[AMRadio] Dangerous prank plus a story

[CL in NC]

Hard to say if fellow who put the radioactive capsule under K5SPE contributed to his health issues, chances are it did.  I worked at an FAA long range radar site back in the 70's, 4MW peak power in full diplex mode, 320 watts average, and at a spot under the TR switches, an OSHA safety inspector making measurements said, "I wouldn't stand on this spot for very long."  A waveguide TR switch was a 3 port 1/4 wave device with a diode on one leg that fired when the TX did, effectively 'shorting out'  the waveguide going to the receiver, and the spot the diode plugged in was radiating significantly.  While that old FPS20/66 radar set is long gone, of the 10 man crew I worked with back then, only one other fellow that worked there beside me, has not died from cancer.  When I worked in the TACAN repair shop at the JAX, Fla., NARF,  a curious spread of cancer occurred in the Norfolk, VA.  NARF  shop.  It was discovered that in that shop, they checked the air to air mode in the TACAN by radiating within the shop from 1 set to the other, a pair of 1KW, 1Ghz peak power transmitters, leaving 2 of  them locked on to each other for hours at a time.  Some years ago, reports surfaced that the Russians had been, at least since the 1950's,  beaming a steady microwave carrier  from a building across from the  US Ambassador, directly into his office at a level that exposed him to 100 milliwatts.  Technically, they were doing nothing wrong because at the time, 100 mw was the max continuous  exposure rate allowed in industry and elsewhere in the US, while in Europe it was (is) 10 mw.  Cancer rate among those posted to Russia was higher than normal.  Like all of us perhaps, I have a cellphone, and will never be convinced that holding a 800Mhz and up low power microwave oven  up to my head has no effect in the long run.  If it was actually proven to have side effects, that might kill an industry or all cell phones would have a coax feeding an antenna on top of a metal helmet.  But, everybody in the future will be myopic after looking at a 2 inch square screen all day, so the corrective lens biz will be happy at least.

Charlie,  W4MEC in NC