[Milsurplus] item of interest - UK vs. USA VHF/UHF

[William Donzelli]

> I think US development and deployment of equipment that operated above the range we today call VHF was state of the art for the last few years of WWII.  Here's a few randomly selected, but admittedly odd-ball, examples:
>
> The mostly undeployed US Mark IV 450 mc IFF (SCR-515, ABA) was supposedly a better IFF system than the Mark III (SCR-595, ABK) and Mark III/G-band (SCR-695, ABF) 180 mc British-inspired systems that were in general use throughout the entire duration of the war in all theaters.

Mk IV IFF was around very early in World War 2.

> The AYD, AN/ARN-1, and *AN/APN-1 altimeters, and the AN/APS-13 tail warning radars operated around 450 mc.  Once again, I don't know if there were British equivalents.

SCR-718 would be the best of them, and arguably the best piece of
electronics to come out of the whole war. It had a service life of 40
odd years, and has a rare honor of being one of the very few wartime
radar sets that was still in production in the 1950s (bonus points to
anyone that can name the other).

> I think that the Germans are sometimes given too much credit for techological innovation.  I would give them credit in areas that are essentially mechanical in nature.  In electrical/electronic technology, the UK and the US clearly outclassed the Germans in most areas.

Yes, I would agree for most of the radio and radar sets. Their VHF
ground radar sets, however, were very good. Elegant machines.

--
Will