"because they generally don't have the time and assume they are all accurate." Wow, no wonder they kill folks by accident all the time....... If I took off in an airplane without a preflight check, and something went wrong, I'd expect to loose my license, at least...... and if something bad happened, I'd expect to be personal liable for all damages or deaths I caused. No wonder that malpractice insurance is expensive.

It is so simple. For medical use, a minute or two is close enough for most diagnostic use. Any idiot can compare their watch to the life saving equipment. If they disagree by more than a few minutes, check the watch, then mark the equipment as unusable and send it to be repaired...... and by the way, the cosmonaut and pencil story is plain bullshit, pencils are a terrible idea in zero G. Graphite dust and pencil shavings would be a menace to safety. The "Zero Gravity Pen" was developed by Paul Fisher using his own money, he offered them to NASA for their normal commercial price http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_pen I carry a Fisher pen with me at all times to show my pride for being American.

Don't they have checklists to make sure their equipment is working as expected? Even brain dead pilots like me check every instrument on the panel, every time I fly. If I'm betting somebody else's life on it, I check twice. I'm living proof that an idiot can set a clock within a few seconds. Every nurse I've ever met keeps a watch with a sweep second hand (for observing pulse rate easily). How hard can it be to compare it to a GPS receiver,, networked computer or short wave receiver from time to time? I keep my watch within a second or two of UTC by looking at my computer, listening to WWV on the short wave radio, or looking at a GPS receiver, it's good enough for celestial navigation, it's surely good enough for medicine ..... how hard can it be to check life supporting equipment from time to time?

73 DE WB7RSG :-)

Wow, outstanding! Honest to god back of the envelope microwave engineering! Well done. You must do this for a living.

3. A parabolic reflector made of aluminum,.... No, a parabola focuses to a point, to redirect the beam, you need a very flat metal reflector, like a passive microwave repeater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_repeater but smaller to work at millimeter wave. 4. Standing behind a large piece of sheet metal... Aluminum foil should be plenty, skin depth in aluminum would be close to zero, and the energy would be effectively reflected, not dissipated, it wouldn't get hot.

Explain to me why common aluminum foil would not reflect this "heat ray" away. A protest sign covered in foil would make an efficient shield, and a foil hat with a fine copper mesh veil would let you look at them and laugh. This is hardly a high tech countermeasure. The engineers that work on this can't be stupid enough to have not considered this. There's a lot of money involved, so facts can be suppressed in favor of profits. If you could make a very flat reflector, to keep the reflected beam width narrow, you could redirect the beam at any other target you choose. It should be pretty obvious where the beam is coming from, your reflector is essentially a mirror. Think about how a signaling mirror works, it's easy to aim the reflected sun at a rescue airplane, it might be just as easy to cook the officer standing next to the emitter.

Actually, it's the current, working system. Space Weather has a nice link to a receiver that lets you listen to the echos from stuff flying through the fence http://spaceweatherradio.com/ Or you can do it your self....If you're within several hundred miles of Lake Kickapoo, Texas, and have a receiver that can hear 216.98 MHz, you can hear the echos of things flying through the fence... Big fun if you're a radio nerd :-)

OK, I'll be the fat old white guy that keeps getting beaten for flipping off the screws.... save me a few crumbs.

I think you misunderstand my method a bit..... No real spook would make a scene, they would try to escape at the first hint of trouble. I plan to call almost no attention to myself. My intent is to sit quietly in the corner (back to the wall), drink my purchased coffee and work with the laptop. Most of my internet traffic will be via VPN, with a few encrypted attachments sent through GMail from time to time. If approached, I will immediately power off the computer, collect up my cell phones and prepare to leave, while having as little contact with who ever approaches me as possible. If they demand to see my computer, I will eject the SD chip, surrender the computer to them, and depart without any argument or explanation, if they demand the SD chip I will attempt to destroy it. If they try to detain me, I will ask if they are sworn law enforcement officers, if they are not, I will leave. If they are sworn officers I will repeatedly ask if I am free to go, if I am arrested I will instantly demand a lawyer and answer no questions at all..... Yes, I intend to waste as much of their time as possible. I've used similar tactics before, and I've been arrested for it, several times. I will never post any bail, I have plenty of time for them to waste. I've been held for as long as 4 days for passing out pamphlets in front of our county courthouse, I'm not allowed to discuss the terms of the settlement. When I troll for pigs, I'm very careful to give them no excuse for their behavior, at all. I have the time to mess with them, so I will. My behavior protects honest working people by keeping these idiots busy. Most of the idiots in the field are far too stupid to catch real terrorists, messing with me is far safer for them, a real terrorist might hurt them..... And I do have a Geiger counter too, but that's a different hobby..... My digital camera hobby is more fun, cops hate to have their picture taken. The whole key to getting away with this tactic is having a perfectly clean criminal record, cash in the bank, and lawyers on retainer.... most cop intimidation tactics don't work on me..... in my 50 years, they have never been able to stick anything on me, I'll rot in jail before I take any plea deal, or pay any bail.

I actually intend to do this with a "squeaky clean" Dell netbook with a fresh install of Ubuntu in it...... My SD chip will be full of encrypted pictures of trees and flowers and birds and mountains..... I've been to jail before for doing this sort of thing, it ain't that bad...... I'm just a nobody, even if they torture me, there isn't much I could tell them....... again, will one of you please come bail me out?

This is a nice list of things to use as bait to find out if you're being watched. I think it's time to get out my netbook, and head for the local coffee shops. If I'm approached, I'll immediately turn off the netbook, eject the SD chip, and break it with my pocket multi tool...... will one of you please come bail me out?

OK, let’s try a simple example. A passenger has a cheap FM broadcast receiver. This receiver’s intermediate frequency is 10.7 MHz. The receiver utilizes “high side” injection so its local oscillator frequency is 10.7 MHz higher than the operating frequency. The FM broadcast band is from 88 to 108 MHz, this puts the LO in the 98.7 to 118.7 MHz range. The aircraft navigation band is from 108 to 118 MHz with ILS signals at the bottom of the band and VOR signals all over the band. The broadcast receiver radiates a portion of its local oscillator energy, this is very hard to avoid. The LO appears to the navigation receiver as an interfering carrier. The broadcast receiver is very close to the navigation receiver, the navigation beacon is many miles away, the inverse square law of radio propagation is not your friend, the shielding will not help you, there is an antenna on the navigation receiver, and the LO signal will escape to get into the navigation receiver. This example is very simple, and uses dirt common equipment. There are an untold number of consumer devices that could radiate unintentional, unexpected, signals in navigation and communication bands. When I’m flying, I can see all my passengers, and I can insist that they do as I say or get the hell out of my airplane , a commercial pilot can’t keep track of a whole bus load of people.