Radio fix

• The locating of a radio transmitter by bearings taken from two or more direction finding stations, the site of the transmitter being at the point of intersection.
• The location of a ship or aircraft by determining the direction of radio signals coming to the ship or aircraft from two or more sending stations, the locations of which are known.

Compare triangulation.

Obtaining a Radio Fix

A single transmitter can be used to give a line of position (LOP) of the craft. The (true) bearing to the station from the plane, TB or QUJ, is composed of the planes true heading, TH, plus the relative bearing, RB, of the station. The bearing of the plane from the station (QTE) is found by adding 180° to the QUJ figure.

The line of position is then the line of bearing QUJ (i.e. from the station to the plane) passing through the station.

$mbox\{LOP\}=mbox\{TH\}+mbox\{RB\}+180$

For the diagram on the right, we have:

$mbox\{LOP\}=120+40+180$

$mbox\{LOP\}=340$

A radio fix on two stations can be found in exactly the same way. The intersection of the two position lines gives the position of the plane. For the diagram on the right, the LOPs are found as before:

$mbox\{LOP1\}=120+320+180$

$mbox\{LOP1\}=260$

$mbox\{LOP2\}=120+40+180$

$mbox\{LOP2\}=340$

Remembering that the LOPs pass through their respective stations, it is now simple to find the location of the aircraft.

Sources

• Federal Standard 1037C and from the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms