HF on Airfields

Leuchars was closed at that date and there was no information listed.

Sorry should have said "that date" was 1975 !

Thats intersting as in my time in the RAF when a unit was closed for re-surfacing they still listed all the navaids.

I've gingerly re opend the book as it is beginning to fall apart now, and re checked, it lists for Leuchars on that date LARS frequency and NDB info and very little else.
So yes there is info listed.

I do have some of the "little red books" from the 80's I'll have to get them down and look to see if there are many eureka sites still listed.

To be honest I'm quite surprised that they were still in use in the mid 80's

It just goes to show !

Ill be honest when I got to Leuchars Id never heard of Eureka, I think it was binned not long after I got there. Leuchars had an annoying habit of hanging on to things long after they were needed!

I've had a quick look through the red books.

By 1982 Cranwell, Linton, Lossie, Shawbury and Valley were listed as still having eureka.
I thought I had books for the mid 80's but if I have I can't find them.

Shawbury was still lising eureka in August 1989 but had apparently dropped it by September that year.

Back to the alledged HF antenna location.
Trawling though some of the postings on this forum one member states that they had HF at Watton for the Lincolns in 1963.
As Watton had Canberras I had another look on GE as well as looking at Binbrook,Upwood and Bassingbourne but nothing shows up, which is not surprising really I suppose.
But in saying that I believe that Upwood had a remote radio site at Oldhurst that was shared with other airfields and that does show signs of possibly having one of those circular bases.

Who knows, I'm probably way out !!

Perhaps if someone pays another visit to WR they could look to see if this so called antenna base still survives and give a report on it, Hint,hint .
( bit too far away for me, now Wethersfield or Debden, that's another matter)

698

canberra;93027 wrote:

Jock, in my experience most RAF airfields (and I was in 78-01) did NOT have HF comms, and the aircraft on the squadron I was on didnt have HF. You mention kit that was to be tested every six months, that sounds to me like good old HDRCN aka Home Defence Radio Communication Network. Yes this was HF , but it was a wartime last ditch comms system and yes it was tested every six months.

Berra, tho I wasn't in the mob as long as yourself, I do know the difference between UK FRT618 and HDRCN. When I can be bothered to get up in the loft I.ll dig out my old couse notes and start this discussion again under a new more relevant thread. Until such time, in the interest of forum harmony, ttfn.

I wonder if the Eureka at Leuchars just wasnt used

Don't know about that but I've done a bit of Googling and can't find much about dates other than wiki.

"A Mark X version of both Rebecca and Eureka that worked in the 1000 MHz range. This was developed for use during in-flight refueling, enabling the receiving aircraft to locate the tanker while maintaining radio silence. The Tanker aircraft carried the Eureka and the receiving aircraft carried the Rebecca. This equipment was trialled by 214 Squadron in the early 1960s."

Late to the show here, but I spotted this whilst looking for somethng else..

Airfields with HF.
first off, let me say that i'm ex TG3 with 14 years, 8 months on airfeilds and 4 months on a mountain.

This depends if you're talking about Airfields equippped with HF for communications to aircraft with HF, or the standard HF which every airfiled held as 'standby to line' - In other words HF comms to other military estabishments if telephone lines were not available for some reason. (supply your own reason)

The standard 'SBTL' HF transmitter in the 70s was a legacy 1kw Racal 1509 valve based TX - The antenna type escapes me, as around 40 years ago they were being replaced by another 1kw solid state RACAL 1Kw with synthesised aut tuner - That might be a 618 designation, but I may be wrong. The associated RX were the RA17, and the 1772.

The latter were installed at airfields using a 'ConiFan' (conical fan) antenna and this is the circular fenced plot, no longer in use, but on some airfeilds the former location can be seen if you know where to look.

[quote="


The latter were installed at airfields using a 'ConiFan' (conical fan) antenna and this is the circular fenced plot, no longer in use, but on some airfeilds the former location can be seen if you know where to look.[/quote]

Would that be one of these?