One man's garbage...

...or perhaps it was a woman? Anyway, I found this complete late-'80s Furuno model 1720 radome and CRT display in the "free stuff" locker at my club.

If I can get it working (and given that it had all connectors and the manual with it,. I suspect it is merely obsolete and amp-hungry), I will test it.

It looks quite like this. The cabling I retrieved is clumsily severed but can be repaired with a terminal block: Thanks, Radio and Television Arts!

The one I retrieved is cleaner and less dinged up.

Now in glorious monochrome!

An interesting point here: I follow developments in RADAR technology quite closely, and have been impressive with the new "3D"/"broadband"/"digital" types of radars (the quotes indicate marketing-speak), which don't have the heavy, analog, power-snarfing parts that these older types have. They work quite astoundingly at short ranges.

But I was speaking at a boat show to a marine electronics guy, not as a client, and he said that for distance and certain conditions, like seeing ships and rainfronts at sea, the old "pulse" radars are still his choice.

If I can get this working, maybe I can have both. Something lighter on the mast and maybe this on a pole?

Anyway, as is the mantra of our age, there is a YouTube of it (warning: dull) and the warmup time of nearly a minute and a half reminds me of the Philco TV I remember from very early childhood. The best part was the orange glow on the wall behind it!

We'll see how this goes. The manual is written in stilted English and seems concerned with electrical shock. A good sign, perhaps. Furuno is, after all, a well-respected brand. These old units still command $300-600 on eBay, so ka-ching whatever the outcome.

Regardless, a sharp eye and a willingness to lug things on my bike cart strikes again.