I'm making my way through the Linesman-related section's of Gough's Watching the Skies. Linesman was developed to counter the carcinotron jammer.
The main solution was the Type 85, which had 12 frequencies switching each pulse at random.
However, they also deployed a second radar, the Type 84. This was a normal single-frequency pulse radar, but in the L-band rather than the S-band. This was to be used as an early-warning system.
I'm trying to understand why... for one, as a single-frequency system it would be highly vulnerable to jamming, and for another, the longer wavelength would mean lower resolution or much larger antennas.
Gough mentions a single possible reason for this, in passing, that L-band was less susceptible to clutter. I'm not sure why this would be.
Does anyone have any ideas on why the L-band would be better for early warning?