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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: radar reflector
Posted By: Brian Nystrom In Response To: radar reflector (risto)
Date: Monday, 18 December 2000, at 3:26 p.m.
: In the previous thread on running lights the Captain mentioned the wisdom in
: using a radar reflector when moving near, on, or across shipping lanes in
: the dark.: I think this is a good idea and wanted to see if it perhaps has already been
: addressed, so I did a search over the past year on this site using the
: keywords RADAR and REFLECTOR.: Guess what? Only one post came up, and that was my own reply to the Captain.
: Can this be?: I remember having read about some Canadian testing of reflectors on kayaks,
: and their results were mixed, ie. not altogether discouraging.
: Unfortunately I couldn't locate that test any more.: Does anybody have experiences of their own with these things? I've seen
: people using crushed beer cans on a stick but better alternatives probably
: exist.: One could certainly use some kind of device in certain conditions such as fog
: or rain, if one finds it necessary to cross heavy traffic.Derek Hutchinson did quite a bit of testing of radar reflector designs, some of which can be see in his books. The bottom line was that none of the sophisticated retroreflective designs he tried worked significantly better than a balloon covered with plain ol' aluminum foil. A radar reflector needn't be elaborate or expensive to work well.
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