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Michael A. Terrell Michael A. Terrell is offline
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Windmill wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" writes:

Birds would drop dead if they flew too close to that RADAR antenna,
but the highest risk of death was from the high current, high voltage
power supplies in tube type microwave sources. High power RADAR tubes
were huge, when compared to the lowly Magnetron in an oven.


I think you must be talking about much newer equipment than I worked
on.



The system was a few yeas old in '72, when I arrived. I think those
systems were custom built by Westinghouse. I worked on so many custom
and semi custom items in the Army that I don't remember, almost 40 years
later. The oldest I repaired was made and deployed during the Korean
war. They were so called 'Portable' systems.


Long ago, magnetrons (of a different design from the ones still used in
microwave ovens) were the only way to generate high peak powers, and
the oscillation frequency of a magnetron wasn't very stable.



Not that they weren't stable. They were powered with unfilterd DC,
which caused a wideband output. They are operated as a self excited
oscllator when used in a microwave, and as long as the thisng is in
band, the frequency or bandwitch doesn't really matter. Have you ever
read the MIT Rad Lab series of declassified W.W.-II books, or Slotnik's
RADAR Handbook?


Since then, I hear that high power klystrons have been used as
amplifiers in radar systems, and I believe there's a still newer tube
type which is used in the latest gear.



I've worked with 65 KW EEV Klystrons. A Comark with three of them,
on TV Ch 55 were located in Orange City Florida. They had just ordered
the transmitter when Kystrodes were introduced. Today, the TV
transmitters are all solid state.


But as you say, the power supplies are and were very dangerous, needing
elaborate interlock systems to enhance safety.



Not just the power supplies. The gates to get to the RADAR antenna
had multiple key switches to disable the entire system


Urban legend had it that someone had found a way, in the days before
vasectomies, to stand in front of a radar antenna for just long enough
to produce temporary sterilization. But I didn't try that; doubtful if
anyone
would.

You could just as well dip your testicles in a bowl of hot water for 15
minutes.


That is used when Water boarding fails. ;-)


The radar tale was probably meant as a warning which would have a
considerable effect on most young guys!



I saw dead birds in the parking lot fairly often, for the nine months
I was s tationed at that RADAR site.

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.