[CW] Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules Become Effective May 3

Wed Apr 14 06:55:35 EDT 2021

Just a note - this is happening in the UK too. Ofcom (our regulator) says harm to an operator is not the issue, it’s harm to anyone else that is. And when you consider we (mostly) have very small gardens (back yard) and our antennas might only be a few feet from a neighbour, it could be a bit of an issue - especially for those ops that use a loop fixed to the fence.

73 de David, M0XDF
-- 
God could not be everywhere, and therefore he created mothers.
-Jewish proverb

> On 13 Apr 2021, at 23:03, Steve WD8DAS via CW <cw at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> That's one of the most important questions, Doc, and the ARRL announcement did a weak job of covering that point.  
> 
> As far as I can tell no filing would be needed, just an analysis of your station(s) covering every antenna and every band at highest possible power levels for each.  
> 
> Another question:  Did anyone actually do a study of amateur stations to see if the exemption was a mistake and this change is really needed?  I doubt it, or if someone did I bet it is full of assumptions.  I'd expect that 99.9% of amateur  stations lack any real risk of significant RF exposure, but  now everyone still has to do the analysis and document the results.
> 
> In my opinion the few at-risk hams are VHF-and-up enthusiasts, with the increased body absorption and higher gain antenna issues.  But most of those operators usually like their antennas way up high - where no people are - further reducing the number who have an exposure risk.  
> 
> Seems like there is an insignificantly-small fraction of the amateurs who even have any chance of being over the limits, yet 100% are going to have to document their status. Absurd.  A lot of fooling around to stop that one guy from running 1500 watts into a microwave dish pointed into his own apartment building.
> 

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