Raymarine

Appendix 1
Published Radar Characteristics

 
        The nominal parameters of present-day Raymarine-manufactured radars are advertised and thus readily available in the public domain. They are presented here, as follows:

  • Table 1 cross-indexes the listed pulse rate with the associated PD for each model. As with other published pulse behaviors, caution is advisable:
    • Documentation is not always consistent, especially with older systems - only the Pathfinder series, the RD218 and the RD424 should be considered modern designs. In some documentation, for example, reference is made to a purported 'PRF table' that could not be located.  
       
    • With the two latest systems, RD218 and RD424, documentation declares the pulse rates in kHz (rather than the normal Hz resolution); no indication of accuracy is provided, but the documented rates are entirely consistent with observation.
              
    • Where multiple PD values are tabulated for a pulse-rate, these are described in manuals as user-configurable values that apparently may not be changed during radar operation.
    • Although many of the Raymarine products are now elderly, they are still to be found through trading organizations.
    • All Raymarine systems operate on one of two RFs: either 9410 MHz or 9445 MHz, both with a nominal spread of ±30 MHz, for which an "RF" column has been added to Table 1.     
  • Table 2 is provided to mitigate some of the confusion surrounding nomenclatures. It cross-links the many 'architecture' names used in recent multi-sensor Raymarine systems to the underlying radars of the Pathfinder series. In this context, it should be borne in mind that only the root architectural system name is provided; there are many variants, indicated by the use of suffices.  
  • Table 3 groups Raymarine systems by their antenna physical attributes and peak power output. There are two variants of the 18-inch radome, each with distinct beamwidth characteristics; and three variants of the 24-inch radome, each also with distinct beamwidths. The variations in beamwidth characteristics stem from the natures of the enclosed arrays (the RD218 and RD424 are described by Raymarine as patch-array antennas, but descriptions generally could not be found for the other radome-based systems). 
  • Table 4 groups Raymarine systems somewhat differently, correlating antenna/scan/power characteristics against individual Raymarine models. and peak power output. Again, there are two variants of the 18-inch radome and three variants of the 24-inch radome, each with distinct beamwidths.