Furuno DRS6ANXT Solid-State Doppler Open-Array Radar Pedestal

The DRS6ANXT is Furuno's NXT-generation solid-state Doppler open-array radar pedestal, sold without antenna so the owner can spec the 4-foot or 6-foot array separately. It's the radar that owners step up to when they want commercial-grade Doppler target highlighting and ARPA-class tracking on a recreational helm, with the simplification of direct 12V DC power that doesn't need a separate power supply unit.

Solid-state pulse compression is the defining technology. Where older magnetron radars need a warm-up period before they can transmit at full power and lose effectiveness as the magnetron tube ages, the DRS6ANXT uses a solid-state transmitter that's fully operational seconds after power-on, never degrades with age, and draws considerably less current than a magnetron radar of equivalent detection range. The pulse-compression architecture packs more total energy into the transmitted signal for the same peak power, which translates into sharper close-in returns and stronger long-range detection in fog, rain, and sea clutter.

Target Analyzer is the Doppler-based situational-awareness feature that's hard to appreciate until you've used it. Every echo on the radar screen is automatically color-coded by Doppler frequency shift: stationary targets, land, and slow movers (under 3 knots relative velocity) show in green. Targets approaching the boat at 3 knots or faster show in red. The coloring works on your own ship's motion baseline, so when you're chasing a target, the radar correctly shows it in red if it's pulling away slower than you're approaching, and in green if it's matching your speed. For collision avoidance in a busy channel or under reduced visibility, this is the kind of single feature that justifies the upgrade from a magnetron radar.

Target Tracking handles the classic ARPA target plotting workflow. The DRS6ANXT acquires and tracks up to 100 targets across the screen at any range scale, building speed and course-vector data for each one. Targets flagged as hazardous (closing range too quickly given the closest-point-of-approach) display in red, so the operator's attention is pulled to the targets that matter most. The True Trail feature strips your own ship's motion from the displayed target trails, so you see the targets' actual track through the water rather than the apparent track relative to your moving frame, which is the right view for predicting where targets are heading.

Bird Mode is the standard NXT angler feature. One-tap selection from the chartplotter or MFD switches the radar's signal processing to a configuration optimized for detecting flocks of feeding seabirds. The radar surfaces the small, low-altitude bird returns that normal radar processing filters out as clutter. For sport-fishermen who hunt birds to find bait schools, Bird Mode effectively extends the practical fishing range of the radar.

RezBoost is Furuno's beam-sharpening signal processing. At maximum setting, RezBoost narrows the effective beamwidth beyond the antenna's native physical beamwidth, which translates into tighter target separation at distance. Two boats anchored 100 feet apart at one nautical mile appear as two separate returns with RezBoost on, where they'd be a single smeared return with RezBoost off. The trade-off is that RezBoost requires some signal processing margin, so it's most effective at intermediate ranges where signal-to-noise is healthy.

Installation is simplified by direct 12V DC power connection. Most older Furuno radars need an external power supply (XPS) unit between the boat's 12V supply and the radar pedestal, which is one more box to find a dry mounting location for and one more interconnect cable to route. The DRS6ANXT eliminates the XPS for cable runs up to 10 meters (33 feet), which covers nearly all recreational installs. The 10-meter signal-and-power cable is included in this kit. For longer cable runs (15 or 20 meters), an external power supply is still required and is sold separately.

Chartplotter compatibility covers the full Furuno NavNet TZtouch lineup: TZtouch (original), TZtouch2, TZtouch3, and TZtouchXL (current generation including the TZT16X and larger displays). For NavNet 3D processors, an Ethernet adapter cable handles the connection. The radar appears on the chartplotter as a radar source with the full Target Analyzer, Bird Mode, RezBoost, and tracking workflows available through the chartplotter's radar app.

The pedestal weighs around 25 pounds without the antenna and ships with all mounting hardware, the 10-meter signal-and-power cable, and the documentation pack. The 6-foot open-array antenna (or 4-foot version for arches that can't accommodate the larger array) is ordered separately. For the 6-foot configuration, look for XN24A/6 or equivalent Furuno open-array part numbers.