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Multiple Choice

What does a relative vector on a radar display represent?

A relative vector shows how a tracked target will move relative to your own ship in the near future. It’s a line from your ship to the target’s predicted position after a short lookahead time, assuming the current courses and speeds hold. The direction of the vector tells you which way the target is going relative to you, and its length represents how far the target will move in that lookahead. This helps you gauge collision risk and plan maneuvers by looking beyond the target’s present position. It isn’t the predicted future path of your own ship, nor a depiction of the current movement of all contacts, and it isn’t simply the bearing to the next contact. Instead, it focuses on one tracked target’s future relative motion.

A relative vector shows how a tracked target will move relative to your own ship in the near future. It’s a line from your ship to the target’s predicted position after a short lookahead time, assuming the current courses and speeds hold. The direction of the vector tells you which way the target is going relative to you, and its length represents how far the target will move in that lookahead. This helps you gauge collision risk and plan maneuvers by looking beyond the target’s present position.

It isn’t the predicted future path of your own ship, nor a depiction of the current movement of all contacts, and it isn’t simply the bearing to the next contact. Instead, it focuses on one tracked target’s future relative motion.