  We present new radio and optical observations of the colliding-wind system
WR146 aimed at understanding the nature of the companion to the Wolf-Rayet star
and the collision of their winds. The radio observations reveal emission from
three components: the WR stellar wind, the non-thermal wind-wind interaction
region and, for the first time, the stellar wind of the OB companion. This
provides the unique possibility of determining the mass-loss rate and terminal
wind velocity ratios of the two winds, independent of distance. Respectively,
these ratios are determined to be 0.20+/-0.06 and 0.56+/-0.17 for the
OB-companion star relative to the WR star. A new optical spectrum indicates
that the system is more luminous than had been believed previously. We deduce
that the ``companion'' cannot be a single, low luminosity O8 star as previously
suggested, but is either a high luminosity O8 star, or possibly an O8+WC binary
system.

Astrophysics