Oral History of Defence Electronics

BLONDE: This was a device that recorded the characteristics of the signals of a radar. It recorded pulse frequency, pulse repetition frequency and whether the aerial was rotating or nutating (left to right or up and down movements). This was done by the development of a time scale measurement, devised by Cooke-Yarborough. Logarithmic time base readings worked on a 6 point scale from 1 micro second to 100 milli seconds. This way the event could be plotted on a graph and given a log number. This was developed quite late in the war and so very few readings were ever taken and even less were evaluated. Back FREQUENCY INDICATING RECEIVER: This was developed at the very end of the war and never made it past the research stages with Cooke-Yarborough. The problem with most scanners was that radars, such as the Würzburg radar, did not home in on a target but rather spotted it. This meant that if the sanner did not spot the signal it might miss it all together. The Frequency Indicating Receiver used a wide band receiver which would detect any signal in this band immediately and plot the change in frequency like a clock. This was one of the only devices to receive a secret patent at the end of the war. Back Back to contents page.| Back| Forwards