{"id":5170,"date":"2025-05-08T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2025\/05\/08\/wow-dovad-and-doppler-at-white-sands-missile-range\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T12:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T02:36:17","slug":"wow-dovad-and-doppler-at-white-sands-missile-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2025\/05\/08\/wow-dovad-and-doppler-at-white-sands-missile-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Wow! DOVAD and Doppler at White Sands Missile Range"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

EI7GL has a really interesting blog post about a VHF system used at White Sands to accurately track early rocket tests: https:\/\/ei7gl.blogspot.com\/2025\/05\/369-mhz-doppler-radar-antenna-at-white.html<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

He has nice picture of the antenna. The plaque has the interesting info: <\/b><\/p>\n

The plaque on display reads as follows…<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

“36.9 Megahertz Helix Antenna Doppler Velocity and Position (DOVAP)<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Reference Transmitter Antenna<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Developed during World War II by the Germans as part of a V-2 guidance and control system, DOVAP traced the course of a rocket using the Doppler Effect caused by a target moving relative to a ground transmitter and receiving stations.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Unlike radar, Dovap did not allow scientists to “see” the rocket on a screen. Instead, it sent up radio waves, which were received and rebroadcast back to earth by the rocket. The returned waves combined with the original ground broadcast and produced a musical tone which varied with the rocket’s speed – the faster the rocket, the higher the pitch.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

DOVAP data was extremely accurate: it could place a rocket’s position at 100 miles up within 50 feet. It could collect data at the extreme altitudes of 100 to 300 miles. Dovap’s disadvantage was that it took 3 to 4 weeks to reduce the data.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The antenna is a helix because of its physical and electronic characteristics. A helix is simple to construct and operate, provides necessary signal gain and directivity, and can be operated in several modes or polarizations.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The DOVAP system provided trajectory data and ground guidance for most of the early rocket systems: Corporal, Sergeant, Honest John, Little John, Redstone, and Aerobee Upper Atmosphere programs.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This particular antenna was built in the mid-1960s near C Station. Like much of the early instrumentation used here, it was designed and built at White Sands Missile Range.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Erected by White Sands Missile Range Museum. (Marker Number 06.099.)”<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EI7GL has a really interesting blog post about a VHF system used at White Sands to accurately track early rocket tests: https:\/\/ei7gl.blogspot.com\/2025\/05\/369-mhz-doppler-radar-antenna-at-white.html He has nice picture of the antenna. The plaque has the interesting info: The plaque on display reads as follows… “36.9 Megahertz Helix Antenna Doppler Velocity and Position (DOVAP) Reference Transmitter Antenna Developed … Continue reading “Wow! DOVAD and Doppler at White Sands Missile Range”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-vhf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5172,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5170\/revisions\/5172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}