Fluttar DEW-Line Gap-Filler (Skolnik, in Advances in Bistatic Radar, 2007)

Chapter 3 of Willis & Griffiths (eds.), Advances in Bistatic Radar (SciTech/IET, 2007, ISBN 978-1891121487), pp. 37-46 - a participant account: Skolnik was one of the four Lincoln Laboratory engineers who designed Fluttar (conceptual design led by Edwin Sloane, carried out by Sloane, Edward Candidus, Joseph Salerno and Skolnik, under Herbert G. Weiss). Records the experimental 25-mile forward-scatter link that bird echoes swamped during migration season; the offset-beam redesign; the klystron transmitter (1 kW CW, 450-500 MHz); 40-70-mile site separations; and the two unanticipated killers - large northern birds congregating near the warm diesel generators, and the supply aircraft that flew along the line. The chapter is paywalled; we cite the print edition by page and do not host it.