🔍 Key Concepts

• Racon as used on nautical charts and in radar navigation • How a radar transponder beacon behaves when triggered by a ship’s radar • Difference between radar-activated aids and ordinary radio beacons

💭 Think About

• When your radar pulse hits a Racon, what comes back to your radar screen—does it just reflect more strongly, or does it actively transmit a coded response? • Think about how Racons help identify specific features (like buoys or dangers) on a radar screen—would that require a simple reflector, a calibration device, or a responding transmitter? • Which choice describes a device that only works in response to radar energy, rather than transmitting continuously in all directions like a normal radio beacon?

✅ Before You Answer

• Confirm whether a Racon is passive (just reflecting energy) or active (transmitting a coded reply when triggered by radar**). • Check if Racons are used mainly for position identification on radar or for system-wide calibration of radar sets. • Distinguish between a beacon that is omnidirectional and continuous versus one that is interrogated by radar pulses.