"Hearing" Radar?

[Klavs81]

In numerous sources, Allied pilots make reference to the "drone" of German radar feedback in their headsets.

I don't suppose there'd be a soundclip out there where we could actually hear that, is there?

This one has been driving me nuts for some time, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

-K

 

[PStickney]

In numerous sources, Allied pilots make reference to the "drone" of German radar feedback in their headsets.

I don't suppose there'd be a soundclip out there where we could actually hear that, is there?

This one has been driving me nuts for some time, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

-K

I don't know of any sound clips, but I've heard plenty of radars.
Basically, it's like this:
If the radar frequency, or some hormonic of it, is within rhe receiver's bandwidh, you'll
hear a tone on the receiver as the radar beam sweeps past the receiver. (Your airplane, in this case)
It can sound something like an Oboe or Saxophone, or other similar instrument.
The pitch of the tone is proportional to the Pulse Repetition Frequency of the radar. High PRFs are
higher pitched. The length of time that the tone persists is a product of the Beam Width and the
sweep rate. The amount of time between recurrences of the tone is proportional to the sweep rate.
This information, and a little bit of processing, can tell you the sweep rate, the beam width, the
Pulse Repetition Frewuency, and hte Pulse width, allowing an analyst to determine
the type of radar, and the best cases for Max Range, Range Resolution, and Angular Resolution.

In the case of an Allied fighter pilot over Germany, you'd be hearing a 1/2 to 1 second oboe note
every 6-10 seconds as the air search radar beams swept past the airplane.
A higher piched tone, either appearing as a rapid series of short beeps, or as a continuous tone,
would be heard as GCI radars or AAA Fire Control radars went active.

--
Pete Stickney

 

[Klavs81]

Many thanks, PStickney, this is exactly the information I needed!

 

[Kurfürst]

Pretty impressive Pete!

On the related note, I have read from some Hungarian fighter aces that they heard on their radio sets a BZZ- BZZZZZ-BZZZ sound when there were Mustang nearby, which they attributed to their firing their guns.

I wonder though if this was due to the warning tail radar sets fitting to Mustangs late in the war, maybe it interfered with the FuG 16?

 

[BombTaxi]

I never realised P-51s carried a rear warning radar, was this similar to the RAF's 'Monica' sets, and if so was it something that suitable German equipment could track?

 

[Kurfürst]

A couple of small aerials in the rear fuselage, almost unnoticable like an IFF one.. but unfortunately I dont have my sources handy!