Sparrows Nest, Whapload Road, Lowestoft, NR32 1XG  Tel 01502 561963 

Update Jan 2012

 

 

 

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 Wheelhouse Project - Radar

The necessities of WW2 marked the beginnings of marine radar as we know it today. That it began within the Royal Navy is not surprising and fortunately its origins can be traced from fine books like 'Radar at Sea' by Derek Howse. The radar shown in our wheelhouse project is a Decca 125, its specification typical of the 1970/80 period.

The leading manufacturers in the UK producing equipment rugged enough for the fishing industry were Decca, Kelvin Hughes and Marconi. By  1960  there was an awareness of what Radar could do for inshore fishermen and yachtsmen and  equipment with lower power, weight and cost arrived in its own specialised market place.

Historic Radar Pictures from Lowestoft College

The historic radar photograph top left, was taken at the Navigation Dept in the 1970s, when they had an out-station above the Coastguard lookout that was sited about 200 metres south of Lowestoft Ness. A reflex camera with a between lens shutter was used to expose the film for one complete revolution of the display. The radar was a Kelvin Hughes type 17 with a 6ft (1.8m) scanner and the display set to the half mile range, see display left.

The letter H marks the pier heads (top pic) and the letters SC mark sea clutter created by the wind opposing the incoming tide rounding the Ness. The four little rectangles protruding from the beach above the centre are breakwaters. At the top right there are two small echoes from the buoys that mark the drainage outfall. The dock outlines in the outer harbour are shown very clearly. This radar had a very good reliability record and was selected by the RNLI for a 1960's series of 44ft (13.2m) lifeboats built locally at Brooke Marine.

The picture mid-left, was taken from the Navigation Dept's Decca Radar at the main Lowestoft College building in St Peters Street. The scanner is about 50 metres above ground level and the display was set to the 6 mile range, although the photograph has been masked to show the area of interest. The beach area is not visible because it is screened by the cliff, but the pier heads can be seen. To the east at about 3 miles lies the Holm Sands where there is a visible line of breakers.

 

Radar today is very different, slick microprocessor based controls, flat and rectangular colour displays and banks of semiconductor memory instead of orange long persistence round CRT screens are now the norm. These pictures go back to the era when the operator peered into a rubber hood to exclude ambient light, it was difficult for the eyes to adjust on a sunny day!