In a message dated 7/31/2000 3:37:07 PM Central Daylight Time, ague@iex.net writes: << Safety and practical questions addressed to anyone. Do you really want/need a radar display on the flybridge? >> Wayne sez: The radar was there when we bought the boat. We usually run the boat from the flybridge, weather permitting. We found we really use it a lot, especially at night or in fog. It is good for watching or tracking storms, too. Others have asked the reverse: "Do you really want a radar display at the lower helm?" <<Safety: Is it true that the radar antenna can "fry your brains" if your head is positioned in its vicinity?>> Wayne sez: Technically it is possible, as it is microwave energy, but it is a matter of degree, or time and density. Birds don't die if they fly (or even nest) in front of mega-power radars, such as on board ships and the Dew Line. So, I guess the prudent the answer is, don't have your head there; the beam depth/angle is known, so keep the radar beam above your head. I can definitely relate that you can get a warm feeling all over when standing in front of an F-15 when someone keys the radar. (Firecontrol radars do not necessarily sweep like our boat radars do. The concentrated radiation over a few minutes becomes quite obvious as your body starts to warm up. Even with the power that they put out at very short range, it certainly is not an instantaneous feeling. Safety regulations forbid transmitting when someone is standing in front of the aircraft, but it happens at times.<<sigh>>) How many boats have you seen with the radar on a post at the stern, or on the front of the flybridge, just above the lower helm? << Practical: If it's a nice day and your up top, why bother using one? What circumstances have you up top needing one?>> Wayne sez: In beautiful weather when we are on the bay, we don't use it, except for practice. When it is foggy, drizzly, dark, etc., we use it. If it is not raining too hard, or the seas too rough, we like to be on the flybridge. When we are on the Gulf, it is almost always on when we are on the flybridge. But, conditions frequently warrant going below, and I still want radar. It can spot the masts of ships long before we can see them through the haze, or at night it can see all sorts of things to allow determination if any of them present any kind of danger. Especially at night and overcast weather, they are great for following rain squalls, shrimp boats and such. A friend, sailboater, told me about a year ago of a near miss he had with a CONEX (shipping container) in the Gulf of Mexico, SW of Tampa. Only one corner was above water. He saw something shiny in the moonlight directly ahead of him and instinctively dodged it. He missed it so no damage was done, but it scared him sufficiently that he bought a radar shortly after that. It is the knowledge that I have done everything possible to keep my boat and its occupants safe that prompts me to have radar at both helms. The sailboat I used to have did not have radar. I often felt very vulnerable, but the paradigm was that I didn't have it for "X" years and hadn't hit anything, so I guess it really was not necessary. But, now that I have it on the upper helm and found it so useful, I also want to have it on the lower helm. Wayne M/V Celestial Albin 43 Sundeck