Alamotex Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Intro to Alamotex I have lived in Canada for the past 55 years,having emigrated from the UK after working for Shell Petroleum,following my National Service in the Gunners. Service in a British Royal Artillery HAA Regt gave me my first exposure to AA radar and in particular to the Canadian built MZPI, aka AA Radar No 4 Mk 6. Some 50 odd years later I started a recreational research project looking into the role played by Canada in the development of centrimetric wavelength radar,and in particular the WW II project which resulted in the production of the GL III © AA gunlaying Radar...the very first centimetric wavelength mobile gunlaying radar to go into mass production during WW II. It was only in July 2006, that two main components of GL III © system were discovered in the open storage yard of the RCA Museum in Shilo, Manitoba, Canada. Many of the original 1940's era electronic components are still in place. These units are almost certainly the only examples of the 667 originally manufactured in Canada,(1941-5) that still exist. Funds are lacking for proper care, preservation and partial restoration. I, with the support of a few army radar enthusiasts are trying to arouse interest in getting some kind of preservation initiative off the ground. Along with this interest, pre NIKE air defence weaponry is in the mix. Thats about it. Cheers Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Hello, blimey a centipedal wavelength moblile gunlaying radar?? I thought what I did was specialist? Im sure Clive might chip in with something. You still there Clive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Brian. I have quite a lot of EMERs on the No.4 Mk 7 but I don't know how it differs from Mk 6. I am glad there are at least over there some early centimetric enthusiasts. I started fiddling around with X-band kylstrons in 1972. I also worked on (in the amateur sense) 70cm, 23cm, 13cm, 9cm, 5cm, 1.5cm, 1.2cm. Eventually I was running CW/SSB on 10Ghz. My main interest was tropo scatter. But there was some interest from others on low power devices, kylstrons then Gunns going to sea level & doing super-refraction. It is amazing to see the wartime research on bands down to X across the Irish Sea from the Isle of Man. One can well see how the radar installed on a small boat or submarine had a greater over the horizon range than a battleship! I dropped out of amateur radio about 20 years ago. I was using homebuilt gear with much waveguide feeding TWTs. However things have “moved on” apparently. Virtually no gear is home built now, most people are using professionally built solid state gear producing several watts on 10Ghz. These rigs cost several thousand pounds & when they pack up, they are sent back to Germany for repair. I have accumulated a lot of WG16 & WG14 with components including kylstrons, power meters, slotted lines, wavemeters etc. But nobody seems interested in anything like that any more! Sickening when I had paid so much for stuff that I dismantled from radar systems in scrapyards! Eventually I'll sell it for scrap, but that somehow seems immoral! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Welcome Brian, glad you could make it past the dogs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Hi and welcome, do not understand this at all but all sounds fun. :sweat: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Coe Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 I started fiddling around with X-band kylstrons in 1972. Oo-er Matron! or should that be Beam me up, Scottie? Either way: I'm confused :confused: Anyroadup - welcome to the forum Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamotex Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Hi Clive thanks for the welcome. Judging from the number of posts you fellows have racked up, there must be very little new to say on this topic. I am more of a military history buff than a valves and resistors guy. My EMERS on the Mk 6 and Mk 7 are restricted to a few data summary sheets. The No 4 Mk 6 was developed and exclusively manufactured in Canada ,whereas the No 4 Mk 7 was a British version produced many years later . My Mk 6 EMER was issued Sept 1947 and the Mk 7 EMER was issued March 1960. One has to assume that technical advances were incorporated into the Mk 7. Certainly the slotted waveguide found on the original Mk 6 was not used on the Mk 7 .The EMER refers to a Durestos cheese and reflector. A similar antenna array was fitted to the final version of the Mk 6, better known by its NATO designation AN/MPS-501B. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Welcom to the forum. Don't let'em grind you down. The electronic kit from WW2 is neglected area of restoration, preservation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamotex Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 You are so right Tony...just tell that to the bureaucrats who oversee military museums in Canada!! .Can you suggest best forum on HMVF to give max exposure to WW II radar ? Much of the WW II kit was snapped up in the post war years and ended up in home made TV's and in ham radio shacks. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Well we , that is Goldbeach Group are currently restoring a WS10 trailer. Be intrested in any info you might have on the Golden Arrow system. As for Forum sections, as yoi might have gathered everything rambles, bits and pices of info come in from all odd angles. Mind you with the Naval Section demanding an extension of the Club House duck pond and the runway being extended we will soon need a RADAR set up for trafic control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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