Images of the ocean surface taken with active microwave sensors often contain much information on near‐surface and subsurface processes. However, their interpretations may depend on a detailed understanding of the physics of electromagnetic scatter. In scattering theory, the surface hydrodynamics enters the equations via (1) the probability distribution function for either wave heights or slopes, and (2) the two‐dimensional wave height/slope autocovariance or its Fourier transform, the wave vector spectrum. This paper advances an improved model for the ocean surface wave vector spectrum based on recent work by M. A. Donelan, by M. L. Banner, and by B. Jähne and their collaborators. The model addresses the range of surface wavelengths from fully developed wind waves to the gravity‐capillary region. For gravity‐capillary waves, the spectral equation satisfactorily represents the observational data of Jähne et al. taken in tanks at large fetches, in the range from approximately 50 to 1500 rad/m to within the accuracy of the data. From the spectrum, the two‐dimensional autocovariance of the sea surface is computed and correlation lengths and curvatures obtained. When used with a modification of Holliday's formulation of microwave radar backscatter from a Gaussian sea, it quantitatively reproduces observational cross section data taken at vertical polarization from aircraft and spacecraft over the open ocean, with differences from the field data having a mean of −0.2 dB and a standard deviation of 1.7 dB, The range of parameters for which satisfactory fits are obtained includes: wind speeds from 1.5 to 24 m/s; frequencies from approximately 5.5 to 35 GHz; and incidence angles from 0° to greater than 60°. For horizontal polarization, the scattering calculations fail rather badly for larger incidence angles, as do all theories based on the Kirchhoff approximation. Additionally, in spite of the incorporation of an anisotropic angular distribution of wave energy, the observed azimuthal variation of radar scatter is not captured, indicating that the source of that variation lies elsewhere.