Hey Sleevey -
If you had UHF in your Scimitar, you probably had Violet Picture - The standard Collins UHF AN/ARC-52 controller (the bit of the wireless that pilots were allowed to fiddle with) had a switch which read from L to R -
"OFF - T/R - TR+G - ADF" When selected to
ADF it activated a left right thingy somewhere in the cockpit that allowed a crude form of D/F on the UHF comms frequency in use. If it was centred, the aircraft was assumed to be pointing directly at (or directly away from) the transmitter you were trying to D/F.
If you'd lost the nav plot it was useful for finding Mother (or your tanker) unless they were in radio silence.
I don't know what D/F facility the Yanks had attached to their ARC-52. I assume us Brits were not permitted to fiddle with the basic radio kit and therefore our controllers looked exactly the same as theirs. However Plessey was allowed to make the Brit D/F component, called Violet Picture. It might have been a standalone kit attachable to any radio fit. In our case the relevant aerials were a pair of UHF blades side by side under the forward fuselage. In the case of the Buccaneer, in front of the nosewheel, and for the Scimitar, behind the nosewheel door.
The cockpit display for the Buccaneer used the L/R cross wire on the OR946 attitude indicator. No knowledge of the cockpit fit for the Scimitar, Vixen or Gannet but I imagine something suitable was used.
You did need to look in the cockpit. Didn't think you Day Fighter blokes did much of that.
LFH