What began as a search for Nikola Tesla’s idea for a death ray led to the very practical creation of Chain Home radar system and victory in the Battle of Britain.  Read more

Wireless intercept fighting U-boats won the Battle of the Atlantic. In addition to Ultra, tactical advantage came from Huff Duff.  Read more

High frequency direction finding, or Huff-Duff was used to find locations of enemy transmitters in the field, on land, and especially at sea. This was a global effort.  Read more

While code breaking is spectacular, radio traffic analysis was the real meat and potatoes of signals intelligence from WW2 wireless intercept.  Read more

Although most hams joined the forces, several thousand stayed home doing civilian intercept. In Britain they were volunteers. In the U.S. they worked for the FCC.  Read more

During World War 2, military wireless intercept facilities were everywhere. Long-range monitored theaters of operation. Short-range units dug in with the troops.  Read more

Military wireless intercept organization is a massive, complex system. The Allies simply did a better job of getting all the parts to work together.  Read more

Signals corps and radio engineers learned a lot about radio propagation during WW2 solar cycle 17 – much of it the hard way.  Read more

You would have enjoyed being a shortwave listener during the war. WW2 signals spectrum was absolutely hopping over its full range.  Read more