It's clear from Joe Enright's book Shinano that he knew they could detect his signal and knew very well that they could have no idea where it was coming from in 1944. The way the battle played out proved that fact.
In the event, the Japanese admiral detected the signal, took it to be a brazen signal that there was a wolfpack out there and acted accordingly, turning neatly in front of Archerfish, which was up to that point maneuvered completely out of any possible attack, and ensuring the demise of his carrier. Had he had any directional capability at all he could have vectored in his three destroyers and chewed up Archerfish like a pack of dogs on a milk bone.
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