How to Install a Marine Radar

With the advent of microprocessors, radar came out of the dark ages. The sweeping line of light on a dim screen gave way to flat LCD screens that display a detailed picture of the surrounding marine environment. Radar extends your vision at night, in fog, in rain and in other conditions of reduced or restricted visibility. Another effect of 21st century technology on radar is simplification: Any boat owner with a minimal knowledge of his boat's electrical system can install radar on his boat.

• 1

  Crawl under your vessel's dashboard, and look for any wiring in the area beneath the place you plan to mount your radar. If wiring is present, move it aside if possible, and use duct tape to keep it out of the way while you drill the mounting holes and the hole for the radar display's power cord and antenna lead.

• 2

  Set the mounting bracket on your dash or control console in the location you've chosen for your radar. Mark the location of the mounting holes in the base of the bracket onto the console, using a grease pencil. Remove the bracket, and drill one 1/8-inch pilot hole in the dash for each mounting hole, as well as a 1/2-inch hole to accommodate the antenna lead and the display's power cord.

• 3

  Return the bracket to the dash, line up the mounting holes in the bracket with the pilot holes in the dash, and drive the mounting screws through the mounting holes on the bracket and into the dash, using a screwdriver.

• 4

  Set the display unit into the bracket, and tighten the adjustment knobs -- which fit into the bracket -- to hold the unit in place. Drop the red, pre-fused power cord and the black ground wire through the 1/2-inch hole.

• 5

  Use the template that accompanies the scanner unit to mark mounting-hole locations for the scanner (the radar's scanning antenna) on the highest point of the vessel. Drill the mounting holes, and set the scanner in place, aligning the holes on the base of the scanner with the holes you drilled. Drop the bolts provided with the scanner through the holes, thread the nuts onto the bolts, and tighten the nuts with a torque wrench to the torque specified in the scanner instructions.

• 6

  Push the center pin of the PL-259 connector on the end of the antenna's coaxial cable into the socket marked "OUT" or "OUTPUT" on the base of the scanner. Screw the collar over the threads on the antenna's connector.

• 7

  Loosen one of the screws on the power bus, wrap the red pre-fused antenna power wire clockwise around it, then tighten the screw. Loosen a screw on the common ground, wrap the antenna's black grounding wire counterclockwise around it, and tighten the screw.

• 8

  Route the remaining end of the antenna's coaxial cable to the radar display by the most direct route that does not create a hazard to persons aboard. Pass it up through the 1/2-inch hole in the dash to connect it to the female "ANT" or "ANTENNA" PL-259 connector on the rear of the radar display unit.

• 9

  Go under the dash again. Loosen one of the screws on the power bus, wrap the red pre-fused power wire clockwise around it, then tighten the screw. Loosen a screw on the common ground, wrap the black grounding wire counterclockwise around it, and tighten the screw.