THE DECCA LEGACY - Wootton Bridge Historical

CHAPTER 10
HONG KONG WEATHER RADAR
(Stan Milliner)
A Plessey weather radar had been installed on a mountain in Kowloon, also a radio link had been
established so that radar data could be directed to, and simultaneously used at, the Royal Observatory
and at Kai Tak airport.
In those days satellites were unheard of and the Hong Kong region was extremely busy. It was a very
dangerous place to be at if typhoons were expected. When such a threat existed, people were herded into
shelters even if the typhoon was a long way off and might never make landfall. Closing down businesses
unnecessarily would be an economic disaster, so early warnings of storm movements were vital, hence
the need for a weather radar. However, when a storm eventually came, the weather signals were so
intense that the radar and radio links were saturated and the radar shut down.
My task was to solve this problem, so I had to carry out various modifications and experiments which we
hoped would do the trick. After this work had been completed, there were no further reports that there
had been a re-occurrence of the difficulties.
The mountain on which the radar had been installed was called Tai Mo Shan. The access road to the
radar was very steep. Cars had to go one way up and a different way down due to the narrowness of the
roads. An interesting sign in English and Chinese said “It is forbidden to bury your dead here. Any dead
found buried here will be dug up and deposited elsewhere”.
After the modifications had been successfully tested, without actually waiting for a typhoon, before I left
Kowloon, I decided to treat my Chinese engineers and their wives to a meal at a place of their choice.
They were very pleased and selected a restaurant in a very dodgy part of Kowloon, live snakes could be
seen in baskets outside the restaurant. Opium smokers were swiftly removed and a white sheet spread
across a large table outside on the pavement. The food that was put on the table was very weird indeed
and to me looked most uninviting, dried insects being typical. A soup appeared first which I was told
was snake soup. I decided to avoid eating any of it. The wife of one of the Chinese engineers noticed my
reluctance and eventually persuaded me to try something, I remember her saying “you will love this”
without telling me what it was.
I think the closest thing I could imagine it being was a live slug. They all laughed and refused to tell me
what it actually was. When I asked for the bill, I persuaded the waiter to produce a list of all the items. I
thought it would amuse our Accounts Department and help me identify the slug”. The waiter seemed to
know what was wanted and eventually I received the bill. Unfortunately it was written in Chinese
symbols from top to bottom, only the date and price being recognisable to me.
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