Value chain · CLM-1292
Low confidence
The evidence behind this statement is thin, indirect or second-hand. Read it as a lead to check, not as a settled finding.
In plain terms
In 1966 Canadian researchers found that caged birds under a pulsed radar-band beam at roughly the strength proposed for a power beam's centre reacted within seconds, but only when the beam came from above.
The claim as recorded
A 1966 Nature letter from the National Research Council of Canada reports caged birds exposed to pulsed microwaves at 16,000 Mc/s (8,000 pulses per second) and 10 to 30 mW/cm2, with exposures under 60 seconds. With the horn above the cage, fourteen-week-old chickens showed sustained extensor activity of a wing and leg a few seconds after onset; shielding the head or the body made no significant difference. With the horn below the cage there was no muscular disturbance, only a startled reaction at onset. Pigeons showed distress and unsteady gait, and their wings did not return to the fully retracted position for an hour or more; ring-billed gulls showed distress and unsteady gait. Feather absorption tests were negative. The letter argues the short, low-intensity exposures rule out heat as the cause.
Evidence behind this: T1 by venue, a measured observation in a peer-reviewed journal; the letter gives the method in a paragraph and states no bird numbers, temperatures or uncertainty. It permits "the 1966 letter reports Y in caged birds under these conditions" only.
Scope and limits
Pulsed at 16 GHz, a different frequency and waveform from a CW microwave power beam; whether the effect carries over is not stated and no scaling is given. Birds caged under a horn, not flying through a beam; field measured how is not stated; bird numbers not stated. 16,000 Mc/s is 16 GHz (unit conversion, ours). The beam-centre comparison in plain rests on CLM-0080 (about 25 mW/cm2), not on this page. The letter's pulse rate (8,000 pps) differs from SRC-654's 8400 pps for what may be the same generator; not resolved. Right-column line ends clipped (see transcript GAPS).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
, PDF p.1 (printed p.636): chickens fourteen weeks old "at power levels in the range 10-30 mW/cm2, at a frequency of 16,000 Mc/s"; horn above: "a few seconds after the onset of radiation, that sustained extensor activity of a wing and leg occurred"; horn below: "no signs of muscular disturbance". Pigeons and seagulls (ringbill) "similar but less dramatic results"; exposure times "less than 60 sec".
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-001 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1292
CLM-1292, Energy Aperture, as of 1966-05-07.