pain ray

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
I suspect the microwaves must be weak enough that your body's panic reflex kicks in before you actually start getting burned. Unfortunately that won't work on druggies, fanatics, mobs etc.

Remember the Gremlin in the microwave?

maybe that's why they're un-deploying it FROM afghanistan.

unless they couldn't arrange for it to be in the vicinity when a mob happened to appear.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Micro-waves?

I wonder what wavelength this weapon uses?

Originally posted by wolfgang59
I wonder what wavelength this weapon uses?

They are all around 2 gigahertz. 300 megahertz is one meter wavelength so 3 gigahertz would be 1/10th meter wavelength or 100 mm or about 4 inches. That takes an antenna, full sized diopole, of about 2 inches to transmit and receive. So at 2 Ghz, the wavelength would be about 150 mm and the antenna about 3 inches for a single dipole. Of course for such weapons, they would use a planar array, a hundred or more antenna's in a matrix which would make for a fairly narrow beam.

So at that rate, 100 such antennas would be on a plane surface about 1.5 meter by 1.5 meter.
The neat thing about such an antenna is there doesn't have to be moving parts unless they want 360 degree coverage, the individual antennas can be phased with electronics to aim the beam about the centerline, maybe 45 degrees on either side of center, up, down, sideways, and VERY fast.

Phased array radar is what all military outfits now use rather than the old spinning mechanical reflector you see in all the old military movies. That went out 20 years ago.

Originally posted by sonhouse
They are all around 2 gigahertz. 300 megahertz is one meter wavelength so 3 gigahertz would be 1/10th meter wavelength or 100 mm or about 4 inches. That takes an antenna, full sized diopole, of about 2 inches to transmit and receive. So at 2 Ghz, the wavelength would be about 150 mm and the antenna about 3 inches for a single dipole. Of course for such weap nning mechanical reflector you see in all the old military movies. That went out 20 years ago.

A microwave oven operates usually at a frequency of 2.45 GHz, equivalent wavelength of 122 millimetres. The water resonant frequency is the same.

However, I don't know anything about the wavelength of a microwave weapon. But I can imagine it's the same.

Originally posted by FabianFnas
A microwave oven operates usually at a frequency of 2.45 GHz, equivalent wavelength of 122 millimetres. The water resonant frequency is the same.

However, I don't know anything about the wavelength of a microwave weapon. But I can imagine it's the same.

2.45 Ghz might be more efficient in heating water but almost any frequency can be used. We in the semiconductor industry use plasma etchers that makes a nice plasma using the medical frequency, 13.56 megahertz. That is way lower than a microwave oven frequency and it will heat water also. Maybe you don't get as much bang for the buck but it still works. I have seen microwave ovens using 9 Ghz also.