CLAIM: UK Redditor has a 100 foot RADAR

[jarlrmai]

UFO adjacent because it's posted in UFOs but more pseudoscience imo


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1l551rp/ive_resurrected_a_powerful_decomissioned_100ft/

A few years ago, I started repurposing one of UK's most powerful un-jammable war-time radar, originally designed for detecting nuclear launches during the Cold War into a system capable of passively monitoring the skies for aerial anomalies using modern tech.

It's powered by an SSR radar receiver that's sensitive enough to track birds from nearly 1000 miles away. The system is now fully operational. It uses a bespoke AI model to autonomously filter noise, identify anomalies, and extract high-resolution data streams often more precisely than current civilian or even many military systems in use across Europe. I've built an entire functional os with assistance from many retired military radar experts and people way smarter than I could ever be who I found on /rfelectronics

Due to the demands of my full-time work (in developing autonomous tech and innovation), I don't have the bandwidth to put a lot of time into this actively hence why it took 3 years. However, I believe it would be a waste not to share the capabilities more widely.

So I'm considering handing it off possibly by giving public or controlled access via a virtual machine to the IQ as s(t)=I(t)+jQ(t) which is stored and then anyone can download the software I've pre-built which allows you to go back in time to any co-ordinates or find any anomolies in an instant. I'm also open to doing a live demo by collaborating with someone credible in the space who can help showcase and guide the future of this system. I am a tech guy and not a UFO guy but Im quite sure this tech is as cutting-edge as it gets. I tried to post photos and videos but it keeps getting filtred out automatically by reddit

Looking for serious input or connections with people who might want to help make this available to the broader community at scale as opposed to my doing a small site and my tiny socials.

EDIT: When I say "fully operational," I realise these are not the right words yet..The main dish is still fixed and doesn't spin yet but while fixed in one direction covers a wide area at a long range in the L-band at 1090.

I had initially designed a modification to spin just the SSR array mounted on top, but later decided I will instead work to rotate the entire structure instead. That's still in progress but everything else works fine enough.

To be clear:

This project isn't for commercial gain. It's just a technically interesting personal endeavour. The radar installation sits in my front garden, and instead of letting it decay, I'm giving it a new purpose. It's now operating as a hybrid systemr running a mix of legacy and modern radar tech, combined with large mesh antennas used for t-beam signals, all powered by custom firmware. Many functions on the old machine.

Please go easy in the comments, this is something I'm sharing as a non expert in UFOs but a tech geek who believes in making tech available because my work is a small addition to the work of many people many times more advanced and expert than

ps. filter comments by top. I think the first or second comment you will see is my video verification

Sorry for typos

It's powered by an SSR radar receiver that's sensitive enough to track birds from nearly 1000 miles away

This line seems oxymoronic because afaik SSR is about sending interrogation signals to aircraft and getting a response back from the transponder and as far as I know birds are not equipped with transmitters.

I've not dug into any more yet and I am not a RADAR expert, but I thought people here might find the claims interesting and have relevant knowledge to assess them

 

[Mendel]

It's powered by an SSR radar receiver that's sensitive enough to track birds from nearly 1000 miles away

This line seems oxymoronic because afaik SSR is about sending interrogation signals to aircraft and getting a response back from the transponder and as far as I know birds are not equipped with transmitters.

True. Also, at 1000 miles, you can't see birds or aircraft because they're behind the curve? unless there's an atmospheric reflection.

The main dish is still fixed and doesn't spin yet but while fixed in one direction covers a wide area at a long range in the L-band at 1090.

"Area" is not the word I'd use for that.

Also, why is this UK guy not using metric units?

His grasp of radar tech is shaky, as evidenced by calling the radar "unjammable", and by his attempt to rotate the SSR antenna independently from the main dish which sends out the impulse for the transceiver to respond to—they need to point in the same direction. Oh, and if the thing ever rotates, his house is going to block the radar. Radars are installed in elevated places with a clear view of the horizon, if at all possible.

 

[NorCal Dave]

A few years ago, I started repurposing one of UK's most powerful un-jammable war-time radar, originally designed for detecting nuclear launches during the Cold War into a system capable of passively monitoring the skies for aerial anomalies using modern tech.

Where exactly does one find a powerful war-time radar system sitting around? The UK's version of Craigslist must be a lot funner. If it really is one of the "most powerful" units in its day, what are the various operational requirements? Is this in this guy's back yard? What's it mounted on? How big is it? What are the power requirements, does it just plug into the wall outlet? If it's still on government property, how is this guy accessing it?

