thumb|upright=1.5|In electromagnetic radiation (such as microwaves from an antenna, shown here) the term "radiation" applies only to the parts of the electromagnetic field that radiate into infinite space and decrease in intensity by an inverse-square law of power so that the total radiation energy that crosses through an imaginary spherical surface is the same, no matter how far away from the antenna the spherical surface is drawn. Electromagnetic radiation includes the far field part of the electromagnetic field around a transmitter. A part of the "near-field" close to the transmitter, is part of the changing electromagnetic field, but does not count as electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths ranging from as short as 1 mm to as long as 1 m, which equates to a frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF (millimetre waves), but various sources use different other limits. In all cases, microwaves include the entire super high frequency band (3 to 30 GHz, or 10 to 1 cm) at minimum, with RF engineering often putting the lower boundary at 1 GHz (30 cm), and the upper around 100 GHz (3 mm).
thumb|upright=1.5|In electromagnetic radiation (such as microwaves from an antenna, shown here) the term "radiation" applies only to the parts of the electromagnetic field that radiate into infinite space and decrease in intensity by an inverse-square law of power so that the total radiation energy that crosses through an imaginary spherical surface is the same, no matter how far away from the antenna the spherical surface is drawn. Electromagnetic radiation includes the far field part of the electromagnetic field around a transmitter. A part of the "near-field" close to the transmitter, is part of the changing electromagnetic field, but does not count as electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths ranging from as short as 1 mm to as long as 1 m, which equates to a frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF (millimetre waves), but various sources use different other limits. In all cases, microwaves include the entire super high frequency band (?3 to 30 GHz, or 10 to 1 cm) at minimum, with RF engineering often putting the lower boundary at 1 GHz (30 cm), and the upper around 100 GHz (3 mm).