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Michael A. Terrell

wrote:

In sci.physics Michael A. Terrell wrote:
msg wrote:

Spob wrote:

snip

Would it be possible to build a gizmo that could be surreptitiously
aimed at the offending stereo system to fry some crucial components?

snip

I assume many high power radar site operators have pet stories to
tell, but I remember one that deserves a retelling:

There was a Merritt Island cop who set up a speed trap on a road perhaps
a mile downroad from a powerful range tracking radar station. The operators
were not amused with the daily harassment from him and decided to make his
life a little more interesting and theirs a little less hassled. Siting the
cop's squad car in the telescoping aiming site of the radar dish, one of the
operators briefly keyed a pulse train and watched. Soon the car left but
returned the next day. Again the operator sited and pulsed the car and again
it left. After the third day it did not return. I do not know if the tracking
radar and cop's radar gun were on the same band, however I do know that 1MW of
microwaves was sufficiently nondiscriminatory at the receiving end to burn out
its front end.

Regards,

Michael

Bull****. The antennas rotate, but the elevation is fixed. There is
no telescope on any RADAR Antenna, and no way to "Siting the cop's squad
car". There are no keying of brief pulses, the system works with a
steady stream of pulsed RF, and measuring the reflected signals. I did
some RADAR work in the US Army, and there was a pair of 2 MW pulsed
RADAR transmitters in our building. You are spreading an urban legend,
with enough holes to sink the Titanic (again). If the RADAR equipment
in a cruiser WAS damaged, it was because the idiot cop was too close to
the RADAR site, and it was a coincidence. Even this is hard to believe,
because RADAR sites are usually well inside a fenced area, far from
civilian areas, and high enough to clear close in ground clutter. The
high gain, highly directional antennas do not radiate enough near field
RF to do any damage, unless the cruiser was on very high a hilltop, and
less than a 1/4 mile from the RADAR site.

US Army Nike had a missle track, target track and a target range radar,
all of which were steerable in both azimuth and elevation.

Since Nike radars were normally deployed on the highest hill around,
the MTR, TTR, and TRR could all be depressed below the horizon.

All of them were boresighted and aligned by bolting on the telescope,
going to manual control, and aiming them with a box that hung by a strap
around your neck at the alignment target about a quarter mile away.

Do you really think any of these antiques are still in use?

We used to regularly break the MP's speed radar at Ft Bliss until the
MP's wised up and made sure there was a metal building between them
and us.

We could wipe them out to about a mile away and jam them a lot
farther than that.

This was the late 60's.

Late '60s? the police used real garbage, with an unprotected 1N23
type diode in the horn as a mixer. Just touching the element in the
horn would blow those diodes. Hell, a UHF ham radio transmitter would
take them out, at well under a kilowatt. The front end diodes were
shipped, wrapped in a thick layer of lead foil. I think I still have a
couple Western Electric surplus around, somewhere.

While I was in Korea, a spook detachment set up a listening post
down the hill from us.

They were a bunch of jerks and ****ed off everyone, so I gave their
equipment the same treatment.

Sure. If they knew what caused it, you would have spent at least
five years in Leavenworth.

They moved to the next mountain after they got their gear fixed.

Tell me more about your toy radars.

Toy? they were used a Carin Airfield, just a few miles from Ft
Rucker Alabama, for the US Army helicopter and US Air Force Air Traffic
Controller schools. 2 million watts is not a toy. It had a 200 mile
maximum range, and was built by Westinghouse. two complete, hot systems
that could be switched over at the flip of a switch, if there was any
problems. Five techs on duty, 24/7 doing routine maintenance, and
emergency repairs. If they went down, two schools and 17 airfields were
shut down to all non instrument rated pilots.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida