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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1813.PDF
FLIGHT, 14 December 1961 927 will provide VHF DF identification for airfieldcontrol radar. An automatic fixer equipment is available for use with the AD.200 andAD.210 series, giving direct presentation of an aircraft fix on a 17in cathode-ray tube, witha superimposed translucent map of the control area and controllable offset bearing-and-distance trace. Marconi also produce the Type DFg26/4HF DF equipment with twin channels and fre- quency range of 1.5-21 Mc/s in four bands.Bearing presentation can be by spinning gonio- meter or cathode-ray oscilloscope. The TypeDFg29 is a manually operated HF DF instal- lation which can be mobile for rapid position-ing and can operate where earth conductivity is so poor as to degrade the performance of anAdcock aerial. Latest DF development from StandardTelephones and Cables is the long base-line Doppler direction finder using dipoles on a12ft-long arm rotating at 180 r.p.m. This gives a true Doppler effect. The indicator is a new.accurate electromechanical device. Existing S.T.C. DF equipment includes the PQ range,which employ the latest commutated antenna techniques. CADF gives from five to ten timesgreater freedom from errors than does con- ventional DF. By electronic time-sharing,simultaneous presentation of DF bearings from two separate channels of equipment canbe displayed on one Type A2208 cathode-ray indicator. For automatic position-fixing anumber of DF stations can be linked to a con- trol room where individual bearing lines areoptically projected on a large map screen. A more recent development is the PVT.2, inwhich the bearings are optically projected from miniature CRDF displays and combined withmap transparencies for presentation on a closed-circuit television system. A PVT.2system combined with surveillance radar by inter-console marking, intended for identifica-tion of radar traces by VDF triangulation. was demonstrated at London Heathrow duringthe summer. VOR ground beacons of Type BO.2 are alsobeing produced by Standard Telephones and Cables. They meet ICAO standards. Animportant feature is the radically reduced cone of confusion achieved by the use of a wide-aperture aerial system. S.T.C. are also respon- sible for the STURN.3 and STURN.4 Tacanbeacons and the STURN.5 DMET beacon, the last-named for use in conjunction withVOR. The STURN.5 incorporates self- monitoring and automatic change-over andhas a range of 300 n.m. with 126 operating channels. Eleven VOR beacons produced byMarconi are now coming into operation on United Kingdom airways. DME equipment available from MurphyRadio Ltd includes the Type RBI 10 trans- ponder beacon which transmits at between200Mc/s and 235Mc/s and can serve 75 air- craft simultaneously. It can be controlled re-motely and automatic supervision can be provided by beacon control equipment MR255.Babs Mk4 is a beacon for use with Rebecca Mk 8 airborne equipment as a DME approachaid. MR347 is a mobile beacon for use with Rebecca. Non-directional Beacons Non-directional MF beacons for locator,homing and airways use available from Marconi include the Types WB8. AD501 andAD511 of 2.5-3.3kW, 250W and 20W power respectively. These have provision for CW,MCW and code-sending devices, and may be duplicated and fault monitored with automaticswitchover. Redifon Ltd manufacture a range ofbeacons which transmit at between 20W and 2.5kW on frequencies of 137-55Okc/s, withCW/MCW. Some types incorporate RT facilities. A recent addition is a transistorizedMF beacon designed for unattended operation. One of these has been installed on a rockyisland on the west Greenland coast. Redifon also make the BCU.15 beacon control unitfor monitoring and automatic changeover from main to standby transmitters. Othermanufacturers of non-directional beacons include General Electric and Standard Tele-phones and Cables. Weather and Wind-finding Radar Marconi's Type SNW51 radar detectsstorms and rain-producing clouds over ranges up to 200 n.m., using a static or mobile aerial. STC STAN 7 localizer, with clearance aerial in background Right, STC Doppler D/F aerial assembly with radome partially in place Peak power output is about 40kW. operatingin the X-band (9,360-9.460Mc/s), with presen- tation on a moving-coil PPI. Comparable equipment from Decca RadarLtd, in world-wide use at airports, is weather radar Type 41 Mk IIA. a 25kW radar with arange of up to 220 n.m.. in the X-band. The Type 42 has an improved gearbox and morepowerful transmitter: Type 43 provides a range of height indicator in addition to the12in PPI: Type 44 is an X-band unit for use where 3cm equipment is less effective. Allthese units can have the automatic plotting system providing a visual record of the PPIpicture, called Radar Graph. Wind velocities at heights up to 130,000ftand ranges up to 125 miles are given by Cossor's Type CR.353 10cm radar which workson the same principle. In its basic form it provides a display of range, bearing andelevation, but additional units can be supplied, such as PPI display, data recorder, teleprinterrelay transmitter and a height and range resolver. The aerial can operate in winds ofup to lOOkt. Eight CR.353s were ordered for use in New Zealand and the southernPacific Ocean. The Decca WF 1 was the first accurate,economical, robust radar specially made for wind measurement by tracking passive balloons.The WF 2 is a completely self-contained development with a 2,5m parabolic dish aerial,and operator's cabin mounted on a tripod. It can be combined with the remote automaticdata printer using an electric typewriter to record elapsed time, range, azimuth, and eleva-tion detected in the WF 2. Meterological Equipment A very full range of meteorological instru-ments is available from the old-established firm of Negretti & Zambra Ltd. Short & Mason Ltd manufacture a range ofapparatus among which are wind direction and speed indicators and a special aneroid baro-meter for airport control towers. The baro- meter is extremely sensitive to small pressurechanges, is fully compensated for temperature and is mounted in a case, to match the remote-reading dials of the two electrical wind instruments. R. W. Munro Ltd make various types ofelectrical wind speed and direction recording instruments, including types in which the cup-type anemometer is mounted directly above the direction vane, on the same mast. Portableinstruments, for recording wind data in the vicinity of buildings, etc., are also manu-factured. The simple wind-sock still has its uses,and the R.F.D. Co Ltd are makers. Airtech Ltd produce the cloud-base recorder,which, originally developed by the Meteoro- logical Office, records continuously on achart the height of the cloudbase, as derived by triangulation from a scanning transmitterusing a modulated light beam. Reflection from the cloud is detected by a receiver unit 350ftfrom the transmitter, the angle of the light projector being sensed and fed with the re-ceived signal into the recorder. Cloudbases up to 4,000ft can be recorded. The three unitsare linked by land lines. VHF Ground/Air Communications A very wide range of VHF ground-to-airtransmitters and receivers is offered by British manufacturers, including British Communica-tions Corporation, Ekco Electronics Ltd, Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd, General Elec-tric Co Ltd, Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co Ltd, Murphy Radio Ltd, Plessey Co Ltd,Pye Telecommunications Ltd, Redifon Ltd, and Stratton & Co Ltd. Many VHF radios are also produced for Ekco CE.I78 CRDF equipment on test Murphy MR880 VHF R/T equipment, usually operated with MR820 Decca 41 Mk IIA weather radar at Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg
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