Garmin Radar

[jlastofka]

I just received one of the new Garmin antennas. I have a 4212 chartplotter and the antenna has two wires for power and an ethernet plug for the back of the chartplotter. Couldn't get much easier than that. I plunked it on the roof and fired it up in the driveway. Seems to work, although I don't know what I'm looking at on the screen. I just used little alligator clips for power for the test. It only draws about 3.5 amps and it's supposed to work down to near 10 volts, so it's not too fussy about the power connection, at least for a brief test.

I need to mount the antenna properly and then daytime test on the water so I can learn to interpret the display. I could hear it spinning up to speed because everthing else was dead quiet out in the driveway. It ratchets up in several RPM steps, judging by the sound. Sounds like a quiet digital tone generator. Kind of musical. I doubt I'll hear it with the engine running or radio noise or water noise. Also it's not going to be just lying on the roof like tonight.

I carry kayaks on the roof on a Yakima rack setup, so I'll try to adapt to that rather than put more holes in the roof. That's my plan for the moment, anyway. I may give up and buy a pedestal, but I want to try custom first.

Once I get to where I can judge the performance, I'll post a report. It might take a couple weeks. I paid a little extra to get the High Definition (HD) version. Better performance or better marketing?... Beats me.

Jeff

[Gene Morris]

Jeff;

I have had a Garmin radar unit since Oct 2006. It is hooked up to a 3210 plotter/network. The radar works great with a 36nm range. I have XM connected to the network. When the plotter is on, the radar is powered up and the sonar is active. The only thing that I will do different is install manual switches so that we can turn power to the radar and sounder off when at anchor. I'm not sure what the power draw is however, it has to be more efficient with the power off at the units.

Gene