Response of the Effelsberg 100m radio telescope to signals in the near-field at 24 GHz

Abstract. Short range radar (SRR) for cars has been proposed to operate over 5 GHz of bandwidth at the 24 GHz ISM band. To estimate the level of interference from these devices on radio telescopes, the near-field antenna pattern has to be known. We report on new measurements with the Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope. These measurements were performed with a transmitter set up at a distance of 1.7 km from the telescope. The strength of the signal picked up by the telescope sidelobes shows that the proposed SRR would interfere with sensitive radio astronomical observations.