I've read for years about how US Navy pilots found their carriers after a mission in WW-II by homing in on the “YE” beacon. I never knew how it worked. The books I read never got into that. And I always wondered how we kept the enemy from homing in on it as well to find us! Well now I know, thanks to Dave Bitzer.
Dave has reproduced the operation of the YE transmitter, and the “ZB” receiver that the planes carried. He has also included a fascinating explanation of how the real system worked. The YE transmitter sent out a different Morse code signal on each 30 degree radial. Not only did the Morse code letters change every day, but, as Dave explains, “the transmitter used a double amplitude modulation scheme and operated around 240 MHz - the double modulation scheme ensured that a casual eavesdropper would hear only a dead carrier unless he had the proper demodulator in the receiver.” What I always thought was basically a low power ADF system turns out to be more like a "military hardened", omni-directional, radio range system. How cool is that?
Dave's set of gauges recreates the operation of this system, and it's very cool. It comes configured with five locations programmed into the gauge. The default Nimitz off San Francisco, two of the US Midway ships from the Yanco package, and two land based “test” locations. But you can edit the XML file and “place” the YE transmitter anywhere you want.
He has an FSX version as well, but I haven't messed with that one yet. Look for ye-zb5_db.zip at FlightSim.com.
Thanks to salt_air for pointing me to this great FS9 addon:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?67475-Just-when-you-thought-the-fun-was-over
Dave has reproduced the operation of the YE transmitter, and the “ZB” receiver that the planes carried. He has also included a fascinating explanation of how the real system worked. The YE transmitter sent out a different Morse code signal on each 30 degree radial. Not only did the Morse code letters change every day, but, as Dave explains, “the transmitter used a double amplitude modulation scheme and operated around 240 MHz - the double modulation scheme ensured that a casual eavesdropper would hear only a dead carrier unless he had the proper demodulator in the receiver.” What I always thought was basically a low power ADF system turns out to be more like a "military hardened", omni-directional, radio range system. How cool is that?
Dave's set of gauges recreates the operation of this system, and it's very cool. It comes configured with five locations programmed into the gauge. The default Nimitz off San Francisco, two of the US Midway ships from the Yanco package, and two land based “test” locations. But you can edit the XML file and “place” the YE transmitter anywhere you want.
He has an FSX version as well, but I haven't messed with that one yet. Look for ye-zb5_db.zip at FlightSim.com.
Thanks to salt_air for pointing me to this great FS9 addon:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?67475-Just-when-you-thought-the-fun-was-over
