[Milsurplus] ARC-5 look alike - APA-48

[Mike Hanz]

Hue Miller wrote:

>Mike, did the F6F carry a radar besides the APA-48 and search receiver?
>Man, what a load of equipment, and seems like a whole lot for the pilot to
>be doing!
>
>I wonder what enemy radars this was intended to chase.
>Didn't the German radars, including the aircraft, operate in
>the 400 MHz range? I think Japanese aircraft radars operated
>around 120 MHz - i have a list of their radar "somewhere".
>-Hue
>

I was sort of wondering about that, too.  Apparently targeted against 
Japanese radars.  The APA-48 was only intended for long range 
acquisition, with the night fighter pilot switching to his "close-in" 
radar when he got within its range, so the F6F should have had a night 
fighting radar as well.  Easier to carry on all the activities required 
in a Black Widow since the pilot wasn't the only one involved in working 
the platform, but an F6F?  Sheesh... 

Typical Japanese airborne radar of the time was either the Taki-1 for 
Army aircraft and the Mark VI for Navy.  Both used ~150MHz, 5-10kW peak 
power.

BTW, I erred in an assumption of phase detection used in the APA-48 
(first time this century... :-) )  It was actually less 
sophisticated...using level comparison between the two antennas.  I 
posted a last page to the same web link that explains how it works.  
Pretty neat and simple.

73,
Mike