Microwave Oven as Microwave Transmitter?

I think it may be possible to use the microwave as a carrier wave for a digital signal. The answer undoubtedly lies in the eternal question:

"What would McGuyver do?"

Now if only we had a propane tank and some paper clips in that kitchen...

Nope, you can modulate it as Del suggested and just use morse code. Better than nothing and faster than a message in a bottle.

Well put! I should have waited for you to respond.

"potential receivers are cooking baked potatoes or scrambled eggs instead"

GA PW

"What about hanging the national marine flag on a flagpole upside down?"

That works in lieu of the International Distress flag, which is orange with a black 'meatball' in the center.

How about banging *** - - - *** on the hull and hope a submarine or sonar transponder picks it up?

Might just get received on a malajusted radar.....
IFF (identify friend or foe...or microwave distress beacon)
Del

Loud MEEEEOWS might work too?

distress beacon, or bacon???

Dan

IFP? Identify Friend or Popcorn?

Ok lets say you set up a rudimentary turn table and span the home made beam Ariel round and around as a beacon

You haven't got it yet, have you?

NO-ONE IS LISTENING ON THOSE FREQUENCIES - THEY ARE DOING THEIR COOKING ON THEM INSTEAD!

Spare a quid for a cup of tea, Guvnor? <Splutter>

You haven't got it yet, have you?

NO-ONE IS LISTENING ON THOSE FREQUENCIES -

Don't put all your money on it! Big Brother is awake and listens on ALL the frequencies!

Yes, that's right. You will probably wake up a lot of people at SETI, won't you?

Laylan,

Everything may be possible hypothetically, thus your question may be hypothetically possible.

But practically speaking, it is impossible. Apart from the RF signal (~2.4GHZ) which is primarily converted to heat energy in the microwave oven set up, there is practically no other semblance to useful radio transmitting equipment. Thus, converting MW oven to RF transmitter WILL NOT be possible in an emergency situation.

Cheers,

ethobil

Microwave radiation is not "primarily converted to heat energy in the microwave oven set up". The food fat, water and sugar particles resonate to the magnetron's output frequency creating heat between them by mere friction.

Yahlasit

P.S. Have you seen one of those dumb video craps showing people "cooking pop-corn with 3 ringing cell phones" ?

Intended to scare only the ignorant.

Yahlasit

"The food fat, water and sugar particles resonate to the magnetron's output frequency creating heat between them by mere friction"

You are correct. I assumed the end product to convey my point, which lacked details and to that extent, technically misleading. Thank you for the correction.

Cheers,

ethobil

Laylan,

That last post from ethobil made me think (not that its a rare occurance...) - the microwave cooks your food by emitting radiation at a frequency which excites water molecules - If you were out at sea on a ship and had managed to "McGuyver" a such a radio-culinary abomination which actually operated on a monitored frequency, the water vapour in the air would absorb ALL of your signal radiation (converting it to heat) before it reached a reciever. Of course, it could work over short distances. (I'd say within an order of magnitude of the common range you get for WIFI) At those distances however, a better option would be to use maritime flags or to yell to the guy in the other boat to throw you a line

Regards,

TinTin

the water vapour in the air would absorb ALL of your signal radiation (converting it to heat) before it reached a reciever.
And this explains why RADAR doesn't work
In the Navy WWII they used to put their mugs of cocoa into the waveguide to warm them up...
Del

wow, didn't know that! Bit scary really... I was under the impression that the frequency used by microwave ovens was very specific, targeted at one of the quantum energy levels of the hydrogen atom. I'll have to do some further research to improve my understanding.

Thanks for the correction Del, I'm here to learn

TinTin

I think one of the first Microwave ovens was marketed as the 'Radar Range'... according to QI anyway.
Del

Yes, the Amana "Radar Range." Quite popular in some restaurants but kinda big for the average 1950s home kitchen.

but kinda big for the average 1950s home kitchen.

And a bit futuristic too. They came out in 1967, I believe. I have a built-in 1979 Amana Radarange in my house. Lotsa chrome, solidly built.

MY Uncle was posted in Alaska at a radar station during the 50's. He told me stories how they used to cook hot dogs and "which he said they found out later was really dumb" warm thier hands in the beam.

