Radar and ARPA performance checks (MSC.192(79))

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Radar is the instrument officers trust most when visibility closes in, and it is easy to trust it too much. A heading line a couple of degrees out, a magnetron that has lost half its power, or a gyro input that has silently frozen will all still give a clean-looking picture. The targets are simply in the wrong place, or missing.

The IMO performance standard for radar, resolution MSC.192(79), sets measurable limits for accuracy, tracking and alarms, and SOLAS requires radar installed from 1 July 2008 to meet it. This lesson turns those limits into checks you can do on the bridge and that a service engineer or surveyor will do with test equipment.

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The rest of this lesson, the interactive Pre-departure check of the radars on a 12,000 GT bulk carrier and the quiz are open to signed-up learners. It's free, takes a minute, and opens every lesson in all 14 courses.

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In this lesson

Try it: Pre-departure check of the radars on a 12,000 GT bulk carrier
In plain words
In detail
What the rules say
Flag and class notes
Key numbers
What inspectors find
Questions people ask
Quiz: 6 questions

Sources

1 IMO Resolution MSC.192(79), Adoption of the revised performance standards for radar equipment (adopted 6 December 2004), operative paragraph 2 and annex paragraphs 2 (Table 1), 5.1.2, 5.2, 5.3.4, 5.7, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.14, 5.25, 5.31, 5.34 and 9.1. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.192(79).pdf
2 SOLAS 1974, as amended, chapter V, regulation 19, paragraphs 2.3.2 and 2.7.1. IMO consolidated edition (sales publication). https://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-the-Safety-of-Life-at-Sea-(SOLAS),-1974.aspx
3 IMO Resolution A.1207(34), Survey Guidelines under the Harmonized System of Survey and Certification (HSSC), 2025, annex, paragraphs (EI) 1.1.4.33.9, 1.1.4.33.10, (EA) 1.2.1.20 and 1.2.2.35. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/IIIS/Documents/A%2034-Res.1207%20-%20SURVEY%20GUIDELINES%20UNDER%20THE%20HARMONIZED%20SYSTEMOF%20SURVEY%20AND%20CERTIFICATION%20(HSSC),%202025%20(Secretariat).pdf
4 SOLAS 1974, as amended, regulation V/16.2, as reproduced in MCA MGN 610 (M+F), page 14. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f2140d3e90e071a603d33b3/MGN_610_2020.pdf
5 IMO Resolution A.1206(34), Procedures for port State control, 2025 (adopted 3 December 2025), appendix 2, section 5, item 10, and appendix 7, paragraphs 5.1.2 and 5.1.3. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1206(34).pdf
6 Maritime and Coastguard Agency, MGN 610 (M+F), SOLAS Chapter V guidance, guidance on regulations 18 and 19. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f2140d3e90e071a603d33b3/MGN_610_2020.pdf
7 Tokyo MOU, Annual Report on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region 2024, Table 7. https://www.tokyo-mou.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/ANN24-1.pdf

Free awareness training. Al Safwan Marine is not an approved training provider, so no certificate is given, and these courses are not a qualification. They don't replace STCW training, manufacturer training or the certification technicians need for this work. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.

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