The system is now fully operational. It uses a bespoke AI model to autonomously filter noise, identify anomalies, and extract high-resolution data streams often more precisely than current civilian or even many military systems in use across Europe. I've built an entire functional os with assistance from many retired military radar experts and people way smarter than I could ever be who I found on /rfelectronics

Assuming any of the above is true, why is this guy farting around on this and talking about it on Reddit? IF he has developed an AI model and OS that can take a radar system so old, dated and obsolete that he got his hands on it, and can make it more precise than many current military systems in use, this guy should be selling that to someplace like Raytheon.

He seems to be using the current buzz of AI making everything better and not just that but a "bespoke AI" that I assume he created. I'm no programmer, but it seems most of the AI were created by large well funded operations, like Google and Microsoft, not some guy on laptop in his spare time.

I guess if he's legit, he can just post some photos of his radar system up and running

 

[jarlrmai]

Where exactly does one find a powerful war-time radar system sitting around? The UK's version of Craigslist must be a lot funner. If it really is one of the "most powerful" units in its day, what are the various operational requirements? Is this in this guy's back yard? What's it mounted on? How big is it? What are the power requirements, does it just plug into the wall outlet? If it's still on government property, how is this guy accessing it?

Reddit thread thinks it's William Sachiti

Here is his Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sachiti

Here is a Daily Mail article detailing his ownership of a RADAR system that fits the bill

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...ewly-purchased-Cold-War-era-radar-system.html

 

[Mendel]

Reddit thread thinks it's this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sachiti

In early 2022, William Sachiti purchased a former RAF base (RAF Neatishead) and moved onto the site in Norfolk.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...ewly-purchased-Cold-War-era-radar-system.html

 

[NorCal Dave]

EDIT: cross posted radar photos with Mendel

Sure sound like him:

Known as the AMES Type 84 radar unit, this one was in operation from 1962 through 1994 and released microwaves to detect nukes.

Sachiti does not plan on using it for its original purpose, but instead hopes the public can find a task more suitable for the modern world.

'My expensive hobby will be finding UFOs,' said Sachiti. 'If that is what the world wants, who am I to judge.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...ewly-purchased-Cold-War-era-radar-system.html

He seems to be worth $250M according to the article, primarily due to his autonomous delivery car company, Kar-go.

Maybe I'm just a Luddite, but I'm usually suspicious of all these tech start-up things. Are these Kar-gos actually running around in the UK?

After Therenos, Nikola and how many others, it just seems to be a lot of hype and limited results. Sachiti gave the Daily Mail a tour of his high tech mobile lab. It reminded me of a Burningman art car, an engaging concept on a janky base. It has a futuristic design and cool SciFy led lighting, with a peeling floor and roof panels about to fall off. It's hype.

Looks cool in the dark:

Not so much in the light of day:

Here's his radar:

 

[jdog]

...

He seems to be using the current buzz of AI making everything better and not just that but a "bespoke AI" that I assume he created. I'm no programmer, but it seems most of the AI were created by large well funded operations, like Google and Microsoft, not some guy on laptop in his spare time.

I guess if he's legit, he can just post some photos of his radar system up and running

Well, anyone can download an AI model and run it locally, "tune" it and train it on selected data. I've got DeepSeek running on a Raspberry Pi -- not very fast, and not very capably --- so it's very much in the range of hobbyist capabilities. The problem is, of course, you can't trust what it tells you -- it will spit out Star Wars facts, but they're mostly invented, like Yoda and his planet of androids.

But with any machine learning system you have to train it on real data to get reliable results and for something like radar returns you're going to have to validate your bespoke system's signals against known good results, positive identifications of planes, birds, clouds, etc. in all weather and system conditions. And, of course, filter the signal from the noise, or you'll get a lot of anomalies.

 

[JMartJr]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...ewly-purchased-Cold-War-era-radar-system.html

Headline:

Millionaire buys 25-foot-tall Cold War-era radar system to 'hunt UFOs': Founder of autonomous car company worth up to $250 million asks the public what he should do with the technology once it's brought back to life

William Sachiti purchased a former Royal Air Force base in Norwich, England
He's using the 250,000 square-feet stretch to test his autonomous delivery cars
On the land is a decommissioned radar system used to detect incoming nukes
Sachiti posted on Reddit asking the public for ideas on what to use it for
He said if the public wants to use it to hunt UFOs, then it will hunt UFOs

OK, but I'd suggest that if radar (of whatever vintage and size) could reliably find UFOs, then we'd have ample evidence of UFOs by now and further searching would not be necessary.

