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Old 16th January 2009 | 15:08
  #375 (permalink)  
Graybeard
 
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 896
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From: SoCalif
Cooked Goose

Oh, Hornet Protector, wasn't the legend that the high RF energy from the Wx radar would repel birds? Those radars were also blamed for attracting lightning strikes, according to the wisdom in some airlines.

The old radars had high power magnetron transmitters, typically 65,000 watts peak power, which is about 700 watts RMS (cooking) power, like in your kitchen nuke.

The digital radars that came out in the 1981 era are on the order of 150 watts peak power, less than 1 watt RMS, so they have no ability to either repel birds, or attract lightning...

GB
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