RADIOLOCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25802, 24 March 1945, Page 8

RADIOLOCATION

VITAL PART IN THE WAR FUTURE OF TELEVISION (0.c.) ( LONDON, Feb. 22. The important contribution made to Great Britain’s war effort by radiolocation and the country's plans for television after the war were describea in London recently by Mr F. B. Duncan, chairman of the Radio Industries Council. , During the Battle of Britain, said Mr Duncan, radiolocation enabled men on the ground to detect and plot the course of enemy aircraft from miles away. The enemy suddenly realised that the British nation was one scientific jump ahead of him. ’ The Battle of Matapan From this first result scientists, designers and technicians invented and perfected new gear. Every anti-air-craft gun-site and every searchlight in this country was equipped with special type radiolocation which reduced the human error in sighting. New findings enabled Britisn naval' vessels to be the, first in which deadaccurate gun-laying was assisted by radio beam. In 1941 an Italian fleet off Matapan was blasted from the sea by the guns of British cruisers and destroyers aided by radiolocation in pitch darkness. Last year the Scharnhorsl, the proud boast of Germany, was sunk at an incredible range of many miles by battleship gun-fire dead on the target, with the help of still more advanced radiolocation gear. . By the second year of war night fighters were led by a ground control to enemy planes. The destruction of the night bomber was made possible largely due to this and the uncanny searchlight accuracy. As attacks grew by further development bomber planes were directed unerringly to their tar-gSD-Day saw the most pregnant development of all when new and special types or radiolocation enabled our airborne and parachute troops to be accurately concentrated by radio on minute landing areas in darkness. So vast were the forces involved that no other means could have kept them in contact and prevented the dispersal of such large forces. To-day aerial bombardment is assured by the recently disclosed “ black box ” which gives the bomberpilot an ever-changing picture of the earthly scene below him, so that neither darkness, nor clouds, nor fog obscures the target from him. Secret Device “Probably,” said Mr Duncan, “the best single contribution from British engineers will ultimately prove to be an item to which we cannot now give a name. It is a vacuum device, something infinitely more than a valve, of such delicacy and complexity that only the most skilful hands can make. it. “This is the heart of many of the most advanced types of radiolocation gear, permitting effective operation on very high frequencies. After the war it will be directly applied to automatic and infallible anti-collision devices, which will ensure the safety of shins and planes all over the world’s traffic routes. t “ I could continue to tell you of the many applications of radio gear to tanks, shins, aeroplanes, which amount to stupendous totals, but it would still be impossible for me to give you a proper picture of the complicated technical and engineering work that has been done in our valve component and equipment factories. “But when it is fully told it will stand as a lasting monument to the British radio industry that its technicians and its workpeople, by the product of their intensive work and tremendous achievements, have helped greatly to equip the forces of the United Nations. Too little is known of this significant contribution to freedom’s cause, nor is it widely enough known that much of this new development was built upon the foundations of the ordinary domestic radio industry of Great Britain.” Television for AH Dealing with the future of television, Mr Duncan continued: “The first post-war receiving sets will be similar to those of 1939, the design aiyl quality ofl which had already reached a very high standard. Solid developments and improvements in technique there undoubtedly have been during the war which will lead to better transmission and reception, especially on short waves, and to greater reliability. They will also provide freedom of listening to radio broadcasting emanating from any part of the world. “ With our ,greatly-increased resources we anticipate an immediate expansion of work in the field of television. The Radio Industry Council has made its submission to the Television Committee under Lord Hankey, and our submission was for an immediate restarting of the pre-war system of television as soon as the German war shall end, this restarting to be not only a station in London, but an immediate commencement of work upon the linking up of the whole country by a network of radio links which, in fact, we had already envisaged before the war began. “Before the war we led the world in television. We must continue to lead. This time, however, we believe that it should be presented to the world as something which is a practical system with nation-wide coverage. Such a system can be set up at no very great expense if it is compared with the eventual increase in employment and the propaganda value that would be given to our efforts in the eventual export of both transmission arid receiving gear. “The industry aims to provide good television sets for the largest possible., public. The joy and pleasure that' will be brought into millions of homes by television is so great that it would be difficult to over-estimate. It will one day be just as unthinkable to be without television in a home as it would be to-day to be without a window.

“ I am not going to suggest a price at which the first sets may be sold. The public must not expect that the price of post-war television will be any lower than 1939 in the early stages. Our object is to serve everyone, and it is elemenatry economics that a downward price curve follows an upward demand curve.”

Aids for Transport

Mr Duncan also forecast “ big future possibilities in the use of electronic technique in a very wide field.”

“Already,” he said, “there is much communication gear to be supplied for all forms of transport. Some new applications of this new-found skill will enable the safe navigation of ships and planes in all kinds of weather. Railway traffic will be controlled by radio so that minute-by-minute communication can be maintained between driver and guard, and between train crews and track-side signal cabins. A whole new industry is developing as more is learned about the technique of radio frequency heating which will have a vast number of applications in many manufacturing processes, and will bring many benefits.”