(Radar CAN return any number of spurious "blips" and traces, and known-but-odd-looking stuff like "roost rings" to be claimed as UFOs, if that's all you want.)

Spoiler: What roost rings are, ignore if not intersted

Beginning around the middle of summer, curious expanding doughnut patterns often appear just before sunrise on NWS Wilmington, Ohio's Doppler radar imagery. These features, known as "roost rings," occur when the radar beam detects thousands of birds taking off from their roosting sites around dawn to forage for insects.
...
The unique doughnut pattern of these roost rings is the result of the martins departing their roosting sites in various directions. As they travel farther from their roosting sites and reach higher altitudes in lower densities, the birds show up on radar as expanding, fading rings until they either fly above or below the radar beam and are no longer detected.

https://www.wdrb.com/weather/wdrb-w...cle_b399be2c-4600-11ee-a885-8f17a627c587.html

 

[purpleivan]

I did some digging around about William Sachiti and his autonomous car company KAR-GO, the parent company of which is called "Academy of Robotics" and it all seems a little strange.

Academy of Robotic and KAR-GO have has a small amount of press about it in the UK, dating back to 2019, regarding it development of a rather odd looking (for it's purpose) delivery vehicle. In 2021 Academy of Robotic signed a contract with the Royal Airforce, to trial autonomous delivery vehicles at RAF Brize Norton (the UK's largest airbase). According to an article in intelligenceonline.com dated 4th June 2025, The Royal Air Force is taking Kar-Go to court, although the reasons aren't specified in the article.

The website for the KAR-GO looks pretty amateurish. For exampe it includes a picture of the interior, which is a poor, low res render, with a mouse pointer included in it, so clearly a screenshot. The purpose of the site seems to be to encourage people to pre-order their vehicle, a very expensive (prices start at £26,997 or $36,500) 2 seater, with a 100 mile range, sat on extremely skinny wheels.

Very few details about the vehicle are on the site, with almost no figures that a buyer would normally look for. The few that are there are extremely suspect. One of the few I could find were on the vehicle configuration page, one of which was "362 g/km". No explanation of what this figure was, but I'd assume it's referring to CO2 emissions, If it's electrically powered (the site doesn't explicitly say), but given the design and the 100 mile range, it's a reasonable assumption, then hat figure would be appalling. Even a small petrol/gas powered car would be far better, e.g. my petrol Honda Jazz averages 84 g/km, and inexplicable for a tiny electric buggy.

I know that the above might not be relevant to the top itself, but I thought some background on the person who may be the source of the quote that is the subject of this topic, might be interesting.

Something of more direct relevance to this thread is an article in the Norfolk News, in which William Sachiti talks about his making the 'Chidziva Array - T84 Radar', "operational".

 

[TK85]

It sure has all the signs of a publicity stunt of sorts. Going on a limb here based on a couple videos I watched, but the guy may have an inflated ego.

 

[Mendel]

Article:

The project, which cost approximately £250,000, was developed with the help of ex-MoD engineers who worked on the original radar.

Now called the 'Chidziva Array – T84 Radar', the system is designed to continue functioning even if mobile networks fail.

Mr Sachiti, who appeared on Dragon's Den in 2009, said: "We've taken a Cold War radar that once scanned the skies for bombers and adapted it to serve the public.

"And it now forms the backbone of a resilient communications network.

"There's nothing to be alarmed about.

"We're operating entirely on legal public frequencies, and this system is designed to serve, not disrupt.

While typical set-ups use small, rooftop aerials, the Chidziva Array taps into the power and range of the radar's antenna, which are capable of picking up faint signals from miles away.

Using a mesh network architecture, signals bounce between low-cost nodes – small devices anyone can buy and install – before reaching the master antenna at RAF Neatishead.

Mr Sachiti first started developing the network for his company's autonomous robots and self-driving vehicles – but then decided to also open the infrastructure to the public for emergency use.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/former-dragon-s-den-contestant-transforms-cold-war-radar-into-working-wi-fi-network/ar-AA1G9cbx

Looks like he's using the radar as a symbol for his mesh network, by pretending it actually has a role.

The RAF Air Defense Radar Museum is located on the former base, might be worth a visit when you're in Norfolk.

 

[John J.]

OK, but I'd suggest that if radar (of whatever vintage and size) could reliably find UFOs, then we'd have ample evidence of UFOs by now and further searching would not be necessary.

Very good point.

And radars in current use are more sensitive, and more reliable, than the AMES Type 84, introduced in 1962 with the last decommissioned over 30 years ago, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMES_Type_84
I'd guess there's a reason why many air defence radars now use planar arrays, not dishes.

