[TenTec] 95% Shield

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On Wed, 2008-05-21 at 09:00 -0700, Ron Castro wrote:
> Indeed, those are higher frequencies, although the absorption rate at those 
> wavelengths is lower than some commonly used amateur frequencies, at least 
> according to OET-65.   At radar frequencies, dish antennas can develop a lot 
> of gain and ERP's get enormous, giving rise to the "microwave oven effect". 
> Why did the Navy check those guys in 1958?  Who knows?  They didn't know 
> much about RF back then.  When I was in the Navy in 1969, the rumor was that 
> radar operators got cataracts as a result of working around the equipment, 
> but we know now that that's not true.

Its been reported for nigh on 60 years that looking into a X band
waveguide excited by a 20 or 50 milliwatt local oscillator klystron WILL
make near instant cataracts in men or rabbits. That's not a great power
density, less than 100 milliwatts per square inch. The power density in
front of a 50 x 50' dew line dish would take 72 KW at the feed to get to
100 milliwatts per square inch.

> As for the guy who was on the nuclear 
> powered carrier, again, *ionizing* radiation from nuclear sources and 
> *non-ionizing* radiation from RF have nothing in common except that they 
> "radiate" out from a central point.  So does a light bulb.
> 
>          Ron  N6IE
>       www.N6IE.com
> 
73, Jerry, K0CQ