Veteran anglers have long sworn by power-hungry magnetron radars for locating flocks of seabirds hovering and diving over schools of feeding gamefish, scorning the advent of pulse-compression radars. But now there’s a pulse-compression radar that may change some minds.
The new Halo 2000 and 3000 open-array, pulse-compression radar systems from Simrad feature higher power, greater detection ranges and improved software, making a host of new functions possible, including Bird+ Mode on the 3000 series. Bird+ Mode calibrates the radar to focus on maximizing 130 watts of power on targeting and identifying flocks of birds that can lead to fish at distances up to 8 nautical miles. Simrad is the first to use pulse compression at that range for birds, a distance on par with a 25 kW magnetron radar, heralding a new era of bird detection.
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Yet the Halo 2000 and 3000 radars offer much in terms of pulse-compression refinements. The Halo 2000 (available with 3-, 4- and 6-foot arrays) offers 50 watts of power, ensuring visibility out to 72 nautical miles, while the Halo 3000 (available with 4- and 6-foot arrays) with its 130 watts of power can provide visibility out to 96 nautical miles (depending upon the target), and that includes the ability to track threatening weather systems. The radar power combines world-class beam sharpening for enhanced target separation. For example, boaters can see one boat behind another as separate returns that might otherwise appear as a single target. Both systems are compatible with Simrad’s latest multifunction displays, including the NSS and NSX series.
Both radars also offer innovative new Zone Track and Dangerous Target Alerts features and Velocity Track to provide critical information and warnings to help avoid collisions. Zone Track automatically tracks up to 50 targets, while Dangerous Target Alerts issues an alert about threatening returns. Velocity Track color-codes dangerous targets. The 2000 radars start at $6,399, and 3000 radars start at $8,499; simrad-yachting.com.
