Editing Direction finding (section)

=== The advantages of microwave operation ===
Microwave signals have short wavelengths, which results in greatly improved target resolution when compared to [[RF]] systems. This permits better identification of multiple targets and, also, gives improved directional accuracy.<ref>Tutorial, "Advantages of Microwaves", Microwave Engineering Introduction article</ref> Also, the antennas are small so they can be assembled into compact arrays and, in addition, they can achieve well defined beam patterns which can provide the narrow beams with high gain favoured by [[radar]]s and [[Data link]]s.

Other advantages of the newly available microwave band were the absence of fading (often a problem in the [[Shortwave radio]] (SW) band) and great increase in signal spectrum, compared to the congested RF bands already in use. In addition to being able to accommodate many more signals, the ability to use [[Spread spectrum]] and [[frequency hopping]] techniques now became possible.

Once microwave techniques had become established, there was rapid expansion into the band by both military and commercial users.