I was going to say, "if new radars aren't finding UFOs, it's unlikely one old radar will", but older radar systems have less discrimination and might be more likely to return erroneous contacts. So maybe more UFOs.

If the radar we're talking about is the Type 84 at Neatishead, it must be unlikely that the necessary electronics were left in situ when that portion of the Remote Radar Head Neatishead site was sold.

Other areas of RRH Neatishead remain operational. I've no idea if there are specific laws governing radar use by civilians in the UK, or if a privately-operated Type 84 would have any effect at all on operations at the neighbouring RAF outpost, but I will be surprised if Mr. Sachiti gets his radar up and running.
If he does, it's hard to understand why that one obsolete system will be more useful than many more modern systems.

Except in returning more ambiguous data and false contacts than modern systems, of course.

 

[Dave51c]

For anyone interested in aspects of the original Type 84 see:

TYPE 84 RADAR, DESCRIPTION OF SIGNAL PROCESSING FACILITIES

1. INTRODUCTION.
The Type 84 is a high power long range radar, operating on L Band, about 23 cms., at a nominal PRF of 250 c/s. and a normal scanning speed of 4 r.p.m. The pulse length is 10μsecs. and the peak power 5 megawatts. The aerial beamwidth is 0.9° which results in 9 pulses per beamwidth, between 3 dB points.

Emphasis mine. (PRF: Pulse Repetition Frequency)

Hope the rich chap has good resources to get that structure restored in a safe manner as he is going to need it moving for any practical coverage.

But he should forget about "UFO"s and think about "Angels" - Reddit fame awaits. "They" have kept this hidden all along, but it has leaked out in the above technical doc. "Angels" have been flying under the radar for so long and no-one noticed.

Clutter may consist of ground-clutter or permanent echoes, sea-clutter, rain, "angels", or any of the above at long range visible under conditions of anomalous propagation, i.e. "anoprop".

Unfortunately, because this is the internet such quips cannot be left to fester in the minds of certain UAP/UFO types and therefore I feel duty bound to relinquish any attempt at humour (however perceived) to facts [1]

Radar angels are an effect seen on radar displays when there is a periodic structure in the view of the radar that is roughly the same length as the signal's wavelength. The angel appears to be a physically huge object on the display, often miles across, that can obscure real targets. These were first noticed in the 1940s and were a topic of considerable study in the 1950s. The underlying mechanism is due to Bragg's law.[1]​[2]​

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_angels

 

[flarkey]

that radar is about 25 miles from my house.

 

[jarlrmai]

that radar is about 25 miles from my house.

Can probably detect what you had for breakfast

 

[JMartJr]

that radar is about 25 miles from my house.

You might want to offer your services...if they "find"a UFO, you can tell them which airline flight it was and save them some embarrassment.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Looks like he's using the radar as a symbol for his mesh network, by pretending it actually has a role.

Which is totally different from using it to find UFOs. This all smoke and mirrors hype. The idea that an obsolete radar can be better than new ones, is because of his AI program. And the AI program is so good because it drives his autonomous cars. And the AI in the cars is so good, because it can make old radars better then new ones. It's all in the AI. Unless it's about a mesh network, but that's probably better because of his AI too.

 

[John J.]

I have a feeling William Sachiti might be someone who takes an optimistic view of the potential of his work, and is good at getting investment (and publicity).

The website of his company Academy of Robotics, has the message

Our main website is undergoing enhancements. In the meantime, explore our cutting-edge projects by clicking on the URLs below.

https://academyofrobotics.co.uk/

Ah, here you go, only four days old,

Intelligence Online website, 04 June 2025, Michael Sweeney. Reading more requires a subscription.

Note, "...once supplied transport robots to the Royal Air Force", implying he doesn't now (and the Brize Norton trial wasn't that long ago).
And "once-feted driverless car entrepreneur".

Intelligence Online understands the dispute relates to his use of a former RAF base which his firm shares with the defence ministry.

Maybe the radar is a protected heritage thing, like the control tower at the former RAF Greenham Common site.

Or maybe I was on to something:

I've no idea if... ...a privately-operated Type 84 would have any effect at all on operations at the neighbouring RAF outpost, but I will be surprised if Mr. Sachiti gets his radar up and running.

 

[Ann K]

OK, but I'd suggest that if radar (of whatever vintage and size) could reliably find UFOs, then we'd have ample evidence of UFOs by now and further searching would not be necessary.

...if there WERE any UFOs (in the "extraterrestrial sense").

 

[JMartJr]

...if there WERE any UFOs (in the "extraterrestrial sense").

