How can you determine the RADAR range in nautical miles to an object?

To determine the RADAR range to an object, you can calculate it based on the time it takes for a signal to travel to the object and back. This time, known as the round-trip time, can be converted into distance.

The RADAR signal travels to the object and returns, meaning that the time measured must be divided in half to find the one-way travel time. The speed of radio waves in space is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second, which is roughly 1,000 feet per microsecond or about 1.2 nautical miles per microsecond. As a more standardized measurement, this translates to about 12.346 microseconds for each nautical mile. When you divide the total elapsed time by this figure, you convert the time taken by the RADAR signal into a distance measured in nautical miles.

Choosing to divide the elapsed time by 12.346 microseconds directly allows for a straightforward calculation of range in nautical miles, making this the correct method for determining the RADAR range to an object.