I know that it is conical, but in reality that cone is extremely large compared to the object that it is locating. So relative to the object the waves will be straight lines. Just like how relative to the size of a human the face of the earth is flat.
The reason you can make that kind of blanket assertion, which I deliberately led you into making, is that you know nothing about radar detection other than what you can scrambled up from your paywalled sources, which you do not understand anyway. Radar antennas are not universal in dimensions and
SHAPES. Some are wider than they are tall. In this case, azimuth beamwidth is narrower than elevation beamwidth.
Radar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Most 2D surveillance radars use a spoiled parabolic antenna with a narrow azimuthal beamwidth and wide vertical beamwidth. This beam configuration allows the radar operator to detect an aircraft at a specific azimuth but at an indeterminate height. Conversely, so-called "nodder" height finding radars use a dish with a narrow vertical beamwidth and wide azimuthal beamwidth to detect an aircraft at a specific height but with low azimuthal precision.
In other words, beamshapes depends on antenna shapes, they are not always conical.
Definition: radar resolution cell
The volume of space that is occupied by a radar pulse and that is determined by the pulse duration and the horizontal and vertical beamwidths of the transmitting radar. Note: The radar cannot distinguish between two separate objects that lie within the same resolution cell.
I mentioned this before here and now you can learn another new thing from me. If the radar cannot distinguish two objects inside a cell, then yes, the beam is large enough to encompass two or more objects. But the fact that we can distinguish multiple objects inside a cell means that such distinction depends on target distance. Cell depth do not increase with distance but cell dimensions do. So for you to make that comment mean one thing, that you do not know of the complex relationship between 3 major elements: antenna dimensions, antenna shape and transmit frequency.
Attacking strawman again are we? I never claimed that creeping wave only existed on spherical bodies.
I posted that for the readers' benefits so they can see where you are wrong.
Creeping wave only applies to surface waves, they are not independent of each other
Of course they are. If surface wave can exist without creeping wave, they are independent of each other.
Again you don't seem to realize how radars work, the radar only sees the waves that comes back to it. I have stated before that when a surface wave creeps around the object that it loses most of its energy, this energy is conserved by leaky waves. These leaky waves will never make it back to the receptor due to low energy and wrong orientation.
I understand how radar works better than you do -- 21 yrs worth -- in and out of the military.
I already explained to you in my nicely drawn pictures why creeping wave appears to come from behind the actual object. Because the wave that ends up making it back to the receptor due to having the proper orientation having traversed around the object and thus reversing its direction the lower energy signature that it carries implies that the object is further away.
Am going to explain the truth in better terminologies so people can see how you are wrong. But first...
Attenuation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In physics, attenuation (in some contexts also called extinction) is the gradual loss in intensity of any kind of flux through a medium. For instance, sunlight is attenuated by dark glasses, X-rays are attenuated by lead, and light and sound are attenuated while passing through seawater.
Attenuation: A loss of intensity. Or loss of energy to simplify it some.
On a curve, there is a relationship between the curve's radius and the creeping wave's energy loss, aka attenuation. As the radius decreases, attenuation increases. The greater the radius, the less energy loss for the creeping wave. This is why a creeping wave does not exist, or cannot exist, on a planar but a surface wave can, assuming the incident angle is other than perpendicular. We know that surface and creeping wave create leaky wave. So if a spheroid's diamter is sufficiently large, both SW and CW will completely attenuate before they are able to completely traverse the circumference. Their energy loss via leaky waves can, not must, create a false target spatial location. An aircraft is a complex body and in a head- or tail-on radar collision, the aircraft offers zero odds of any surface wave traveling the upper, over the end and under the body.
Now...There is another conducting body versus traveling wave relationship that involve magnetic and electrical fields that will make you look equally silly as everything else so far but I will leave it out for now.