Radar use RADIO waves or MICROwaves or both?

Question

iv heard radio waves are used for wireless communications...and microwaves in radar..!!

but doesn't that sound contradictory to the name 'RADAR" itself???

Answer 1

RADAR uses microwaves(freq of less than 1 meter wavelength(freq>300MHZ) Radar stands for "range and direction" detection they are radio freq.(electromagnetic) waves. Microwaves are used in radio communication mostly in satellite and point to point since there distance is limited by the horizon.While the lower frequencies are not. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave

Answer 2

Microwaves are radio waves.  They are generally defined to be between 300 mHz and 300 gHz (first link).  Most modern Radars use microwave frequencies. The exception is Over The Horizon (OTH) Radars that use frequencies as low as 6 mHz. (second link).

Answer 3

radar, I suspect is "Radio Detection and Ranging"

Radio & microwave are electromagnetic radiation.

"radio" tends to mean lower frequency.

"microwave" tends to to mean higher frequency.

Microwave has common meaning above about 1GHz, (1000 MHz, 1E9 Hz) but can be used below.

The older term "wireless" was equivalent to "radio" but seems to have become fashionable again. Often it refers to digital links such as internet connections which are commonly "microwave" being often 2 GHz or 5GHz, or numerous similar frequencies for point-to-point links & satelite.  

These terms are therefore rather flexible in common use.

"radio" used to be a broad term similar to the present-day use of "wireless", so no real problem with RADAR.