Radar Plotting Tutorial
- Step-by-step guide to radar plotting
- Essential knowledge for safe radar use
- Fully interactive teaching and practice
- Measurements and accuracy explained
- Instant visual exercise creation for tutors
- Learning is effective and more enjoyable
- Practice plotting for collision avoidance
- Fully interactive SART demonstration
A recent tragedy in the English Channel and the subsequent inquiry by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch has highlighted the need for crews of yachts equipped with radar to be properly trained in its use. While some idea of the presence of other vessels nearby may be apparent to the untrained eye, the MAIB has pointed out the potentially fatal danger of decisions based on an incomplete assessment of the situation.
Radar can be the most effective tool that a navigator will have on board, but only if he or she knows how to use it properly. Training and practice are absolutely necessary to get the best from the set and also avoid the risk of potentially fatal, radar-assisted, collisions.
The LightMaster Radar Plotting Tutorial is a program to run on your PC, which provides very effective training and practice in the reasons for, and methods of, plotting the movement of targets displayed on a small-craft radar screen.
Unique layout allows instant selection of any topic using a simple tabbed index. Most pages have full animations and interaction to bring the subject to life. Copyright-free plotting sheets can be printed on your PC at the touch of a button.
Topics include: The PPI; Measurements and Accuracy; Dangers; Electronic Bearing Lines; Variable Range Markers; Cursors; HeadUp, NorthUp, CourseUp; Risk of Collision; Basics of Plotting; Relative Motion; Calculating Vectors; Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA); and Collision Regulations.
Practice sections present live situations in which the student must track and plot each target appearing on their screen, assess the potential risk of collision and calculate the actual movement of the target and its Closest Point of Approach (CPA). The software will check and score the answers. Students also have the facility to manoeuvre boats around an area of sea and experience the resulting patterns on their radar screen. Together these practice sessions provide superb experience in interpreting the display and acting on it.
A special section of the Tutorial provides an interactive display of just how a search and rescue transponder (SART) would appear on the radar screen of vessels at varying ranges, and how the radar can be used to track down a casualty.
Schools and tutors purchasing the Shared-Use version also receive a very easy visual programming system which allows creation of new sets of the practice exercises, in just a few seconds each. Courses can be structured to suit your preferred ways of teaching.
Requirements: Windows 95 ,98, Me, NT, 2000 or XP. 28Mb HDD. SVGA Graphics (800 x 600) or above.
