A Radar Log is a very useful record book to have on the bridge of a ship. It is of value for the ship's owner so that he will be able to assess the benefits of the radar installation; it can also be useful for the manufacturer of the installation so that improvements can be made in the equipment, if required! Last but not least a radar log will assist the navigator himself. Its record will give a picture of the particular characteristics and limitations of a radar set and will teach him to be critical in the interpretation of the display. The log will also be of great value when new officers or relief officers come on board. It provides the history of a radar set and its behaviour under different conditions and circumstances, and offers details which cannot be discussed in a short time.
Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd. have produced such a Log Book. Starting with an introduction and two pages where the navigator can record details of the radar installation(s) (contained in the specification), it then consists of two parts: Log of Operations and Log of Targets. Each part contains 25 lined double-pages where the particulars specified at the top of the vertical columns can be written down by the officer who is in charge of maintenance or the navigator who actually is observing the radar display. The columns of the Log of Operations have the following printed headings: Date/ No Voyage/Type of Radar in Use/Periods of Use/ Location/Use for Navigation and/or Collision/Readings of Performance Monitors or Testmeters/Particulars of Unsatisfactory Performance/Repairs and/or Modifications/Remarks (Type of Weather, Ship Vibrations etc). The Log of Targets contains columns for the following particulars: Date/Location/ X- or S- Band/Weather Conditions (Rain, Snow, Hail, Sand, Dust Echoes, Sea State and Clutter)/Atmospheric Conditions (Normal, Super- and Sub-Refraction)/Detection Range/identification Range/Radar Use as an Aid to Collision Avoidance and Navigation (Landfall, Coastal, Pilotage)/ARPA Performance (Acquisition and Tracking, Target Swop, Computer Saturation)/Remarks.
