Variable radio structure of 3C 446

The optically violent variable object 3C 446 appears to share both the defining characteristics of the quasi-stellar objects and those of the BL Lac objects. In late 1977, 3C 446 experienced a major optical outburst which has continued to the present. In the expectation that a radio outburst would follow after a delay of about a year, the radio flux density and the compact radio structure was monitored. A description is presented of the results and observations of 3C 446 made with a VLA and with a VLBI interferometer on four epochs. Attention is given to the arcsecond-scale structure of 3C 446, and the variable milli-arcsecond structure of 3C 446. The arcsecond-scale structure of 3C 446 described agrees well with that determined in earlier investigations