In 1947 it was felt by the Ministry of Transport that although the radar to be installed by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board at Liverpool would demonstrate the suitability of this type of equipment in meeting the requirements of the larger ports, it was probably beyond the resources of many small ports and indeed was too elaborate for their needs. It was therefore decided that the Ministry's Operational Research Group should survey representative small ports in the United Kingdom in order to estimate the advantages that could be expected if shore radar were to be fitted and to discover what limitations there were likely to be in such fittings. As a sequel to this inquiry, it was proposed to select one port as the site for a trial, to be sponsored by the Ministry, in which a simple radar installation would be employed. The vital importance of having direct radio communication between ship and radar station was fully recognized from the start, and it was assumed throughout the investigation that this facility would be ancillary to the radar, the pilots probably carrying portable transmitter-receivers.