this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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What would happen if I transmitted radar in a residential neighborhood using the same power used by the US Navy? (fedia.io)
submitted 3 days ago by bayaz@fedia.io to c/askscience@lemmy.world
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I once saw a post on Reddit or similar claiming that the poster lived near a US Naval base and that occaisionally all hobbiest drones flying near the base would just shut down. They claimed that this was due to the powerful radar signals sent out from the base that either interfered with the drones' controls or caused an electrical problem of some kind in the drones. I'm not sure whether they said it was a ship or something on the base itself that sent the signals.

I guess my question comes in two parts. First, is what this person claimed even a real thing? Would naval radar take small, hobbiest-type drones out of the air? I can't find the post, and I didn't see anything similar mentioned in a brief search.

Second, this made me think about more fun what-if type questions. If someone just set up an antenna in a suburban neighborhood and blasted out radar with the power of a "typical" US Navy ship or station, what effects would it have on the neighborhood? For example:

  • Would it damage any other devices, such as TVs or computers?
  • What effects would it have on nearby humans? Would people in the house be burned?
  • How much power would be required?
  • I know this would be super illegal. How long would it take the FCC to determine exactly which house had done it? How would they pinpoint the location?

I feel stupid adding this caveat, but I'll mention that don't worry, I have no intention of blasting high-powered radar signals from my residence.

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[โ€“] Brokkr@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I can't answer all your questions, but I can assure you that you probably don't have a suffiently large enough power service connection at your house to blast out a powerful enough signal to do much damage.

If you did use all available power at your address, it would take almost no time to locate the person blasting out a massive "it's me!" signal over the radio waves. Much like if you used all the power at your address to blast out an incredibly loud sonar signal, people will notice pretty quickly. Also, the massive antenna or radar dish/dome (much like the massive speakers) would give you away visually.