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Listen, if you think handing a kid a cavity magnetron and the multi-kilowatt power supply to drive it ON TOP of a high-voltage CRT display is a good idea -- the

Listen, if you think handing a kid a cavity magnetron and the multi-kilowatt power supply to drive it ON TOP of a high-voltage CRT display is a good idea -- then I really want to know how it goes.

jakey_bakey 3y ago
"Back in my day..."
nomel 3y ago
Well, obviously that part would be on the roof, and you would hand the kid something that would, to them, be indistinguishable from the API approach, all as you nervously wait for authorities, from the nearby military base, to come check your intentions.
mschuster91 3y ago
I know at least three people who are nuts, skilled and moneyed enough to actually build a legit radar system - they're all hams. Only problem I think would be getting a license to transmit on radar frequencies...
seabass-labrax 3y ago
As someone who grew up around (literally stacks of) analogue equipment, I feel that it's worth noting that there's nothing particularly unsafe about high voltages when they're properly contained. The dielectric strength of air is sufficiently high that you effectively need to be touching the conductor before it will arc. At that point, there's not a terrible amount of different between touching a live 240V AC terminal (the standard where I live and in most of the world) and a live 2000V AC terminal. I'm definitely not suggesting that one should be cavalier about high voltages, just pointing out that electrocution wasn't a big problem in practice for most of the time when these older devices were used. There several more pressing safety issues with analogue equipment than simple electrocution: - Fire risk due to the much greater energy consumption of older discrete components. Even the passive losses when in standby are considerable; the need for heatsinks is a given, and ventilation is critical. - Explosion (actually implosion) risk of vacuum tubes/thermionic valves. There are a surprising number of videos online of people deliberately destroying TVs with overvoltage, but suffice it to say that you do not want one plugged into the mains during a thunderstorm. - Physical injury. Not really the fault of the technology per se, but it can be easy to forget just how physically light modern equipment is. You can hurt yourself by trying to move older devices. Having the equipment fall on them is probably the biggest risk to a toddler who's not actually trying to take the device apart.

Listen, if you think handing a kid a cavity magnetron and the multi-kilowatt power supply to drive it ON TOP of a high-voltage CRT display is a good idea -- then I really want to know how it goes.

jakey_bakey 3y ago

"Back in my day..."

nomel 3y ago

Well, obviously that part would be on the roof, and you would hand the kid something that would, to them, be indistinguishable from the API approach, all as you nervously wait for authorities, from the nearby military base, to come check your intentions.

mschuster91 3y ago

I know at least three people who are nuts, skilled and moneyed enough to actually build a legit radar system - they're all hams. Only problem I think would be getting a license to transmit on radar frequencies...

seabass-labrax 3y ago

As someone who grew up around (literally stacks of) analogue equipment, I feel that it's worth noting that there's nothing particularly unsafe about high voltages when they're properly contained. The dielectric strength of air is sufficiently high that you effectively need to be touching the conductor before it will arc. At that point, there's not a terrible amount of different between touching a live 240V AC terminal (the standard where I live and in most of the world) and a live 2000V AC terminal. I'm definitely not suggesting that one should be cavalier about high voltages, just pointing out that electrocution wasn't a big problem in practice for most of the time when these older devices were used. There several more pressing safety issues with analogue equipment than simple electrocution: - Fire risk due to the much greater energy consumption of older discrete components. Even the passive losses when in standby are considerable; the need for heatsinks is a given, and ventilation is critical. - Explosion (actually implosion) risk of vacuum tubes/thermionic valves. There are a surprising number of videos online of people deliberately destroying TVs with overvoltage, but suffice it to say that you do not want one plugged into the mains during a thunderstorm. - Physical injury. Not really the fault of the technology per se, but it can be easy to forget just how physically light modern equipment is. You can hurt yourself by trying to move older devices. Having the equipment fall on them is probably the biggest risk to a toddler who's not actually trying to take the device apart.