SERVICE MANUAL

MODEL SAR-9

RESCUE RADAR TRANSPONDER

 Warning

SAR-9 SART is an emergency device for use only in situations of grave

and imminent danger.

Read the complete manual before installing, testing or using the SART.

How to Operate In Emergency

1. Dismantle SAR-9 SART from the installation bracket.

2. Remove the security clip so that the switch indicates ON.

3. The SART indicates that it has been triggered by lighting an

indicator blue LED continuously (it flashes in standby mode) and by

 sounding an integral buzzer. If no radar pulses are detected for a

period exceeding 15 seconds, the SART reverts to “standby” mode.

4. Use the fixing rod, the tightening stripe or the fixing ring in the life

rafts of the mother ship so that SAR-9 can be separated for 1 m

or above the sea surface.

1. Block Digram
2. SART principle of operation

Actuating a SART enables a survival craft to show up on a search vessel’s radar

display as an easily recognised series of dots.

Radar (radio detection and ranging) is a device carried by most ships which is used to
determine the presence and location of an object by measuring the time for the echo
of a radio wave to return from it, and the direction from which it returns.

A typical ship’s radar will transmit a stream of high power pulses on a fixed frequency
anywhere between 9.2GHz and 9.5GHz. It will collect the echoes received on the
same frequency using a display known as a Plan Position Indicator (PPI), which
shows the ship itself at the center of the screen, with the echoes dotted around it.
Echoes further from the center of the screen are thus further from the ship and the
relative or true bearing of each echo can be easily seen.

The SART operates by receiving a pulse from the search radar and sending back a
series of pulses in response, which the radar will then display as if they were normal
echoes. The first return pulse, if it sent back immediately, will appear in the same
place on the PPI as a normal echo would have done. Subsequent pulses, being
slightly delayed, appear to the radar like echoes from objects furthernaway.
A series of dots is therefore shown, leading away from the position of the SART.
This distinctive pattern is much easier to spot than a single echo such as from a radar
reflector. Moreover, the fact that the SART is actually a transmitter means that the
return pulses can be as strong as echoes received from much larger objects.

A complication arises from the need for the SART to respond to radars which may be
operating at any frequency within the 9GHz band. The method chosen for the SART is
to use a wideband receiver (which will pick up any radar pulses in the band), in
conjuction with a swept frequency transmitter. Each radar pulses received by the
SART results in a transmission consisting of 12 forward and return sweeps through
the range 9.2GHz to 9.5GHz. The radar will only respond to returns close to its own
frequency of operation (ie. within its receive bandwidth), so a “pulse” is produced at
the radar input each time the SART sweep passes though the correct frequency.

A slow sweep would give the radar a stronger echo to deal with as the sweep would
be inside the operating bandwidth for a longer period. The delay for the sweep to
reach the operating frequency may however lead to an unacceptable range error, as
delayed echoes appear to be coming from more distant objects.

To minimise this problem, the SART uses a “sawtooth” response, sweeping quickly,
then slowly for each of its twelve forward and return sweeps. At long range, only the
slow sweeps, giving the strongest returns, are picked up. At close range, where errors
are more important, the fast sweeps are also detected. As the first sweep is a fast one,
then the range error is minimised and should be less than 150 metres.

The timescale over which all this occurs is very short. Each “fast” sweep takes about
0.4µs, each “slow” sweep about 7.5µs. The complete series of twelve forward and
return sweeps is therefore complete within 100µs. Displayed on the PPI, the spacing
between each pair of dots will be 0.6 nautical miles.

On a long range setting, a typical radar will be triggering the SART every millisecond –
but only during the period that the rotating radar scanner is pointing in the correct
direction. Most modern radars use sophisticated noise rejection techniques, which
prevent the display of echoes which are not synchronized with the radar’s own
transmissions, so one radar will not normally be confused by a SART’s response to a
neigbouring radar.
 SART position from a Long Range SART position from a Short Range

3. Self Test Facility

Regular testing of the SAR-9 SART is advised. The duration of the test should be

limited to as short a time as possible as the SART response may be received by other

vessels which are within range.

The are no operation differences between TEST and ON modes; the rotary switch
must be held in the TEST position, on release it returns to the OFF position.
1. Insure compliance with all applicable Health and Safety instructions when working
in proximity to a radar transmitter.
2. Lacate the SART within the line of sight of an operating approved marine Radar.
3. Rotate the switch ring anticlockwise (ie to the right) to the TEST position, and hodl it
in this position.
a) if the SART responds to the radar, the blue light in the base of the SART
will be continuously lit and the buzzer will sound every 2 seconds.
 b) if the SART does not respond to the radar, the blue light will flash every 2
seconds and the buzzer will not sound.
The SART must respond to the radar to pass the test.
4. Switch off the SART by releasing the switch ring; check that it returns fully to the
OFF position.
5. During the annual survey, perform the self test and verify the SART performance by
observing the response on the radar.

Indicator Light
4. Composition

Mount i ng r i ng

Radome Mount i ng pol e

Swi t ch r i ng

Fi xed br acket

Bat t er y Bul khead mount i ng br acket

5. Assembly
3. Pictures
6 PCB
7. Drawing
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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