Definition
The component of a radar system that detects and processes the faint radio energy reflected back from objects after a transmitted pulse strikes them, converting those returning signals into electrical information that can be displayed on a radar screen.
Plain English
The part of a radar set that listens for the echoes bouncing back off aircraft, terrain, or weather, and turns those echoes into something a controller or pilot can see on a screen.
Context Anchor
Seen in radar navigation and air traffic control discussions, especially when explaining how radar detects aircraft position or shows targets on a radar display.
Derivation
Radar comes from RAdio Detection And Ranging. Receiver is from the Latin recipere, meaning to take back. Together, the term names the part of the system that takes back the radio energy after it has gone out and bounced off something.
Why Pilots Care
It gives controllers accurate real-time aircraft positions so they can issue radar vectors and maintain safe separation when pilots cannot see each other or the ground.
Analogy
It is like calling out in a canyon and then listening for the echo. The transmitter is the call; the radar receiver is the part that listens for the echo coming back.
Intuition Check
A radar receiver is not mainly for receiving voice radio calls. Here, it means the radar component that detects returning radar signals.
Example Sentence 1
The radar receiver picks up the weak return from the aircraft and sends the signal to the controller's display.
Example Sentence 2
Maintenance checked the radar receiver after reports of weak target returns on the scope.