PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - What radars
Thread: What radars
View Single Post
Old 30th Sep 2009, 22:20
  #20 (permalink)  
Regular Cappuccino
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: 20D DTY
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Bedford Thurleigh late 1970s had a 232 and what I was told was the only 664 (a sort of derivative of the 264?). Needless to say they had a PAR of some description too, but being only a humble Cranfield Radar wallah, I wasn't allowed near that!
As has been said already, the blips on the 232 were enormous, so when you were about to run out of radar separation a quick flick of the switch to the 664 and hey presto! bags of separation again!

EMA started with a 424 but by sometime in the 1970s had an AR1. The 424 was upgraded with solid state guts and a Kelvin Hughes display, and remained in use for half-milers well into the 1980s. The guts were eventually sold to cambridge, while the head (minus 'twanged' rubber band) languished in the MT car park - the NOTAM still said it was simply ' u/s'....
Eventually it was formally withdrawn and now adorns the Aeropark.
The AR1 was replaced sometime around 1990 (can't recall exactly when) by a Marconi 511, initially with Cossor cursive displays and subsequently with the first CAA approved colour raster scan displays in the UK.
RC
Regular Cappuccino is offline