Abstract The center-limb variation of the solar microwave burst intensity is investigated statistically with a sufficient number of events (~ 1000) at 17 GHz far above the mean turnover frequency of the microwave burst spectrum. The intensity of bursts (except that of GRF bursts) is independent of the disk longitude, which is slightly different from the results so far obtained below 10 GHz and also is in contradiction to the theoretical prediction by Takakura and Scalise (1970; AAA 3.077.005). Several possible models are proposed to explain why the gyrosynchrotron emission is apparently isotropic. On the other hand, the intensity of GRF bursts decreases by a factor of two near the limb, suggesting that the emission is not attributed purely to free-free emission but partially to thermal gyroemission, and that the source region is situated near the top part of magnetic loops. The center-limb variations of the occurrence frequencies of type III, II, and IV bursts at 70–600 MHz are also examined. The results are a weak (~ 30 %) limb decrease for type III bursts, a flat distribution for type II bursts, and a moderate (~ 40 %) limb decrease for type IV bursts. No systematic east-west asymmetries are found. These results are consistent with the interpretation that the directivities are due to the propagation effect.