Quote:
Originally Posted by lonestarwings
I keep my wx radar on all the time, from takeoff until after landing. I do so for the following reasons:
1. To see weather
2. Geographic awareness (cities, lakes, coastlines, etc)
3. I've been told it prevents birdstrikes.
Is this bad technique. If so, why?
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seeing actual outlines of lakes, coastlines, etc requires a pretty agressive tilt (-5 or more) and only works well when you're almost over the landmark. seeing precipitation 40 miles ahead requires -3 or higher... and birds don't hang out at cruise altitude...
what tilt are you using?
other than below 18000', seems like a waste. the bright side is that you're not actually wasting anything... except the mechanics would probably tell you that the more you use it the more it breaks. and the long term effects of having a 10kw microwave transmitter 3 feet in front of you are yet to be determined (your microwave oven at home is 1.5kw... how'd ya like to stand 3 feet from it while it's on for 3 hrs?)
btw, gmap is the same as wx, just uses different colors. and the radar keeps itself off on the ground (before to, after landing) when in wx mode, unless you override it.
but since we're on the subject, how does everyone else use the radar? what's your tilt technique? gain? range? ever use any of the other modes? what kind of weather are you looking for? how well has it worked for you?