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Latest additions

"Latest Additions" lists the and items that are less than one month old. As always, the Site History can be found at the foot of this page.

25/01/2009 Letter complaining about the BBC refusal to air a DEC appeal for funds to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza sent to the BBC

Editorial
25/01/09

For only the second time in the life of The Radar Pages I have been tempted to use the web site to comment on an issue. My wife and I have been following recent events in the middle ease with growing horror as the scale of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza became clear. The refusal by the BBC to air a DEC appeal for funds to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza moved us to post this complaint:

BBC Complaints
PO Box 1922
Glasgow
G2 3WT

25th January 2009

Dear Sirs,

My wife and I wish to register our protest at your decision not to air an appeal by the DEC to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Gaza.

Following the recent Israeli incursions into Gaza that region is desperately in need of humanitarian relief. Thousands of people have no homes, access to fresh water or medical aid. Many homes, food distribution centres, clinics and hospitals have been destroyed or rendered unusable, the infrastructure has been shattered.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Member Agencies are:

These organisations have proven track records in providing humanitarian aid to all that need it, regardless of their religious or political beliefs. You will note that the membership includes Christian, Islamic and secular organisations.

The issue is not of being seen to support one side or another, indeed by not broadcasting the appeal you leave yourselves wide open to accusations of pro Israeli behaviour. The issue is about whether the BBC is prepared to use its huge resources in order to help to bring humanitarian relief to people who are in desperate need.

Yours faithfully

Dick and Sandra Barrett

Editorial
(updated 17/7/2003)

During the lifetime of The Radar Pages I have studiously avoided political comment on this web site, however I feel bound now to comment on recent events in the Middle East.

The war against Saddam Hussein is winding down; our soldiers, sailors and airman are coming home to their loved ones. Our losses, thank God, have been light and our thoughts and prayers are with those families for whom there will be no celebrations. We should also remember that many Iraqi people were killed and injured, military and civilian. They didn't want a war any more than we did, they too did their duty as they saw it.

It may be too early to reflect on the recent conflict, however history has a habit of judging our actions. I have a nagging suspicion that the UK and the USA will be judged by history and found wanting. Prior to the commencement of hostilities much emphasis was put on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, this despite the UN inspectors failing to find any hard evidence of their existence. Even now that western forces can roam throughout Iraq with impunity the UK and the USA have failed to provide conclusive proof that their invasion was justified on these grounds.

Similarly, much was made of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule and his crimes against his own people, yet sadly there are several heads of state of whom similar claims can be made and the probabilities of action being taken against them seem very small. Many countries now posses weapons of mass destruction. Does this mean that possession of these weapons makes them a real and present threat to the west?

So if the recent conflict was not about weapons of mass destruction or tyrannical rule what was it about? Can it be that all that differentiates Iraq from other countries are its oil reserves?

Given that the Arab world judges the west by its actions towards them it should come as no surprise to the west when it discovers the level of hatred leveled against them by many Arab people. Even a cursory glance at the West's involvement in the Middle East over the last century or so will reveal a catalogue of interference, subversion and downright colonialism. Consider post war western involvement in Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, in fact any country in the Middle East for that matter.

The Iraqi domestic infrastructure was totally destroyed in the conflict and very little has been done to replace it. Hospitals have next to no facilities or medicines, there are few doctors able to practice effectively, education is non-existent, looting is rife and law and order have broken down. British and US personnel are still being injured or killed on an almost daily basis in a highly questionable political cause. In an unholy political alliance that has put the future of the Anglo-US relationship in great peril, George Bush, the representative of American right wing extremism, and Tony Blair, the leader of the British Labour Party (a socialist party that has abandoned the left and moved into the right of centre politically) have both conspired to emphasize the rights of their governments to wage war on Saddam Hussein and to build a new Iraq; they have however failed in their obligations to the people of Iraq, the wider Arab world and indeed the whole world in general.

All wars are political in the final analysis; in the service of our countries we carry out our duties to the best of our abilities. It is the duty of our governments to ensure that our blood is not poured forth lightly.

