radar mechanism to monitor diy radar reflectors made on aluminum foils or tape or cd, any alternative to radar?

From Raymond's reply to Douglas above, it looks like they are working on "a DIY radar reflector" for a competition, and the radar is needed to test them.

(This is something that should have been in the title and the description)

I've seen projects like this Instructable for a DIY one, but the question for safety equipment like that is always: does it actually work? So I do see merit in the question/project, if that's really the goal of the OP.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Really-Lightweight-Radar-Reflector-built-with-CDs/

Cheers,

-Nico

Hi Douglas,

I had a quick look at eBay, and it looks like radar sensors are about $1, But it looks like those only detect, not send. So I'm guessing the OP would need to set up a couple of dish style antennas - one to receive a signal from a relative location, and another to shoot a burst of radar signal out to that general location.

Hey I just found this little sketch which seems to indicate my thoughts aren't too far off: Sending and Receiving Signals:detecting a target

The trickiest part might be the sending of a pulse.

-Nico

>But do you have another suggestion eyy???

Probably best to start by changing the title of this post to something like "Need help testing DIY radar reflectors", if that's the goal.

Then delete the other posts (if no useful content there), or edit them to say that the discussion is in this post so that people don't waste time there.

Thanks for helping to clarify the fuzzy project objectives Nico.

Still, if the objective is to validate performance of radar reflector innovations, why mount the targets on the "top of the trees"?

I'm just guessing,but perhaps the idea is to simulate an aerial search in a water rescue scenario, but in reverse (i.e., from the ground up rather than from the air down).

Without explanation from Raymond I don't think we can be of much more help.

I track posts on one section only for this site and don't do any correlation. You have tools that provide you some insight. It appears the free technical support is not response enough.

I appreciate dealing with a crisis and trying to find a fast resolution. A lot of my professional career involved dealing with crisis. I have some difficultly responding to a crisis, if insufficient information is provided along with the high expectations. The free technical support offered is not actually free. Someone has to invest in order to get an answer. My expectation is the requester is the first person to must be willing to make the investment.

I try to respect the understanding, that not all requesters have the language abilities to communicate effectively. If English is not their first language then the communication problem is compounded. I try not to label the course someone is taking to arrive at an answer. My preferred approach is to throw out some channel markers for them to follow. If I don't get a favorable response, then I feel I have little more to invest.

An example of channel markers are follow-up questions to clarify the issue and narrow down the solution gap. I am willing to offer free technical support but at a cost.

Sean

>I'm ok with people asking for help with "non-disclosure" type projects

I should add that it would be best to be honest and transparent - let people know it's for a non-disclosure type project. For example "I need to keep parts of the project secret because it's for a competition" or "...because I hope to get a patent".

That would make sense.

If silentknight14th lives near the sea he could ask a friendly fisherman to help test it with their nav radar.

Rod

>Without explanation from Raymond I don't think we can be of much more help.

Agreed. I'm only guessing based on incomplete clues left by him.

And my guessing is based on my own personal interest in the specific project of DIY radar reflectors for boats!

And yes the trees thing is strange - proper testing would involve various angles of the target being tested, but the target can be rotated rather then raised.

That may be a secret Raymond doesn't wish to disclose.

>ask a friendly fisherman to help test it

True, use a marine radio to ask them maybe.

In my neck of the woods I bet the ferries company (BC Ferries) would be more than happy to help test (I would call up their HQ in that case), as a simple DIY radar reflector on all little boats would make their life a whole lot easier.

Wow your clairvoyance skills in determining the objective far exceed mine.

I withhold responding without sufficient information. Replying to what I think or what I guess they require is a formula for frustration and wasted ink:)

Sean