[Milsurplus] Robert Watson-Watt and British Radar, The Wizard War

[Hubert Miller]

If I fact this is what was stated at a postwar conference, the statement was not quite reliable. Amateur radio in Germany did go on well into the war. I recall a 'Radio Bygones'
( U.K. ) article that addressed this some years back. I think rather than being banned, it finally just died out due to dire circumstances rather than some ban. I also suggest that
Hitler likely had no knowledge of amateur radio and not every minute ruling of the German regime was managed by Hitler himself. I read somewhere that Hitler had ordained
the change from the gothic-style Fraktur font to the standard western modern font; I suspect this is also not quite right; in fact, I suspect if he had in fact opined on it, maybe 
he would have preferred the older Germanic font. As we know however, the word "Hitler" spices up book covers and, maybe, stories.  Now regarding the lack of training of 
German technicians, I can understand this. Radio - electronics knowledge, as with other technical knowledge, seems to have been less widely distributed in Central Europe than
the U.S.A., even given that the U.S. was just recovering from its own years of depression. You certainly don't see the wide proliferation of large, profusely illustrated magazines
such as Short Wave Craft, Radio News, All Band DXer, and numerous other titles I can't recall at this instant. Many of the German civilian radios of this time were still 3 - 4
tube regeneratives, I mean right up to start of war in 1940, whereas U.S. had  a lot more of the substantial superhet table radios and consoles. I have mentioned here before 
how surprised I was with how inadequate most German military radio manuals seem, that for the most part, they could have taken serious lessons from, say, Hallicrafters. 
I  am sure the best German technicians were very, very good, but I'd say on average, the German military radio tech had a sketchier technical education than the U.S. and possibly
the same applies for the U.K.  
-Hue 

>Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Robert Watson-Watt and British Radar, The Wizard War

I was on a cruise ship for most of March and read "Between Silk and Cyanide : A Codemaker's War, 1941 - 1945" by Leo Marks... Now about finished with "The Wizard War : British Scientific Intelligence, 1939-1945" by R. V. Jones. Both excellent reads. An interesting (and relevant) note referred to the capture of the first Würzburg Radar. The allies commented on the excellent engineering and craftsmanship that went into the equipment but were equally dismayed at the lack of technical training of the operators. At a post war conference it was stated that the equipment had to be well built and easy to operate because Hitler had banned amateur radio and the military had a hard time finding recruits with even a basic knowledge of radio.
 
Ron K3PID