I don't believe the Earth is flat. Rather than simply saying Flat-Earth Dave is wrong, I wanted to explain why he is wrong.
One of his arguments took some time to crack. Dave pointed to the German WWII Knick-ebein aircraft guidance system.
His argument was:
Microwaves require line of sight.
The Knickebein transmitted signals to bombers over a distance where the curvature of a round Earth would have blocked line of sight. Dave argues that the Knickebein system worked, therefore, the Earth must be flat.
The ham radio operator I spoke to about this became frustrated and yelled:
“What frequency?!”
That was the question I should have asked first.
I checked the frequency. Microwaves operate from 300 MHz to 300,000 MHz.
Then I checked Knickebein: 30–33 MHz.
Knickebein wasn't operating at microwave frequencies.
That led me to look at a picture of what Knickebein actually was. When I looked at the antenna system, I discovered something: The microwave dish in Dave's slide presentation is not that of a Knickebein. Knickebein an antenna system called the “bent-leg” from which its name came.
Dave identified Knickebein as a microwave system.
It is not.
Suddenly, there's microwave line-of-sight paradox to explain.
I had spent time trying to disprove a conclusion, while accepting a false premise.
Most responses to flat-Earth claims start with, “That's stupid. Everyone knows the Earth is round.”
That doesn't explain anything.
Dave's argument sounded convincing. He said Knickebein used microwaves, his slide showed a microwave dish, and he correctly pointed out the line-of-sight limitations associated with microwave communication.
The mistake was upstream.
I had been asking, How could microwaves travel that far around a curved Earth?
I should have been asking, Were they microwaves? They weren't.
Before trying to disprove a conclusion, check the premises it's built upon.
Watch the video here, Why the Earth Isn't Flat.