Wireless links using 2.4GHz equipment and dish antennas have achieved distances up to 50 KM (31 miles).

Range

Radio waves propagate through space using the inverse square law. This means as the distance doubles the signal reduces by 75%. Range is dictated by transmitter power in dB, plus receiver gain in dB, minus losses. Losses include transmission line loss, antenna inefficiencies and alignment and polarisation deficiencies. The major loss, however, is the 'free space loss' or the signal loss over distance.

Learning about directional antennae's and signal to noise ratio for the 2.4Ghz spectrum is where you want to look for information about your question. A one way morse code is what i would be trying to achieve with a microwave generator. Interupting the signal is all that you would have to do. First understanding that initially you are only generating a carrier wave with no information being broadcast. A steady information stream of some kind should be determined and a way to inject it. Then you can interupt it for a morse code or something to attract attention. Big brother should eventually go through their captured information. Hopefully they will before you dehydrate.

When I do things like this I see a shadow and it is always my daughter behind me saying "You are soooo bloody strange. Mom was right !".

So, go for it and she will show up and rescue you.

Maybe if you aim the microwave at the water around your ship, the greenies will hunt you down and "save" you for causing global warming.

This also reminds me of a past post a few days ago about putting your cars FOB transmitter against your head to increase its range. Might work in this app as well.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/39930/Car-Immobiliser-Physics-Question

laylan,

I hope you now understand, by the nature of some of the responses that you got to your question, that you are not permitted to ask a question that would actually cause people to think outside the box. You maybe better off asking how to start your 94 Chevy, that way you will get a bucket load of answers.

Kind Regards

Mr. W.A Snow

Humm!? Outside of the box. My Speciality.

Catch some fish. Play some Mozart or Vivaldi, with the speakers taped to the hull. Put a message in a bottle with a looped cord attached. Wait for some curious Dolphin. Give it some fish, attaching the message to the Dolphin (should read; "Go toward the smell of fish n' chips") Point toward yourself and then the arc of the ocean. Keep doing that untill the Dolphin nods "OK". He may need a few more fish when he realizes this could be a long trip. Put the fish and some fries into the microwave, while tapping out morse code on the power strip, assuming you have jammed the deadman switch and left the door ajar. Hope the USCG womens auxilliary finds you before the Navy. Share what beer you have left with them.

Or as Del pointed out - if *only* the military was looking for you the Amana would stand out quite clearly on both military radar as well as IFF systems (and Elint) so if you had the good fortune to be broke down off some major Soviet or North Korean military port...

Very interesting ideas.. I like it...

What happened to the common sense rule of make sure all of your emergency gear works before leaving shore? I live in the center of North America and don't have a lake large enough to get lost in for about 800 miles and I still know that rule!

If the whole boat power is down and the radios that ran off of it cant work how do you power up the microwave? If you have a portable power source big enough to run the micro wave you have a far greater chance of getting the correct equipment powered up first!

If the whole boat power is down and the radios that ran off of it cant work how do you power up the microwave?

I heard that there are some bicycles that can produce electricity

Sure why not. Try running a microwave off of one! See which gets done first you or the burrito!

I will bet good money the burrito isn't even warmed up enough to eat before you have a stroke or heart attack! Unless you like cold food.

And just out of curiosity how many people bring an exersize bike with on a boat?

<...And just out of curiosity how many people bring an exercise bike with on a boat?...>

About the same number as those that leave the emergency signalling equipment at home and b*gg*r about with a microwave oven instead?!

tcmtech,

"What happened to the common sense rule of make sure all of your emergency gear works before leaving shore" - based on this statement I have to ask if you misunderstood the initial post as I am not sure that you realise that this was a just a hypothetical question to see what could be possible? The poster is not actually stuck out in the middle of the ocean with just a microwave oven (and an internet connection ) and was wondering how to set up the microwave oven so that he/she could be rescued.

In addition I don't think the poster was actually going to do this (this is based on the fact that the poster said "I'm not going to do this but i always wondered if it could be done")

Kind Regards

Mr. W.A Snow

Mine was just a hypothetical response. No real common sense or intelligence was actually intended to have been used!

Hi,

I found the idea interesting! Is it easy to modify the frequency of a microwave oven?