A worn and weary T82 console! Essentially 'green', the 'armrests' have had the paint worn away over the years! Certainly a "No Smoking" environment, so no nicotine involved!!
Considering the time I spent working these, I find myself struggling slightly to recall what all the bits actually were! I'll try and decode, starting top left and going clockwise:
- 40-way landline comms. Up for Assistant, down for Controller, and all capable to being 'patched' to anyone else on the panel. Also capable of multiple patching when required. The top 2 rows are internal, the lower two rows external.
- T82 Radar display. Many consoles had a 2nd display mounted above, being fed from the T84/T85 at a friendly local GCI station via microwave links.
- Pale green 'shiny box' is, IIRC, the SSR (Mode 3) control panel that determined what codes were displayed?
- Below that is the joystick, which moved a circle on the display. That was then used to select 'store dots' over the radar return, which the Tracker then controlled to follow your aircraft. The dots displayed small numbers on-screen, enabling other controllers to identify who was controlling that a/c and then coordinate with you.
- Behind the joystick is the Height meter - on request your Height Finder Operator would get a reading of height from the stacked beam antenna.
- Across the front are the R/T frequency switches. Usually just one in use per controller, plus 243.00 [the black switch?], but one could select other controllers' frequencies to monitor proceedings. Frequency distribution was also managed by a massive 'spaghetti junction box' at the back of the room.
- The bank of 8 switches above that are, IIRC, the store dot selectors, which you allocated to each aircraft that came under control. Usually only 4 dots per console [the A or B position] - this shows #6 still available for use.
- Tucked away at the back, at desk-top level, is the big black rotary switch for radar beam selection. To minimise ground clutter, one could use 'high beams' if operating a/c above FL245. The other switches there are lost to memory fade!
- Finally, the small light green box below the landline panel is an interface to the electronic Tote Board, where the Assistant would dial in the height of each store dot [and also 'climbing/descending' indicators if appropriate] to facilitate inter-console coordination. So the store dot number on the radar display would be correlated with the Tote indication of height, and the relevant controller contacted by landline.
Or something like that!
It was all much prettier in the semi-darkness, of course, with loads of little lights glowing ... and the wear and tear being invisible
More pictures here >>>
https://atchistory.wordpress.com/201...ru-raf-watton/
And some training notes here, which I wish I'd found/read before posting the above!
https://atchistory.files.wordpress.c...lme-part-1.pdf
Pages 8-18 may explain a bit more, or utterly confuse you!