On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 16:42:13 GMT, Mike Marron
wrote:
Ed Rasimus wrote:
Depends upon the SAM and the RWR. Depends upon whether it's search,
track, activity or launch. Depends on whether you've got the volume
high enough to hear it over your praying.
Tnx. The question has probably been asked countless times before
but I was just wondering if there was a quick answer along the lines
of the "growling" or "rattlesnake" sound that an AIM-9 made when it
was locked on a target.
An AIM-9B,M,J or P (which are the ones I carried at various
times--never had the good fortune to try all-aspect variants), made a
"growl"--sort of like a very inexpensive doorbell growl.
With SA-2 and APR-36/37 (or APR-25/26 or ALR-46) which is what I
carried, the Fan-Song search comes in low and high PRF (pulse
recurrence frequency). The audio reflects the rate of pulsing, slow
for lo-PRF and faster for hi. At hi-PRF, the sound could be likened to
a rattlesnake by someone who hasn't encountered a lot of rattlesnakes.
It's sort of a medium to high pitched chattering. Activity (the
pre-load signal for launch prep) is indicated by lights on the TDU
(threat display unit) and launch by a steady tone almost as high
frequency as a whistle.
Other radars offered different tones. Firecan (AAA fire-control) was a
low freq buzz, X-band for MiG AI radars had a different tone and
J-Band for the Gun-Dish also were different. I can't comment on the
newer equipment which has to cope with SA-2 through SA-135 or whatever
they are up to these days. Probably need to have a "bitchin' Betty" to
tell you that an SA-elebenty-nine is looking, but no threat, while an
SA-turdy-tree is about to offer a high speed digital prostate exam.
Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8
|