budget orientated radar installaion

[obiec]

I am going to be putting a radar on my 33 foot sail boat. I do not wont to spend a bunch of money to do so. I purchased a Furino 16 mile LCD. First I can mount the unit in the nav station and it will swing so it will be Sean at the help about 7 feet away will this be to far, do you have to play with all the buttons much, or can you set it and forget it. The nice thing about this install is that is you were on the ocean and were using the head or making coffee and a target came on you would be able to here the alarm. or if you were single handed and taking a nap. Also it would be dry at all times. But I am not sure at 7 feet you could see the display clearly enough. I could mount it right at the helm.
Secant for the Antenna, I was thinking about building a Radar arch from 2 inch aluminum round tubing. This would allow me to use a sun shade easily and help with future solar panes and such. Or I could go up the mast. or even set from the stern on a pole. How high dose the antenna need to be and dose it really need to be gimble mounted. any help I would really apricot. Thank you.
The radar will be mostly used for Fog and night cruising on the Columbia river where there is lots of barge traffic. Also do most targets like river cans and fishing boats show up on Radar.

[windship]

obiec,
Good move.You''ll be very glad you have one!Especially for your sailing grounds.
I have my radar mounted on a swing-out bracket next to the companionway like you were asking. Yes, you''ll be able to see it just fine and in the in position, you''ll be able to read it from inside the cabin.
Yes, you''ll see everything,cans, nuns,lobster pot bouys and boats.
I reccomend the array be mounted one third to one half way up the mast(sloop rig) wiyh a two or three degree down angle.
A leveling device is good if you want one but you don''t have to have one.
Home Depot has an assortment of brackets that work fine and are much cheaper than the ones from West Marine etc. If you would like some info on the install,check back here.
Good luck.

Dennis