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Squawk

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EHM-0654 Murray:
OK, knew most of that, but why "squawk"?

What's the derivation of the term?

EHM-1670 Bill:
Electronic Navigation History
I fought the celestial vs electronics battle through most of WWII. I was with the B-29s initially in India as radar bombardment mechanic. I had learned LORAN at Boca Raton, FL and it became my duty to try to keep the APN-4 in my group (468th) operational. The set was in two units each the size of a 19" TV. 80 vacuum tubes made it operate until higher altitudes caused electrical malfunctions. Only good for 600 miles at night in the best of conditions. Reliability always in doubt due to tube failure, vibration of connections, corrosion and operator skills..

The Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) of WWII had eight codes in a 10"x 10"x 10" case which also included a thermite inertial bomb to destroy the interior on crash impact. British code name was "Parrot" which is why we still squawk. We now have our transponder soon to be all Mode S to tie in with the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Information Service-Broadcast (TIS-B) which will give you all the information that ATC now has and spells the doom to RADAR as we now know and use it.

From page 6.38 at http://www.whittsflying.com

HEALTH WARNING This site is addictive. It contains an enormous amount of interesting information.

EHM-1617 Iain:
The trem squawk comes from the military. Transponders were originated in the military - they started out as IFFs as Bill says. The military controller would tell the pilot: "Make your cockerel Crow!" - this meant turn it on. After landing, the pilot would say "Cockerel strangled" as a confirmation that it was now turned off.

EHM-0654 Murray:
Thanks Bill/Iain

:D

Great reason...

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