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England Was Almost Destroyed By Radio Waves – Lessons from History

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday April 28 2019, @09:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the signals-in-the-aether dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

In 1940, Britain had retreated back to their island fortress after being throttled in mainland Europe by invading Nazis. They would hide behind the sea and hope that their navy and air force could stop the possible German invasion of their island.

As the Battle of Britain raged on, the German and British air forces went head to head. Something strange happened, the Germans pulled of[sic] a series of highly effective night bombing raids. It's strange because night bombing was incredibly ineffective for the most part.

[...] This German bombing was much more effective than what the British could do at night. As a matter of fact, it was more accurate than what typical bombing could do in the day time.

Source: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/england-was-almost-destroyed-by-radio-waves-df70830e8593

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday April 29 2019, @01:00AM (9 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Monday April 29 2019, @01:00AM (#836107)

    Sorry to burst your bubble but RADAR was not invented by Germany.

    Nikola Tesla described it in 1917 [teslascience.org] and laid out the basic principles, the guys who made it work effectively decades later were working from his original concept and description.
     

    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
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  • (Score: 4, Disagree) by realDonaldTrump on Monday April 29 2019, @01:50AM (3 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday April 29 2019, @01:50AM (#836125) Homepage Journal

    Two guys. 1st. guy has an idea. Takes out the patent on it. Gives it a lousy name. BUILDS IT. Makes it work, starts a business selling it. Business doesn't do so great, he shuts that one down and starts another. Doing something totally different. And, his 2nd. business is very successful.

    2nd. guy comes along LONG AFTER all that happens. Describes how the idea could, possibly work. Gives it a snappy name, easy to remember, easy to say. And leaves the building of it to other folks -- even later. To your way of thinking, the 2nd. guy is the Inventor. Because, much easier to remember, right? It's great marketing and I already said marketing -- branding is one of the most important things. But, it's not inventing. Many people think like you. Many people. It's 100% wrong. But, knock yourself out!!!!

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by kazzie on Monday April 29 2019, @08:55AM

      by kazzie (5309) on Monday April 29 2019, @08:55AM (#836213)

      Hm... are you the first guy or the second guy?

    • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday April 29 2019, @05:05PM (1 child)

      by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Monday April 29 2019, @05:05PM (#836302)

      Another poster linked to an article about Hulsmeyer.

      I was incorrect in my statement about N. Tesla having prior claim and retract my challenge to your comment.

      Please accept my apologies.

      --
      "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."

      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday April 29 2019, @06:13PM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday April 29 2019, @06:13PM (#836334) Homepage Journal

        That's O.K. That's O.K. And, thank you. Because your Link has so many things I can tell folks. When I show them my fabulous Tesla Model S!!

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 29 2019, @04:05AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 29 2019, @04:05AM (#836161)

    Actually, there was a science fiction description six years earlier, in Hugo Gernsback's "Ralph 124C41+".

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 29 2019, @08:35AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 29 2019, @08:35AM (#836211)

    "Giving the name Telemobiloskop (Telemobiloscope) to the system, he made a patent application on 21 November 1903" - source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Hülsmeyer [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday April 29 2019, @05:00PM

      by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Monday April 29 2019, @05:00PM (#836300)

      Thanks for the correction :)

      --
      "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday April 29 2019, @06:17PM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday April 29 2019, @06:17PM (#836337) Homepage Journal

      WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks. I have learned so much from WikiLeaks. A real treasure trove. Thank you, Anomalous Coward. And, thank you Julian Assange!!!!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 29 2019, @08:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 29 2019, @08:54PM (#836391)

      In 1903 and 1904, however, a German engineer, Christian Hulsmeyer, learned that by using a spark-gap transmitter and coherer-equipped receiver, he could detect echoes from barges passing along the Rhine River. Convinced that such a phenomenon could be employed to detect ships in fog or at night, he developed and patented the idea in both Germany (patent 165,546, issued April 30, 1904) and England (patent 25,608, issued November 1904). The equipment he built was too crude to interest private industry or the German Navy, and it played no role in stimulating later developments, but his work does indicate the general awareness that radio waves could be reflected and that those reflections could perhaps be put to use.

      A general revival of interest in higher frequencies occurred among radio researchers in World War I, due to the potential of using them for secret point-to-point communications. This interest, fueled by the enthusiasm of radio amateurs, continued to grow after the War. Wave reflection soon became a subject of discussion once again. Marconi himself, in an address to a joint meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1922, stressed the importance of short-wave research and, almost incidentally, pointed to one possible use of the reflective property:

      As was first shown by Hertz, electric waves can be completely reflected
      by conducting bodies. In some of my tests I have noticed the effects of
      reflection and deflection of these waves by metallic objects miles away.

      It seems to me that it should be possible to design apparatus by means
      of which a ship could radiate or project a divergent beam of these rays
      in any desired direction, which rays, if coming across a metallic object,
      such as another steamer or ship, would be reflected back to a receiver
      screened from the local transmitter on the sending ship, and thereby
      immediately reveal the presence and bearing of the other ship in fog or thick weather.

      One further great advantage of such an arrangement would be that it
      would be able to give warning of the presence and bearing of ships,
      even should these ships be unprovided with any kind of radio.

      These remarks were published in August 1922-a month before the experiments of Taylor and Young. Whether they were aware of Marconi's suggestions, however, is unclear.