Originally Posted by
JD-EE
Graybeard and ChristianJ - thanks for reminding me of the slot antenna. In '68 they were still under development as dielectric loaded slots by one of my professors at Univ of Mich. I'd had the impression they were basically designed for VHF at the time.
I first came across slot antennas in my early 'radar' days, and that was SHF, and far earlier than '68.
Does anybody know of a good picture of the antenna unmounted from the aircraft? I'm curious precisely how it is constructed. It's not what I grew up calling a slot antenna. But, with the one picture I have of it, there's not a much better short name for it.
I'd be interested too, both in seeing your picture, and any others that somebody might have.
ChristianJ, those gray patches don't look like the diagrams I have managed to find.
They were more green than gray... I doubt that the slots were 'dielectric loaded'. I think you're just looking at the honeycomb fibreglass covers of the two "sawcut" cavities.
This all being slightly irrelevant to AF447, maybe us 'radio geeks' should open a separate Tech Log thread about HF aerials on airliners?