RADIO IN THE WAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 200, 7 January 1942, Page 6

RADIO IN THE WAR

(From a Research Worker)

Since the 'Start of the Avar Britain has made remarkable progress in applying radio to Avar purposes.

Radio-location is, of course, the outstanding innoA'ation. It can be briefly described as a system for detecting and plotting the position and course, of aircraft by multiple radio beams which, when they encounter any object, inform the operator of its presence. The hydrophone, as used by ships, provides a rough analogy. It plots; the contours of the ocean bed or detects the existence of submarines in the vicinity

In radio-location the intersection of the beam by' aircraft is recorded in each transmitting station and the position of the intersecting machine is worked out trigonometrically. success depends on covering the entire country with locator stations, thus forming an interconnected netAVork of waves through AA-hich no enemy aircraft can pass without betraying its approach. Dropping the Pilot But radio helps our oavu aircraft too. liveiy pilot knows the difficulty and danger of a fog landing. Until the development of ultra-short wave transmission fog invariably immobilised aircraft on the ground. Today, blind landing is not merely possible but safe.

Experiments in the radio control of aircraft are also being made m Britain and America. Eventually, Ave are promised, both pilot and mrvigator Avill be superfluous. The bomber Avill take off, fly at an enormous height to its objective, do its work and return Avithout direct bullion control. The United States Army Air Corps began experiments of this type more than six years ago.

Tank Control

Modern mechanised Avarfare has brought another use for radio: the control of adA'ancing tank iorma j tions' from a central base or Irom one particular machine. The problems of radio transmission and reception AVithin a noisy, heavy steel shell, packed Avith machinery Ave re "formidable but they iurve been solved Avith complete satisfaction and the units of a mechanised army can now maintain radio contact. New midget valves have made the really portable trans-receiver a fact; and the army is making full use of this recent deA-elopment. It replaces the field telephone, both in the field and for coastal defence communications.

With each technical advance the uses of radio in Avar are clearly increasing and in this branch of applied science the British radio industry can jjustly claim to be Avell in the forefront.