direction finder

American  

noun

Radio.

1. a receiver with a loop antenna rotating on a vertical axis, used to ascertain the direction of incoming radio waves.

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direction finder British  

noun

1. Abbreviation: D/F.   DF.  a highly directional aerial system that can be used to determine the direction of incoming radio signals, used esp as a navigation aid

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Other Word Forms

• direction finding
  noun

Etymology

Origin of direction finder

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

direction finder

One involved Noonan doing celestial navigation; the other, her use of a radio “bearing” direction finder.

From Forbes ● Nov. 10, 2014

Why would Earhart start out on such a hazardous journey without knowing how to operate her aircraft’s radio direction finder to the nth degree?

From Forbes ● Nov. 10, 2014

With a 20-m.p.h. tail wind and guided by a direction finder at Bermuda, it hit its tiny target on the nose 4 hr.

From Time Magazine Archive

Best known is his Learmatic Navigator, a combined automatic radio direction finder and directional gyro, for which he got the Frank Hawks Memorial Award last December.

From Time Magazine Archive

Only half of Jason's mind was occupied with the work as he drew up a list of materials he would need for the psionic direction finder.

From Deathworld by Dongen, H. R. van