Marine Glossary

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limbo target

Another name for beam targets, first introduced by pioneering radar instructors Max Carpenter and Wayne Waldo of the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, which reflects the fact that it is difficult to predict the behavior of beam targets in response to your maneuver when viewed in stabilized display modes, hence they are in limbo.

When viewed in head-up mode, on the other hand, these targets are not "in limbo," and we can analyze them more easily. The name limbo comes from their behavior in north-up or course-up mode. All targets behave differently in head-up vs north-up mode.