follyrob

Slightly off of your main topic, but I am a ship Captain, and have a question that is perfect for a radar engineer.

I often will get to a port or anchorage and notice the anchored or moored ships around me will just leave their radars on for seemingly no reason and it bothers me. Apart from wear and tear on the equipment, I'm concerned about being surrounded by 20 ships with long range radars spinning away and "zapping" everything around them. I know that the radiation is relatively low power, but being constantly exposed to it coming from multiple directions does make me wonder. How founded/unfounded are my concerns?

Thanks for your response!

I always make the crew turn off our radar before going anywhere near it, so your power decreasing by distance squared explanation assures me I've not been doing it for no reason.

I'll also be less concerned about the vessels around me running their radars 24/7 in port (even if completely unnecessary).

Thanks for taking your time to reply to everything I have asked. I appreciate your responses!

This is what I am working with, and it is certainly not the most powerful in use in my industry.

25kw X-Band.

OP assumed you were American. Those are American tickets, used in the US Coast Guard system. Your qualifications in NZ are completely different. Check out the Maritime NZ website for the qualifications you need. But OP is right about your sea-time. Have your skippers sign off on your sea-time and go get yourself some qualifications so you can move up!