New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power transmission

Re:New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power tr... by hugi on Wednesday September 09, 2020 @04:10PM (#24425367)

An electrician working at a Radar station here in Iceland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofn_Air_Station) was stuck there overnight during a snow storm. For some reason he decided to stay in the radar room, probably since it "felt warmer". He was found properly cooked the next day. Not really an interesting story, but since I was probably 6 years old when I heard it it's stuck with me ever since and caused an everlasting fear of high powered radar.

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Re:New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power tr... by biofunsf on Wednesday September 09, 2020 @04:30PM (#24425579)

This actually sounds a lot like an urban legend. Especially given that it’s a story you heard in your youth.

I wasn’t able to find a report of that happening at the Hofn station, but the same story of this happening to an anonymous microwave technician does appear in other locales.

Snopes did a debunking on these and they say it’s false: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nuke-of-earl/

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Re:New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power tr... by ajsnigrutin on Wednesday September 09, 2020 @05:35PM (#24426196)

Yep... considering the skin effect, any microwave radiation would start heating the outside skin layer first, and it would hurt long before anything inside you was "cooked".

If you got locked in there.. then sure... maybe.... but staying in there and not feeling it (or just feeling "warmer", until you die...) nope.

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Re:New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power tr... by tyingq on Wednesday September 09, 2020 @05:04PM (#24425883)

Here's a credible source for some "far short of death", but real incidents: https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article-pdf/50/1/49/4284302/...

Note: They are ~900Mhz, so short of "microwave", but pretty close.

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Re:New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power tr... by hugi on Wednesday September 09, 2020 @04:39PM (#24425672)

Yeah, most probably an urban legend. But sure stuck in my young mind :).

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Re:New Zealand is about to test long-range wireless power tr... by nickt on Wednesday September 09, 2020 @05:50PM (#24426345)

Ha, stories similar to that were going around in the 90's in the RAF. Particularly if you found yourself out in the cold at an RRH up north somewhere...

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