Was the war against Saddam Hussein right and just? I for one have serious doubts.

---

Chain Home tower demolished
(October 2000) 

A Suffolk landmark has been demolished after standing tall and proud for many years, a highly visible symbol of British engineering excellence and ingenuity. The 350 foot tower at the former R.A.F. radar station at Bawdsey was toppled recently after standing for more than 60 years.

The tower was one of four similar towers at Bawdsey that supported the transmitter antennae for the "Chain Home" radar system. This tower is of particular historic importance because it was a part of the worlds first operational air defence radar system, becoming operational on 24 September 1937.

Bawdsey Manor was purchased by the Air Ministry in 1936 and Robert Watson Watt moved his research team there from Orfordness to developed his radar theories. The research team put in a supreme effort, ensuring that Britain had a credible air defence system in operation before the outbreak of the Second World War. More pictures are posted here. A detailed description of the Chain Home system is available here.

Site History

Date of last major upload: 25/04/2008

July  2007	Minor updates and error corrections.	April  2008	Commenced updating web site. Radar, Service and Cold War Links pages updated. Major Gregory C. Clark's paper "Deflating British Radar Myths Of World War II" added to the Downloads page.
Nov 2005	New: Added John V. Diamond's story to the Oral History section. Updated: various links, corrected errors on several pages.	Sept  2006	Guest Book closed due to their indifference and lack of effort to stop malicious postings. Minor updates to various pages.
June 2005	Updated: various links, corrected errors on several pages.	Aug 2005	Updated: various links, corrected errors on several pages.
April 2004	Added: New humour items to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....". Updated: The News, the Type 85 page, added pages to the Radar Theory section, various links.	April 2005	Updated: various links, corrected errors on several pages, tidied up some html and Java components.
Jan 2004	Added some new CV's to the Employment section, updated some of my pages in the Oral History section.	Feb 2004	Added: New humour items to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....".
Sept 2003	Added: more Type 7 information and new Type 15 pages to the ROTOR pages, new humour items to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....",	Oct 2003	Added: new humour items to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....". Disabled the guest book feature from TheGuestBook.com that has run since Dec 2002 when they altered the terms of service at short notice and demanded payment.
July 2003	Updated: various links, added a quotation to the editorial, Radar, Service and Cold War Links pages.	Aug 2003	Added: five new photographs to the Martello section. Updated: several links and some of the text on the Reference sources page.
May 2003	Updated: various links, editorial	June 2003	Added: New section called Employment for online CV's. Updated: Radar, Service and Cold War Links pages, new captions for the contest.
Jan 2003	Added: new humour items to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....". Corrected: Several faulty links and deleted erroneous Type 17 page in Rotor section. Updated: the Type 80 page, the HF200 page, new photo on Type 13 page,	Feb  2003	Added: new humour items to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....", new Marconi S259 Radar page, new AN/TPS-34 page, new UPS-1 page. Updated:added technical data to HF 200 page, technical data to AN/FPS-6 pages, technical data to Type 80 page, added photographs to Type 82 section
Nov 2002	Added: new FAQ page, new pages to Bloodhound section, a new humour item to "Gentlemen, that reminds me.....". Commenced: a new section entitled Tactical, Air Traffic Control and airfield radars. Corrected: faulty links, restored damaged Oboe page in the Navaids section. Updated: Radar, Cold War and Service link pages, my apprentice training page in the Oral History section, AN/FPS-3 page.	Dec 2002	Updated: Tactical, Air Traffic Control and airfield radars and Navaids sections, miscellaneous minor updates and corrections throughout the site.
