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But hold on a second. The microwave-spewing front end of the typical light aircraft radar set can be a forever kind of thing. They were expensive to begin with, but with reasonable maintenance, they work as we’ll as when they were new, so why throw that away? Thats what Avidyne figured out when it went after the niche market of building MFDs compatible with older radar systems. Toss that crummy monochrome radar display and replace it with a color MFD that also displays navigation data and youve instantly got a state-of-the-art panel.
To our surprise, this has rejuvenated and extended the life of ships radar to the point that buyers are actually asking for quotes on new systems. Demand is mostly in the realm of light twins and soon, were told, for the new wave of VLJs, but there are still plenty of wing-mounted single-engine radar sets in service, even if none of those are still in production.
If budget allows and budget usually drives everything owners can enjoy a belt-and-suspenders confidence in weather awareness with datalinked NEXRAD, onboard weather radar and sferics, all wrapped into one display, if you please. But with such redemption come caveats just because you can afford it, doesnt mean you should buy it.
In this article, we’ll outline some smart tips for maintaining and retaining old ships radar, particularly when utilizing the system with a new MFD, a trend that appears to be here to stay.
Radar 101: The Troubleshoot
Radar performance is all about power, antenna size and display. In this regard, light aircraft systems are somewhat hobbled by limited power and small antennas. The smaller the antenna, the more the beam spreads with distance and the less ability the radar has to accurately define a precipitation area. Performance-wise, the 10-inch antenna in a Seneca cant hold a candle to the enormous antenna in a 757. But the addition of datalink radar to the light aircraft cockpit all but erases the advantage of the larger antenna, which cant see as far as NEXRAD under any circumstances.
Component health, particularly power supplies, waveguides, radomes and magnetrons play a role in radar performance, too. Radar, like most analog avionics, consist of many small critical parts and the troubleshooting effort when something goes awry is labor intensive. And it always begins with the pilots description of whats not working, which is sometimes the same as no description at all. All too often the gripe is: “doesnt paint precip.” That alone is sometimes reason enough for owners to remove the radar in favor of datalink.
In our view, there are but a handful of capable shops that can reliably repair broken radar. In our experience, Duncan Avionics a division of the well-established Duncan Aviation Fieldtech Avionics and Honeywell (for Bendix/King and Honeywell radars) are tops for repair work.