Radar stopped working....

[Mr. Sandman]

this year.

I am just getting scatter when I turn up the gain. I checked everything. ugh. I think I may need a new antenna but I am not sure. I called the company and he said one way to test it is to take the antenna off and hold a fluorescent light bulb close to the fitting when it is on. It should light up locally if it is sending out radiation.

I think it is possible that the antenna was damaged when the boat was brought to my home, there were a few tree limbs that marked the array. I cleaned them up and there was no visible damage.

[thefishingfreak]

If it's a closed aray take the dome off and make sure it's turning., sometimes they need a few kickstarts after a long winters nap
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by thefishingfreak

If it's a closed aray take the dome off and make sure it's turning., sometimes they need a few kickstarts after a long winters nap
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

What he said! Even if its an open array, try giving it a nudge.

[Mr. Sandman]

It is an open array and it turns fine but I don't get any targets. If I crank the gain up it gets a snowy but I don't get a target reflection. I took the array off several times and tried to see if it was emitting a signal (using a fluorescent light bulb right at the opening of the wave guide) but I didn't see much... I will take it to an electronics guru next week and see if we can track it down. Never had any trouble with it prior...and all the connectections are good and clean.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

It is an open array and it turns fine but I don't get any targets. If I crank the gain up it gets a snowy but I don't get a target reflection. I took the array off several times and tried to see if it was emitting a signal (using a fluorescent light bulb right at the opening of the wave guide) but I didn't see much... I will take it to an electronics guru next week and see if we can track it down. Never had any trouble with it prior...and all the connectections are good and clean.

So what happened? I am dying to know.

[Mr. Sandman]

Still trying to get someone to look at it. I went thru everything, looks OK to me. Hopefully next week I can get it straightened out.
(If it is crapped out and will cost big bucks to repair...I will be replacing the entire ball of wax with the Simrad NSE12 but I really don't want to drop that much coinage right now)

[keeperreaper]

Is it a bad magnetron/magnometer?

[Mr. Sandman]

It is acting like that but it warms up OK and acts normally. I just don't get return targets, just some pattern and snow when I crank up the gain. I am trying to get a guy in NB to look at it that knows a lot more about these than I do.

[chathamblue30]

sounds like keaperreaper is on the money as usual

[beamie]

Where is the business on your unit. BDE or ADE....above deck equipment, below deck equipment. If the maggie is in the unit in the wheel house then the signal passes up thru the cabling (waveguide) to the array. the waveguide may have gotten damaged, some waveguide are pressurized with nitrogen to get the moisture out.

[Mr. Sandman]

It's FIXED !

there was a little fresh water in the wave guide tubes. I ended up bringing it to Chris Electronics in NB...they fixed it and in a few hours I was back in business, and to be honest, it works better now then it ever did.