If there aren't any, that would mean that a radar can't actually find them, I'd say! Since the radars all over the place haven't found them, either radar i not the right tool, or there's nothing to find. Either way.

 

[NorCal Dave]

If there aren't any, that would mean that a radar can't actually find them, I'd say! Since the radars all over the place haven't found them, either radar i not the right tool, or there's nothing to find. Either way.

I think you're missing the point my friend. The old radar HAS been detecting UAP (aliens) but nobody could tell. Now with Mr. Sachiti's new AI and OS running the radar, all those previously unknown UAP will be filtered out from the noise and we can see them. Something that revolutionary may entice you to want to invest perhaps. And if his AI can find UAP with a janky-ass old radar systems, imagine what it can do with modern delivery cars or other things. I see you really want to invest now. I'm sure there is a prospectus available, but don't waste too much time looking at things like actual cash burn, just invest .

 

[3db]

It's powered by an SSR radar receiver that's sensitive enough to track birds from nearly 1000 miles away. The system is now fully operational.

This is highly unlikely to be occurring. Post 13 above helpfully tells us the radar frequency is 1-2GHz, and the antenna beam-width is 0.9 degrees(this is quite small). This frequency does overlap with the SSR frequency of 1.03 and 1.09 GHZ, so frequency wise it passes the first smell test. However, I looked at some SSR product lines and they are all supposed to rotate. If he doesnt have a rotating antenna, then at best he gets a 0.9 degree view of the world, or he needs to have put a new antenna on top of the old one. For some reason, we have a 360 degree drone view of the location from October 2024.

And for some reason, he uploaded a youtube video of what he is doing to the reddit thread ( it switches from vertical to horizontal halfway though, so you have to turn your head to watch, but its ok, the audio is only coming into one ear so balances it out). The point here is that the antennas have the same orientation in all the images I could find, and he definitely did not add a new antenna for SSR reception in his video, meaning at best he gets a 0.9 degree view of the world.

That's bad because later in the video some kind of circular graph appears, but nothing in his antenna system can produce the anything in any orientation beyond 1 degree, but his software is plotting 360 degree data. He does say its in demo mode(it crashes also), but its not a demo if it cant actually do what he claims. Also the ISS appears to be overhead, which is cool.

I had initially designed a modification to spin just the SSR array mounted on top, but later decided I will instead work to rotate the entire structure instead. That's still in progress but everything else works fine enough.

I cant figure out if he is claiming the top antenna is rotating, but its clearly not.

I'm considering handing it off possibly by giving public or controlled access via a virtual machine to the IQ as s(t)=I(t)+jQ(t)

Lastly, I think this claim of IQ data is nonsense, zooming in on what he shows above, some "AI-enhanced IQ stream" data is shown.

I am no communications expert, but the term IQ does have meaning for digital communications. However, I think that picture is just random bars. Again this site has pictures of what SSR data looks like.

Summary, he has something running on his computer, probably nothing more than that. It is highly unlikely the old radar is used for anything.

 

[John J.]

I'm sure there is a prospectus available

Nah, the Academy of Robotics website is down for maintenance.
I guess you could ask for a hard copy, but I haven't actually seen one of the Kar-Go delivery vehicles on the roads...

 

[Mendel]

Maybe the radar is a protected heritage thing, like the control tower at the former RAF Greenham Common site.

A claim of that sort wouldn't be sealed?

He does say its in demo mode(it crashes also), but its not a demo if it cant actually do what he claims.

Oh, looking good but not actually working is a time-honored feature of software demos.
The excellent wikipedia article on the AMES Type 84 that @John J. linked above suggests that was also true for years of the radar's early history.

but I haven't actually seen one of the Kar-Go delivery vehicles on the roads...

that's why Sachiti bought the airbase, innit

 

[purpleivan]

It looks like there is heritage protection in place for a number of structures at RAF Neatishead, including the Type 84 Radar building.

RAF Neatishead Type 84 radar modulator building and four radar plinths
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1021408


Other structures on the site that are protected are as follows.

R30 OPERATIONS ROOM
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1393421

R12 RADAR EQUIPMENT BUILDING
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1393417

R3 UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS BLOCK
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1393420

STANDBY GENERATOR HOUSE
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1393189

One of the comments on the Type 84 radar listing has a good clear photo of the radar.

As a bit of additionaly info on the site, there is a website for the museum at RAF Neatishead.
https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/

 

[purpleivan]

Here are some closeup photos showing more detail of the structure, from a listing for the site on a UK airfields website.
http://www.ukairfields.org.uk/neatishead.html