use microwave oven as high powered transmitter.

McGyver Death-Ray I'm thinkin'....

It's already well modulated at 60 Hz. at least in these parts.

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The magnetron would be a very crude type of emitter.

In theory a high power microwave transmitter can be built with a magnetron. It would have to be properly tuned to the antenna. Being a crude magnetron, it would be very high on harmonics to begin with. I would doubt that this type of transmitter would have any approval by the FCC.

Today's radar systems use very refined tubes such as a TWT or Klystron with proper tuning and control. There are new technology radar systems that are working with solid state high power devices rather than tubes. They work at a much lower base power than the magnetron from a microwave oven.

As for pointing such a high power transmitter at anything, it would be lethal.

A point of interest is that there is some research going on to be able to make a solid state microwave oven. Getting the high power levels required for food cooking using solid state devices at a reasonable cost, is what is being researched.

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 wrote in message 
news:1174248178.430663.207580@y66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
I was sitting around thinking the other day. (I sometimes do this when
I have a few extra minutes), and it occurred to me that there is a
very powerful source of RF energy sitting in most of our kitchens. Our
microwave oven. Now theororetically speaking (of course), if the
magnetron was properly connected to a waveguide and this energy was
directed to a suitable parabolic antenna we would have a very high
powered 2400 MHZ CW transmitter. To further the project, I don't
believe there is a screen grid on a mag so if one was enterprising
enough could plate modulation be added  to this? I'm sure FCC approval
would be no problem at all....
 Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics.

What possible use is this?

NT

Little information content. :)

You would have to modify the power supply to produce HV DC and then modulate that.

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Or filter the existing power supply to get DC and build a pulse generator to get short pulses at a high frequency (> 10 KHz) and FM modulate the pulse generator. :-)

Bill K7NOM

The way they are designed, you can't simply tack on a filter capacitor. The existing parts could be rearranged into a half wave rectified and filter supply at perhaps 2 kV. To reach the 4 kV or so peak of the typical oven, would require another HV diode and HV cap. But it's a bit more hassle because the normal microwave oven has the HV transformer, HV capacitor, and magnetron with one side connected to the chssis.

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The ones I've dealt with have two terminals on the capacitor, I don't recall seeing any polarizing markings. You're right about the transformer and magnetron though.

Yeah, that has to be correct. Neither end of the cap is normally grounded.

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It was done, about 20 years ago by a ham radio operator. There was an article published in one of the ham radio magazines about it.

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I think it's been done by hams, many years ago. With a tube in series with the HV to modulate the plate voltage.

Unfortunately the magnetron isnt too stable, frequency-wise. So with varying plate voltage you get both AM and FM.

And too wide a bandwidth for moon-bounce, I'd guess.

With an appropriately pointed dish you could update motorists speed on speed camera RADAR. Sounds good to me, besides making the camera operator go a little blind. The alternative is that you should cook the primary detection circuit on the device, cooking its goose so to say. Modulation could be a problem...