MCA issues radar reflector advice

But as the report says none of the Radar Reflectors available on the market actually meet this standard. Their adverts say they do, but the MCA tested lots at the time of this report and NONE met the standard!

The part of the report is cut & pasted here.....

The Echomax 230 is the only one in the test which has been type approved to ISO8729, the ships and marine technology standard for marine radar reflectors, but it narrowly failed to meet that standard consistently during the test.

The conclusions of the test are as follows:

• The Sea-Me is a good example of an active reflector, exceeding the requirements of the current and future ISO 8729 at heel/elevation angles of up to 15°. It is also very small and light. Drawbacks are that it requires power to operate and it will only operate at X-Band and will offer no performance at S-Band.
  (SOLAS Chapter 5 requires that all vessels over 300 tonnes carry an X-Band radar and all ships over 3,000 tonnes carry an S-Band radar as well. All the reflectors are designed to operate at X-Band, but passive reflectors will offer some performance at other frequencies, including S-Band. All the testing was performed at X-Band)
• The POLARef shows excellence is possible, but at a price. Technically it just fails to meet current ISO8729 or its replacement. Drawbacks are it is very costly and quite heavy at around 5kg. It could possibly be re-engineeered for commercial production which would reduce the price.
• The Large Tri-Lens performs well especially at larger angles of heel and elevation. It just falls short of ISO8729 but otherwise performs well. It is the heaviest reflector supplied for test at 5.5kg and costs around £300.
• The Echomax 230 narrowly failed to meet ISO 8729 during this testing but showed good peak and average RCS performance. The reflector is reasonably priced at £130 and weights 2.4 kg. The main drawback was a RCS drop-off above an elevation angle of 10°.
• The Firdell Blipper 210-7 narrowly failed to meet ISO 8729 during this testing but showed good peak and average RCS performance. The reflector is reasonably priced at £130 and weights 1.8 kg. The main drawback was a RCS drop-off above an elevation angle of 10°. (The Firdell Blipper 210-7 is slightly down on the Echomax 230 in terms of peak and average RCS but has a very similar stated performance level.)
• The Standard Tri Lens does not meet ISO8729 as the peak RCS was too low. However its consistent RCS response outperformed most of the other reflectors when heeled over beyond 10°. It is reasonably priced at £130 and weighs 2.5kg.
• The Plastimo 16” octahedral is inexpensive at £16 and lightweight at 0.65 kg but failed to meet ISO8729 in either tested position (upright and “catch rain&rdquo. It had reasonable peak and average performance, but wide nulls. Other drawbacks are that its mounting arrangement is by suspension only (often in an unfavourable position) and could be subject to damage.
• The Davis Echomaster failed to get close to ISO8729 during this testing. This reflector is priced at £60 and is lightweight. It can be mounted on a rod as well as by suspension (in the correct catch rain position.)
• The 4” tube reflector performed very poorly.
• The active Sea-Me, POLARef and the Standard or Large Tri Lens radar reflectors are the best reflectors at heel and elevation angles of over 10°.