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ELECTRONICS UPDATE New York Exhibition Showcases First Production Color ARPA From Racal Marine —Free Color Brochures Offered— Racal Marine recently showcased and demonstrated its new Racal 2690 BT, reportedly the world's first production type-approved color ARPA providing a 16-inch PPI equivalent scan on a 26-inch diagon- al TV-type display, and a number of other advanced marine navigation products at a three-day exhibition at the Whitehall Club in Manhat- tan. Well suited for deep-sea vessels, the 2690BT series ARPA and TM/ AC display are easy to operate with large, individual function control buttons. The basic radar controls on the upper panel follow the standard Racal-Decca layout used in thou- sands of Master series 20-inch color radars already in use at sea. The clear advantages of this sys- tem are its exceptionally bright color presentation of radar video, synthetic graphics and tote infor- mation on a 26-inch DSC display. The 26-inch DSC Racal Decca ma- rine display has been specially de- signed to meet the requirement for a presentation that can be interpreted quickly and surely under all condi- tions. Switchable color coding mini- mizes eyestrain by day or night and allows the display to be viewed con- veniently under a variety of lighting conditions. This easy-to-operate ARPA has a 20 track capacity with manual or automatic target acquisition. The unit's ARPA controls are located on the lower panel, arranged according to function in a logical layout. In addition to their standard suites of eight video maps, the Ra- cal-Decca 2690BT Series ARPAs can be supplied with an NMEA 0183 proprietary interface to a navi- gation system such as the Racal- Decca MNS 2000 or Decca Naviga- tor Mark 53. This interface enables the operator to show on the ARPA range scales (1 Vi to 24 nm) a graph- ic presentation of the voyage plan. The same interface also enables the ARPA to receive from the asso- ciated navigation system a defined position in latitude and longitude, preset to correspond to the refer- ence point around which one or more of the video maps in the ARPA memory has been con- structed. The ARPA can calculate the range and bearing of this point from the ship's position and thus provide automatic alignment of a video map. The Racal 2690BT Series features a full range of 3 cm and 10 cm marine radars designed to comply with international type approval standards for the largest vessels. Other features of the series include: AC display with anti-collison mark- ers, parallel indexing, true motion guard zones and semiautomatic electronic feature; an advanced clut- ter control called "Clearscan" to clear sea and rain clutter from the display; and a console design which offers the option of three preset viewing angles—11 degrees, 23 de- grees and 35 degrees. Other Racal products on display at the New York City exhibition included: Racal-Decca 20-inch color rasterscan radar; Racal-Decca LSR 4000 Nav Status and Voyage Man- agement Display System; Racal- Decca Marine Navigation System MNS2000; MK53 Decca Navigator; Racal-Decca ISIS 250C Machinery Control and Surveillance System and ISIS 250 Microprocessor-Based Integrated Ship Instrumentation System; and Racal-Decca Deep-Sea Color Radars. The LSR 4000 (Live Situation Report) display comprises a high definition color monitor with asso- ciated processor. This unique sys- tem provides a dynamic summary of all data relevant both to general navigation and immediate conning of a vessel. It also displays on de- mand the full voyage plan which is automatically updated. The Racal-Decca MNS 2000 is a multi-sensor marine navigation management system, designed to a module concept. The system can derive position fixing data for vessel navigation purposes practically any- where in the world through its mul- ti-sensor radio navaid receiver unit. It is able to interface to compatible ARPAs, autopilots, plotters and vessel management systems. The MK53 Decca Navigator is a four-channel integrating narrow- band receiver incorporating both Normal and Lane identification pattern positioning with full world- wide chain coverage. It has been designed to operate in conjunction with both electromechanical and color video plotters. The MK53 also incorporates a navigational comput- er which can interface with other bridge equipment such as radar, au- Racal-Decca's 2690BT Series ARPA and TM/AC display are easy to operate with large, individual function control buttons. tomatic chart table and autopilot. The Racal 970/990 Series of gyro- stabilized radars is designed for use aboard vessels up to 1,600 tons. The compact 14-inch diagonal screen has 10 range scales from Vi nm to 96 nm. The Integrated Ship Instrumen- tation System (ISIS) 250C Series offers monitoring and control of main and auxiliary machinery, car- go and ballast from one or more locations. It fully meets the require- ments of the major international classification societies for unat- tended machinery spaces. The ISIS 250 microprocessor- based Integrated Ship Instrumenta- tion System consists of a series of standard units and modules that may be configured together to ac- commodate a wide range of alarm and monitoring specifications— from simple alarm detection on small vessels to the most demanding requirements of the largest marine, naval and offshore installations. For a free package of color bro- chures detailing the new 2690BT color ARPA and other Racal marine navigation products showcased at the exhibition, Circle 74 on Reader Service Card OIL SPILL and DEBRIS SKIMMERS Circle 350 on Reader Service Card More than 75 MARCO skimmers ^ operating worldwide REQUEST OUR FREE BROCHURE (£)arco pollution control 2300 West Commodore Way • Seattle, WA 98199 USA Phone (206) 285-3200 • Telex 160587MARCO UT Adrian R.P. Day, president, Racal Marine Inc. (at left) and Brian W. Craig, managing direc- tor-international operations, Racal Marine Group Limited, examine the new Racal-Decca 2690BT color ARPA at a recent exhibition in New York City. 44 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News ' CCA TYPE •HT TRACK RADARS APPROV Approximately 1,000 type approved RM i radars in service throughout the world Instant visual anal^^^f traffic situatloi Identification o^B^^^^id tracks Parallel inden
