Racon
Beacons
The
word "RACON" is taken from the words "RADAR &
BEACON"
Racon
Beacons work on the "X"
and "S" Band Radars
The
"X" Band radar uses the
(3cm) Bandwidth
The
"S" Band radar uses the
(10cm) Bandwidth
A
radar will send a pulse and the Racon beacon will pick up the
pulse and send a Morse Letter back to the vessels radar, this
will then show some Morse on the radar screen (Morse D is most
common, but other letters in Morse could be used)
Once
you have the Morse letter on screen, you can see what bearing
and distance it is from your vessel.
ORAL
EXAM QUESTIONS
CAUTION
this question has been coming up during the Oral exam
The captain gives you a nautical chart and it has racon beacons
on it
one of the Racons has 3cm alongside it (it can only pick up
pulses from an "X" Band radar
if
it had (10cm) alongside the Racon then it would pick up the
"S" Band Radars pulses only
(Q)
What radar works best with RACON Beacons?
(a) Racon Beacons are dual purpose, they work on the "X"
& "S" Band radars
RACON
INFORMATION
3CM
"X" Band Racon Beacon (Most common Radar)
The
relative short wavelength at "X" band frequencies
allows a radar to show very high quality images to be shown
on the radar screen, this allows you to pick up targets easier.
The Racon Beacon will only pick up pulses that come from an
"X" Band radar
10CM
"S" Band Racon Beacon
This
type of radar requires a very large antenna, some vessels will
not have room to place an antenna of this size on their vessel
The Racon Beacon will only pick up pulses that come from an
"S" Band radar
