Talk:H2S (radar)

message: There are a number of spurious explanations for how H2S received its name (some for understandable reasons) however, according to A. P. Rowe, who was at TRE at the time, the real reason is this:
When H2S was first being developed it was initially referred to as the Town Finder or TF, as that was the purpose of the system, i.e. to allow RAF Navigators to find their target towns at night and in all weathers, however it was realised that this name might be too obvious and so would eventually need changing for security reasons. At around this time Lord Cherwell (Professor Lindemann) was being shown round TRE and was shown the TF equipment and on seeing it he enquired as to it's purpose. On being told that the device would show a picture of the ground below in all weathers and at night (this was something akin to Science Fiction then) he replied incredulously: It stinks, it stinks! As a private joke the researchers from then-on referred to the TF system as H2S - the name of the foul-smelling gas given-off by rotten eggs (Hydrogen Sulphide) Some time later, Cherwell re-visited TRE and the TF system had by then been officially named H2S and the joke almost forgotten, but Cherwell on seeing the system again and hearing it called 'H2S' enquired why it had such a name. Quick as a flash, some bright-spark, remembering the 'It stinks' episode and wanting to save embarrasment on both sides, replied Home-Sweet-Home
Ian Dunster 13:31, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: According to Prof. R V Jones (Chief of Air Scientific Intelligence), the H2S was a reference to the cavity magnetron itself.  Again the credit went to Lord Cherwell on seeing the unbelievably simple construction of the magnetron, said that stunk that no-one had though of it before. 20.133.0.13 12:25, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, A.P.Rowe was one of the team at TRE that developed H2S. Jones was only involved on a wider level, so I'm inclined to believe Rowe as he was actually there. The H2S name does refer to the entire equipment and not just the resonant-cavity magnetron (RCM), however the RCM's main application was the H2S system, the ASV usage came later, and at a lower priority, therefore it's possible that Jones associated the 'H2S' name with the RCM. The Rowe book BTW, is One Story of Radar.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.248.89 (talk) 22:35, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

text: The Germans could detect the H2S transmissions across the Channel when the aircraft tested their equipment on the ground before take off. That's how powerful the H2S's transmitter was. As regards the US H2X system, Bernard Lovell's biography by Dudley Saward states that the system was inferior to the contemporary H2S Mk III UK system, and that US engineers had initially stated that no such system as H2S was possible in the first place. Later they tried to get their H2X system adopted by the RAF.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.248.89 (talk) 22:13, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: BTW, the A. P. Rowe mentioned in the initial post is this one: A. P. Rowe - he was the head of TRE at the time  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.4.57.101 (talk) 09:14, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

text: This is pure speculation and O.R. but a more obvious meaning of the acronym H2S might be 'Horizontal Surface' - or even 'Horizontal '2'D Surface' - people did tend to like using simple obvious meanings in acronyms.. A curious aside is that my Grandfather (his name was Geoffrey Stuart Holiday) might have worked on this radar, he was apparently a specialist in miniaturisation and one of the projects he worked on was described as a moving map radar. - I have looked for it before on WP but only found it today while researching microwaves - including magnetrons, as am in the earliest stages of designing a 'high power' 3 cm to 1 cm microwave system - though certainly not for use in radar.. :) Lucien86 (talk) 20:19, 14 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: The origin of the term is as stated at the start of this section - upon seeing early work on the system and being told what it would do, Lord Cherwell said 'It stinks, it stinks' and thereafter the TRE team referred to it as H2S - hydrogen sulphide. Later when he visited TRE again, on asking why it was called H2S they didn't want to offend him or hurt his feelings over their earlier joke at his expense, so 'one bright spark' quipped 'Home Sweet Home'. That's it. So the 'H2S' name is, in effect, a private joke. Hydrogen Sulphide is a very foul-smelling compound, like the smell of rotten eggs. So 'it stinks'.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.7.147.13 (talk) 18:37, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: A useful description of the development of H2S on the Blumlein's family site here:   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.7.147.13 (talk) 19:53, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origin of H2S name 

message: H2S was apparently used until just after the Falklands. Some post WW2 info. would be nice. 
86.134.182.189 (talk) 20:04, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I've now added a bit of post-war history, and amended the intro para accordingly. Letdorf (talk) 12:38, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Post WW2 

message: I am astounded an entire article on ASV says nothing about the controversy between Bomber and Coastal Commands.... (I'll get to it when I can.)  TREKphiler hit me ♠  16:10, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Coastal Command, what Coastal Command?

message: Make one better article from a good one and a mediocre stub!!--Petebutt (talk) 07:04, 26 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: You say a mediocre stub, but what more could you say on the subject of Fishpond?  Most sources do not devote more than a paragraph to the subject.  But, having said that, the subject could usefully be merged into H2S, possibly in a section discussing other developments.  In fact: so much so that I have gone ahead and done it.  DieSwartzPunkt (talk) 16:24, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merger proposal