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README Improve introduction

README

Primary Radar works by bouncing an electronic pulse and listening for
any reflections when also looking in the same direction.  It is
hit-and-miss, where mostly it miss.  Without a transponder assisting
with the reply there is no information about what the reflection could
be and the return is approximate in horizontal place (azimuth) and
even less reliable in the vertical plane (elevation).

Introduction:

What has been released:

  19 March 2014: Montol Suchookorn (Thai Air Force) textual description of post-turnback
  http://bigstory.ap.org/article/thailand-gives-radar-data-10-days-after-plane-lost
  "was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal"

  21 March 2014: apparent some returns west of Butterworth
  http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/2014/03/21/mh370-search-briefing-3.jpg (2982x2286, 1.9MB, Kim Kyung Hoon, Reuters)
  http://tmfassociates.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Beijing-event.jpg (2448x3264, 0.3MB, scaled/rotated to 1945x1533)

  29 April 2014: apparent crossing of the Malaysian peninsula
  http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/259/296/0/S2592960/slug/l/china-malaysia-plane-1.jpg (2500x1666, 1.4MB, Ng Han Guan, AP)

  26 June 2014: apparent south-west turn-back after IGARI
  word/media/image6.jpg (1372x941, 0.2MB, Joint Investigation Team; p.8/p.3 of
  in ATSB report http://www.jacc.gov.au/media/releases/2014/june/mr052_MH370_Definition_of_Sea_Floor_Wide_Area_Search.pdf)


Thai Primary Radar
==================

Textual descriptions.

  http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/thailand-finds-radar-blips-that-could-be-mh370-india-says-indian-ocean-has
  http://news.yahoo.com/thailand-gives-radar-data-10-days-plane-lost-124915659.html

Montol Suchookorn
"Because we did not pay any attention to it. The Royal Thai Air Force only looks after any threats against our country, so anything that did not look like a threat to us, we simply look at it without taking actions."
"When they asked again and there was new information and assumptions from Prime Minister Najib Razak, we took a look at our information again,"
"It didn't take long for us to figure out, although it did take some experts to find out about it."

"was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal, of a plane flying in the direction opposite from the MH370 plane,"

Some publications displayed an unrelated image purporting to be Thai
Radar next to these stories. This image was taken on 17 March 2014 by
Chaideer Mahyuddin, on-board an Indonesian Search and Rescue vessel:

  http://www.imageforum-diffusion.afp.com/ImfDiffusion/Search/Results.aspx?srchMd=1&ID_Fulcrum=1153411613_2
  AFP ID: Par7824608


Malaysian Primary Radar
=======================

Derivatives of apparent Malaysian Primary Radar data was displayed
initially to families in Beijing, and again in an ATSB report

A briefing was held in the Lido Hotel Beijing, beginning at 2014-03-21
02:00 UTC (10:00 local time).  The black (non-illuminated) areas of
the projection screen often appear orange in photographs where the
white-balance is coming primarily from the screen.  The projector in
the room was not quite aligned to the projection screen, and the
left-hand 5% of the image is off the side.

Slide: "BRIEF ON MH 370 SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS"
=====================================================

The first photograph available of the opening slide was taken by 赵迪
at 02:05:06 UTC:

  http://zqb.cyol.com/images/1395430722812_1.JPG
  10:05:06+08:00
  3月21日10时,北京丽都饭店 …
  表示飞机最后一次出现在空军雷达屏幕上2:22分,距离空军基地200海里。
  … 赵迪摄


Slide: "MILITARY RADAR PLOT FROM PULAU PERAK TO LAST PLOT AT 02:22H"
====================================================================

At ~02:54 an apparent primary Radar plot is shown, this is
photographed by a number of people, with varying degrees of success:

  http://www.takefoto.cn/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/39500_201403221141091WlfC.jpg
  http://image7.club.sohu.net/pic/e2/2e33c78dd1c7fb0a880f99591e16f9e2.jpg
  http://www.kwongwah.com.my/news/2014/03/21/92_1.jpg
  http://cdn.feeyo.com/news/140321/14032103094252.jpg
  http://img6.caijing.com.cn/2014-03-21/114029398.jpg

  http://tmfassociates.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Beijing-event.jpg
  (02:54:15.787, iPhone 4S, 1/30second, 2448x3264, scaled/rotated to 1945x1533)

This is good enough to show the captions (right-to-left):

  1. PENANG
  2. TIME - 02:02H PERAK ISLAND 279R 89nm from Butterworth AB
  3. (circle)
  4. TIME - 02:22H 295R 200 nm from Butterworth AB

(2) this appears to be Pulau Perak (5.682,98.944) relative to Butterworth
(3) this appears to be a circle of missing Radar returns (unconfirmed)
(4) this appears to be an incorrect description.
    ( maybe relative to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulau_Perak )

However, thanks to Kim Kyung Hoon of Reuters, there is a slightly
better image of the slide (again, appears to have an orange background
from flash fire, rather than black):

  http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/dbe/news/world/article17607143.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/PEK707-MALAYSIA-AIRLINES+.JPG
  http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1000/20140321/d02788e9b25b149630e702.jpg
  http://image.cnwest.com/attachement/jpg/site1/20140322/001372d8a213149718c705.jpg
  http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh212/727Kiwi/MH370/Lido_Hotel_Beijing_21March_zps2eb1b3f1.jpg
  http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/picture_this/public/2014/03/21/mh370-search-briefing-3.jpg

Same image in larger sizes:

  http://i.lidovky.cz/14/033/lnorg/MSL5202c7_PEK707_MALAYSIA_AIRLINES_0321_11.JPG (2056x1576 382kB)
  http://i.imgur.com/NkACC20.jpg (2982x2286 647kB)

And then what appears to be the image Reuters distributed:

  http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/2014/03/21/mh370-search-briefing-3.jpg (2982x2286 1,868kB)
  (02:54:42(?), 2982x2286)

  sha1sum=fc2b1dcd1d8ebca600d0578e14b7fe3eb5d88a00
  by_line= © Kim Kyung Hoon / Reuters
  creator=KIM KYUNG-HOON
  title=MALAYSIA-AIRLINES/
  reuters_id=RTR3HZHB
  source=X01368
  fixture=GM1EA3L14WB01
  transmission_id=PEK707

What appears to be pixels from the projector are visible.  On the
right-hand side, the apparent straight edge in white crosses the pixel
columns.  This points to it either being a photograph of a display
(rather than a direct digital plot), or to digital keystone correction
in the projector (or both).

Previous analysis
=================

Working from this, some earlier decoding of timestamps was done by
"Backseater", having obtained a compressed 2982x2286 image directly
from the photographer:

  http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6087189/#29
  http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6087189/#38
  http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6087189/#39
  http://i.imgur.com/N0MWBCK.jpg


Method
======
The times, and notes on the photographs below were mainly obtained
using 'exiftool'.

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