David Carter
Guru
I went threw some locks on the Okeechobee and they had me shut down my radar. I'm guessing because it emits a dangerous wave. Is that shooting into the back of my head when I'm traveling. Could that be well never mind....
I remember in 1970 our neighbor bought an Amana Radarange and the fact that it could cook hotdogs in less then a minute blew our minds.
When I was in the Navy we had an aircraft that had a big powerful radar (13' X 4' antenna). There was an entrance hatch just in front of the antenna in the nose wheel compartment. We were warned not to enter the ac when the radar was being run for fear of being sterilized. I was an electronics tech and stayed in the ac until the radar was turned off. That was a very powerful radar though. Interestingly I've had no children ... that I know of.
I worked on F-4s and F-15s in the Air Force and would not walk in front of an aircraft while the radar was on.
As far as a boat, I would always mount the aray above any humans in the fly bridge, especially if I was cruising a lot.
I'm a little more conversative. I feel that exposure to mircowave radiation is like having someone throw random sized stones at you from 100 yards away. There's little chance they'll hit you with a big one, but if they do I'll hurt. Microwaves can alter a cell's nucleus, and cancer is a possibility. Exposure to microwave energy won't automatically give you cancer, it just increases the risk. The more energy, the greater likelyhood that a bad thing will happen. This is a completly different problem than being cooked, which is simply adding enough Brownian motion (heat) due to the energy increase to cause tissue breakdown (ya get burned). Sperm, by the way, are particulary sensitive to heat, so if you are a male of child producing age, try not to leave the Boy Bits in the beam. I think I get enough radiation via random energy leakage from trons, and from cosmic radition from the universe, that I don't need to add to the total if I can prevent it. I wear a seatbelt too...
I've seen some radar installations on small boats that actually have the radar mounted at the level that would place the crotch of someone at the flybridge directly in the center of the beam. I would not operate the radar from that flying bridge!
Thurman
Who isn't a doctor, but does hold an FCC first class license with a ship's radar endorsement.
Back when first developed the beam was so strong it boiled/kill birds flying through the beam. the first micro waves were Amanradar. So standing in front of a micro wave oven you are getting a small dose. However when not in use the radar should be on standby.