Photo by Neil Caudle 



H 



Weather relay 



Jim Bahen, a Sea Grant marine 

 advisory agent at Fort Fisher, 

 uses VHF radio to receive 

 weather information from 

 fishing boats offshore. Bahen 

 relays word of conditions to the 

 National Weather Service, 

 which uses the information to 

 update its advisories, broadcast 

 at 162.55 MHz 



to their list. A single-side-band radio gives tremendous 

 range and keeps the captain in touch with stations thou- 

 sands of miles away. "Weather facsimile" machines print 

 out data and maps broadcast from the National Weather 

 Service. Captains knowledgeable enough about 

 meteorology can use the printouts to avoid bad weather 



and to find the water conditions fish favor. 



"If you wanted to look at a satellite photo of the Gulf 

 Stream, you could turn the weather facsimile machine on 

 at a certain time of day and get the print-out," Bahen 

 says. "But you have to be able to read the map." 



Captains who travel beyond the reach of loran transmit- 

 ters need a second navigation system. Some subscribe to 

 the Omega service, a privately owned network similar to 

 loran but with transmitting towers around the world. 

 Others pay thousands of dollars for machines that 

 navigate their boats by signals beamed from satellites. 



"There are more and more satellites up there, and 

 satellite navigation is the thing of the future," Bahen says. 

 "But right now, it's just too expensive for most fisher- 

 men." Some of the bigger boats have on-board micro- 

 computers that monitor all their machines and gauges, 

 record travel times and speeds, report fuel efficiency, and 

 help the captain choose the best routes. 



But it is not only the commercial fisherman who wants 

 electronics. Bahen says that he has noticed a strong trend 

 toward more electronics on smaller recreational boats. 



"The sportsfisherman can get by with just a compass, 

 and that should be the first thing he buys," Bahen says. 

 "But if he's a serious fisherman and he loves to fish, he's 

 going to have a good rod and reel, and he's going to want 

 some good electronic equipment. Remember, he's com- 

 peting too." 



How much electronic equipment does a sportsfisherman 

 need? And how much should it cost him? Bahen cites a 

 typical case: the fisherman with a 23-ft. boat capable of 

 going 25 miles offshore. He might have $8000 to $10,000 

 invested in boat, motor and tackle. Bahen says his first 

 purchase, assuming he already has a compass, might be a 

 medium-priced VHF radio. The next item would be a 

 depth finder, either an inexpensive one with a digital in- 

 dicator that will help the fisherman run unmarked inlets 

 or, for the more serious competitor, a depth recorder. 

 Then, if the boat has space for another antenna, the next 

 piece might be a good loran unit for what Bahen calls 

 "repeatability" — the ability to easily find the way back to 



to sonar and radar equipment- warn the captain of traffic 

 or hangs. Before electronics, autopilots, or "iron mikes," 

 were mechanical contrivances of pullies and gears connec- 

 ted to a gyrocompass. The new machines are compact, 

 reliable and expensive: over $1000, and typically at least 

 $3000. 



Radar units sweep the sur- 

 face around a boat with radio 

 waves beamed from transmitters 

 mounted high on the boat. A 

 receiver translates the reflected 

 waves into bleeps on a screen. On 

 fishing boats, radar is most useful 

 as a safety device that warns the 

 skipper of traffic, finds buoys and 

 allows a trawler captain to keep 

 an eye on neighboring boats, 

 even in fog. 



The two most important considerations in buying radar 

 are power and discrimination. Powerful sets cost more, but 

 power improves not only the range of the unit, but also its 

 ability to define small targets at intermediate distances. 

 Good discrimination in a unit allows it to separate objects 

 close together — for example, boats fishing side-by-side. In 

 general, the smaller the pulse length (the length of time 

 taken for each burst of signals), the better discrimination. 



It is best to mount a radar antenna as high as possible 

 on a boat. However, doubling the height of the antenna 

 will not double the unit's range. It will only increase the 

 possible range by about one-third. Price: $3000 and up. 

















[ t 



- (4 









Continued on next page 



