings.
About Our Radar
Our radar is a Raymarine RD418HD:
“Raymarine RD418HD Color Radome. HD Color Radomes are ideal when power is at a premium and mounting space is limited or restricted by rigging, excellent for sailboats, RIBs and smaller powerboats. Raymarine’s HD Color radome scanners combine the power and clarity of HD Color signal processing with an ultra-compact scanner suitable for all types of vessels.”
