Well I got to thinkin . . .

[zachtheterrible]

Crazy idea? You tell me.

How 'bout a radar tower mounted in my attic to see planes flying over my city? I was thinkin of using a microwave magnetron to generate the RADAR signal. Then I would imagine it would be pretty simple for a microprocessor to determine the reflection time.

Problem: Possible major interference from me that would most likely be rather illegal.

If it's not too illegal it would be a pretty cool project :lol:

 

[Someone Electro]

That wod be realy hard to make.

And carful whith the magnetron so you dont fry evryhing around you.

As long as you dont interfear its probobly legal

 

[Optikon]

Crazy idea? You tell me.

How 'bout a radar tower mounted in my attic to see planes flying over my city? I was thinkin of using a microwave magnetron to generate the RADAR signal. Then I would imagine it would be pretty simple for a microprocessor to determine the reflection time.

Problem: Possible major interference from me that would most likely be rather illegal.

If it's not too illegal it would be a pretty cool project :lol:

Crazy idea.

 

[Jay.slovak]

Crazy and probably lethal :twisted:

 

[rigdoctor99]

Radar

It is a cool idea, BUT! Not sure were you live so it may be different for you. The wireless telegraph act is clear on what frequencies you may and may not transmit on, in order to have an effective radar system you would need to transmit in the microwave portion of the radio spectrum......

I n order to do this you MUST get a licence, an Amature radio licence would be easy to get, and then you could use the microwave alocation of the licence to experiment............. However the licence says you must transmit your call sign every 15 mins, or at the start and end of each transmitions which ever comes first................using any of the modes allocated to your licence.......

Getting boring now Hope this has not put you off :lol:

 

[Roboticinfo]

Zach you do that in california and the FCC will be on your butt quicker then you can say jay.slovak

 

[Jay.slovak]

Good one Anthony :wink:

 

[zachtheterrible]

I'm not actually serious about doing this any time soon (if ever). It was kind of like my hood ornament idea :lol:

Anthony, I doubt the FCC would be on me, all they do anymore is sit on their butts and regulate the stuff on TV and radio. That's what I've heard about them in the US anyway

 

[Someone Electro]

If you see an van whith an antena just quicky thurn it off.(Or blow up the van :twisted: )

 

[zachtheterrible]

If you see an van whith an antena just quicky thurn it off.(Or blow up the van :twisted: )

Maybe I'll just turn it off :lol:

I don't see how I could transmit my call-sign. The magnetron would just be kickin' out an unmodulated sine wave.

 

[pike]

Brilliant idea, excellent if you ask me.

But if you want to have kids, id leave it off until after you have kids.

 

[zachtheterrible]

Brilliant idea, excellent if you ask me.

But if you want to have kids, id leave it off until after you have kids.

Yes, thats another conern :lol: . Better leave this idea until I have much more experience in RF.

 

[Someone Electro]

You mean much much much more expirience.Since an radar is an prety complicated radio device.

 

[zachtheterrible]

Well it would be very easy to generate the radar signal. Just use a magnetron.

Actually it would be pretty simple overall. Just use the magnetron to radiate the RADAR signal, having the signal coming out of a satellite dish that spins. I would guess that there would be some method of using the satellite dish to also receive. The reflected signal would have to be amplified. Then that signal would be fed to a microcontroller that divides the speed of light by the time it took for the signal to get back (I think that's the way it works? :lol: ) then display a blip on the radar screen.

 

[Someone Electro]

The prolem will be making the redio part becose your dealing whith GHz!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Not to mention the problem of measuring flight time at the speed of light!.

 

[audioguru]

I don't think there is enough energy from a microwave oven to reflect off an airplane so that you could detect it.
At my airport, the radar thingy is enormous and is probably very powerful. Even the "weather radar" thingy at my local TV station is the size of a bus! They said that its very high power would cook everyone in its path if it ever stopped rotating. It is up high on a pole so the only people in its path would be perhaps in a helicopter flying by.

The radar probably uses microwave frequencies that do not cause people to be cooked. Just burned a little if they are distant. :lol:

 

[Someone Electro]

Wod you imagine if they used the resonstig freq. of water?It wod be an microwave oven insted of an radar.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Wod you imagine if they used the resonstig freq. of water?It wod be an microwave oven insted of an radar.

Microwave ovens were developed from radar, it was found that they cooked birds (and people) in the beam.

An old friend of mine, now deceased, worked on radar during WW2, he had two 'cooked dead spots' on his arm - caused by a specific adjustment they regularly had to make.

 

[Someone Electro]

I know it was inveted by a guy who put corn infront of an magnetron of an military radar.The corn poped in to pop-corn and the microwave oven was invented.