The feasibility of one-bit quantization in coast-ship bistatic high-frequency surface-wave radar (HFSWR) is mainly discussed in order to enjoy the advantages of simplicity, low cost and low power consumption. Our theoretical derivation shows that the received signal after one-bit quantization can be expressed as a linear combination of infinite components. These components include the original component and the high-order components that can be regarded as the interference terms. Then, the variation of the magnitude of each component with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is given. To reduce the negative impact of these high-order components on the radar system, the detailed signal forms are analyzed. Furthermore, some comparative simulations of one-bit quantization and traditional high-precision quantization are provided to verify the correctness of our theoretical analysis. Both theories and simulation results indicate that the high-order components can be ignored in coast-ship bistatic HFSWR and that one-bit quantization is effective. Finally, real data analysis also validates the efficiency of one-bit quantization in practice. INDEX TERMS One-bit radar, bistatic high-frequency surface-wave radar, MIMO radar.