Regular correspondent Gerald Oakham contacted Sneak to warn of the dangers that Christmas decorations can pose. As any fan of air-combat countermeasures will know, chopped-up strips of aluminium foil can disrupt a variety of radio systems, whether the foil is deposited by a jet fighter in the form of anti-radar chaff, or by innocent office workers in the form of tinsel wrapped around the aerial of a wireless access point. Interestingly, when tin-foil chaff was first employed by the RAF in July 1943 [date corrected, see comment], to disrupt German radar, it had the code-name Window. Funny how a system designed to bring disruption and confusion should have a name with such a familiar ring to it...

13 Dec 2004