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.

  • teft@piefed.socialEnglish
    11·
    12 days ago

    Someone from the FCC is going to show up pdq. It’s really easy to triangulate signals. (This is the reason it sucks to be a radarman in modern warfare. whenever you’re transmitting you’re basically transmitting a huge “HERE I AM” sign to everyone with an antenna)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direction_finding

    You’re never going to flood those frequencies except locally. Radio needs 4 times the power to go double the distance. It gets really crazy how much power you’d need not to mention the size of the antennas you’d have to have.

    Edit: I guess i missed half your post.

    First, is what this person claimed even a real thing?

    Depends what type of drone and what type of radar but it’s plausible. Some radar and radio controllers operate on the same frequencies.

    Would naval radar take small, hobbiest-type drones out of the air?

    Again, it’s possible it just depends on some factors that we don’t know.

    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?

    It depends which band they use for the radar signal. Some bands interfere with local things like wifi others not so much.

    Would it damage any other devices, such as TVs or computers?

    Not likely anything permanent. Especially with how little power you’d be able to muster.

    What effects would it have on nearby humans? Would people in the house be burned?

    No effects on the humans since it’s not ionizing radiation. No one would be burned unless they touched the antenna while it was transmitting. That could lead to an RF burn.

    How much power would be required?

    More than you’re going to be getting from the house mains if you want to go past a few miles.

    How long would it take the FCC to determine exactly which house had done it? How would they pinpoint the location?

    See my answer above.

    • P00ptart@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      12 days ago

      You could use capacitors to add additional charge if you’re just trying to do a quick burst, but you wouldn’t get much if anything out of it by doing that because it would be powered down before you could get a return on it.