July  2002	Added: Precision Approach Radar (PAR) added to the Navaids section, News item about the RAF Leuchars Airshow 2002. c the References page	August 2002	Added: Site Map. Updated:  chapter 10 and chapter 11 of AP3302 part 3 section 2 in the Radar Theory section Completed, various minor updates completed.
May 2002	Added: Gee-H AMES 100,  Consol Tacan and Decca to the Navaids section, a new humour item in Gentlemen, that reminds me..., Amazon Associate schemes set up for purchase of books listed in the Reference section. Updatated: Contact Addresses, Downloads	June  2002	Added: News item about the Air Defence Radar Museum, Commenced Theory Section AP3302 pt3 section 2 chapter 10 , fixed some browser formatting problems in the Theory section,
March 2002	New section, Navaids added, added Gee, Oboe, Robert Hanbury Brown's obituary from the Guardian newspaper, article about the life of a Magnetron. Updated Dick Barrett's Oral History pages, several new humour items in Gentlemen, that reminds me...,	April 2002	Added: Colin Gompertz Oral History item, Loran navaid, updated Radar and Cold War Links pages and Help Wanted page, various minor updates.
Jan 2002	Added: Site statistics pages, continued adding pages from AP3302 Pt.3, several new humour items in Gentlemen, that reminds me..., revised the "Contact the Editor" page (formerly called "Contact the radar tech") and added a new on-line feedback form.	Feb 2002	Added: new Bloodhound pages, a short article on Alec Reeves, the inventor of the OBOE blind bombing system, Updated: Radar and Cold War Links, Linesman Passive Defence system
Nov 2001	Added: Two photographs of a Type 93 radar.	Dec 2001	Added: experimental navigation script to the front page
Sept 2001	Added: Request from John McGhie regarding radar and cancer. Updated: Brian Mulvana has updated his excellent Radar Type Numbers data base	Oct 2001	Added: Article about the RAF Locking Computer Lab. NTL ceased our service, commenced moving files to new web site
June 2001	Added: a few links to Radar and Cold War links, a few humour items to Gentlemen, that reminds me..., a special 219 GR Craft Apps Reunion page, continued to build The Theory Pages,	July 2001	Added: Guestbook archive, a Caption Contest page, Herbert Hall's recollections to the Oral History section, an item featuring the VT98 valve used in CHL, a few new humour items to Gentlemen, that reminds me...,
April 2001	Added: A circuit diagram for a Gee transmitter, new pages for Type 15 and Type 60/61 GCI radars and a "Happidrome" page. Published my new PGP Public Key, Theory Section AP3302 pt3 section 2 chapter 2, chapter 3 and chapter 4 completed.	May 2001	Added an article about the Martello radar, an article about Guglielmo Marconi Updates to various pages, added more humour, completed AP3302 pt.3 section 2 chapter 5 in the Theory section.
Feb 2001	Added: Article by M.J.B.Scanlan, Continued with the Radar Type Numbers section and AP3302 pt.3 in the Theory section.	March 2001	Added: an article entitled "Post Office Equipment for Radar" to the Miscellanea section, a second article by M.J.B.Scanlan, "Forty years of Marconi Radar 1946 to 1986" Updated: Radar, Cold War and Service links and Contacts, CHEL,
Dec 2000	Added: "Help Wanted!" page, a Guest Book, new Watson-Watt article and a "How Its Done" page. Updated: CHL, CHEL, GCI. Some browser compatibility problems fixed, started to move from fixed 800x600 width to browser width format.	Jan 2001	Added: two articles about Guglielmo Marconi, more Humour, a new section called Miscellanea that contains Air Defence items that do not fit the other categories, a new section called Radar Type Numbers that lists all the R.A.F radar types with notes on their characteristics, a Webring
Oct 2000	Added: Type 11 page, more Linesman photo's, Bawdsey tower demolition pictures, more humour (courtesy of Radomes, Inc.), Theory Section AP3302 pt.3 sec 1 completed.	Nov 2000	Added: more humour, Chain Home Low (CHL), Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL), Started Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI), The Post War Years. Theory Section AP3302 pt3 sec 2 started.
Aug 2000	Type 7 , Type 14 pages updated	Sept 2000	Links page updated, Type 13 page added, various page updates
May 2000	Commenced building site.	July 2000	"Chain Home" system article completed. Glossary expanded, Added "The Radar News" , "Radar personalities".