RSGB 2023 Convention - VHF airborne radar

Professor Simon Watts, G3XXH
At the start of WWII there was an urgent need for airborne radar to detect U-boats and surface ships. The systems that were rapidly developed were known as ASV (Air to Surface Vessel) and operated at VHF, with wavelengths close to 1.5m. The first system, ASV Mk.I, was quite experimental, but this was quickly followed by a better engineered and higher performance system, ASV Mk.II. By 1942, ASV was starting to make a significant contribution to the battle against the U-boats.
This talk describes the design and performance of these early systems, which preceded the advent of the magnetron, and discusses the technology used, including the development of high-power pulsed transmitters, broadband receivers using television technology and CRT displays.
Simon Watts was a deputy Scientific Director and Technical Fellow in Thales UK until 2013. He has published many papers and two books on airborne maritime surveillance radar research and also two books on the history of ASV. He was Chairman of the Examination Standards Committee from 2006 to 2016, first with the RCF and latterly with the RSGB. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was appointed MBE in 1996 for services
to the defence industry.

[@ashave9100]

Thank you Professor Watts, a great lecture- it was amazing of the skills of engineers at that time with the limited test equipment they had and the dedication to their art to make the whole systems work !!!

[@TheRSGB]

We're glad you enjoyed it! Do subscribe to our RUclips channel if you don't already, so you don't miss other great content that we share :)

[@hygri]

Great lecture, thank you. All of this was new to me, from the development of PE coax, Sterba arrays, the Squegging oscillator... really fascinating. I'll be off now to my research rabbit hole for some time! 73 de M0MZF

[@T0NY66]

Wow, that coax. Very interesting. thank you.