{Sorry- long BIO-pysics post.} :=)
Bruce says:
:[My group is using RADAR as a weapon; the GM lets them.]
:Has anyone any info on this supposed effect?
:Is it useable as a weapon on a regular basis?
Yes, to both questions, within limits. RADAR is a microwave radio
signal. By carefully designing your antenna, you can concentrate
the power of your transmitter into semi-coeherent short bursts, and
broadcast it generally in one direction. RADAR normally works by
timing the difference between when you send a signal and receive it.
[technical aside: if you design your antenna as a resonant cavity, you
can create a truly coherent, single wavelength, beam - aka MASER. This
will function like a laser weapon, only bigger, subject to the limits
described below.]
Essentially, you just get a big microwave transmitter, and an antenna
that can take the power, and cook your enemies. Just like the one in
your kitchen, only bigger. Shrewd users will have the models that
broadcast in the range most absorbed by water. A normal surface-search
radar is not terribly efficient at cooking sophonts because the frequencies
used tend to be reflected by water--but they will work.
:Why don't we use it as a weapon TODAY? I've never heard of it before in
:real world situations.
:What sort of ranges and strengths and effects are we talking about?
:What defences are there to it?
It's bulky. It's heavy. It's nonselective. It's a sitting duck for one
HARM. That is, one infantryman with a rifle and or shoulder launched
missile will toast thousands of dollars worth of gear.
It's easily defeated. Just wear aluminized clothing. (i.e. reflec will
work like a champ. So will almost any vehicle with metal in it.)
It's easily spoofed. (Think I used the right word.) Small changes in
subsurface composition, trees, streams, etc. will scatter and or deflect
the beam in strange ways. It's quite possible (it was at TL7) to wear
armor that makes a person *invisible* to the assigned wavelength.
To do a good job with this puppy, you probably want, say, a ten kW
transmitter capable of a 50% duty cycle in the neighborhood of 300MHz.
Just about any phased yagee antenna whould work, but make sure you have
a good impedance match. Effective range should be out to a few to a
few tens of km. Of course you'll eliminate life as we know it in the
area. Kinda like napalm.
Finally, except at short ranges, it is truly inhumane. It cooks its
targets. It is not quick. It is painful. It does NOT lessen mental
acuity or physical co-ordination. That is, you've hurt your enemy and
he can still fight you.
If *I* were the GM, I'd have field day with this. If your enemy were
advanced, there'd be an anti-radiation missile knocking on your door
in short order. (And you *WILL* be detected--these are electronically
NOISY.) If your enemy were primitive, they'd hide behind rocks, trees,
and in water (just like normal), making them capable of long (several
minutes) of exposure, during which they would assault your position.
- --
Richard Johnson [email removed]
Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make maddening.