Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Our success or failure in understanding solar bursts is largely determined by the kinds of instrument with which we observe them. For example, although the basic feature of Type II bursts, a slow drift from high to low frequencies, was recognized and correctly interpreted from radiometer measurements at a few frequencies (Payne-Scott et al., 1947) other properties of Type II bursts such as fundamental-harmonic structure, split bands and herringbone structure can only be recognized on dynamic spectrograms. For this review I have chosen to group together the observations made with a particular type of instrument. I have also tended to emphasize what remains to be done rather than what has already been done. Unfortunately, with so many topics to choose from my treatment can only be cursory; and in attempting to select the interesting topics I have inevitably been biased toward the work I know best - that is, the work of the group to which I belong.