A simple economical 2.45 GHz microwave system has been developed and utilized for preionization on the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)-TOKAMAK. The magnetron microwave source was obtained from a widely used, household microwave oven. Since ac operation of the magnetron is not suitable for tokamak application, the magnetron cathode bias circuit was modified to obtain continuous and stable operation of the magnetron for several hundred milliseconds. Application of the developed microwave system to KAIST-TOKAMAK resulted in a reduction of ohmic flux consumption. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)02007-4].