[TVARC] ARRL Letter: Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules BecomeEffective May 3

[Cal Fuhrman]

This issue came up in last evening’s club meeting.

Ed Hare’s paper referenced by Tony is extremely thorough and an excellent reference on the subject of RF radiation as it applies to human exposure.  Although it is advisable for everyone to fully understand the issues surrounding Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE), it is not necessary for everyone to wade through all of the technical explanations surrounding RF exposure to determine your situation.  

Link 1 below sends you to the ARRL web site where you can find 2 forms with instructions.  Both forms are also “buried” in Ed Hare’s document.  
• Page 1 is the Categorical Exemption for Station Evaluation containing the instructions for Worksheet A found on page 2.  This form will quickly let you know whether or not you require an evaluation.  Many of us will only need to do this step.  This form refers to Table 1.1 of Ed’s document so Link 2 supplied below sends you to that table and several additional helpful tables.  
• If Worksheet A says you need the evaluation, it can be found on page 3 and page 4 which is Worksheet B, the station evaluation with instructions.  

These two forms are essentially the same forms the FCC/ARRL have been using since the MPE requirement was initially used back 10 or so years ago.  Many 100 watt stations are unlikely to require an evaluation.  Directional and gain antennas running QRO (high power) could easily need an evaluation.    Either way, you can quickly determine your situation using these two forms.  If you need the evaluation you will also need to refer to the exposure tables in chapter 5 of Ed’s document.

The first form determines your transmitter output power minus feed line loss to arrive at PEP input power at the antenna feed-point.    The second form is the evaluation itself.  Those can both be accessed at this link:

LINK 1:  Worksheets A & B plus instructions - Instructions - Categorical Exemption for Station Evaluation (arrl.org)

The Categorical Exemption worksheet refers to a Table 1.1 which is also “buried” deep down in Ed Hare’s paper but can more quickly be accessed here:

Link 2:  Table 1 - FCC RF-Exposure Regulations -- the Station Evaluation (arrl.org)  NOTE: You will need to scroll down to get to the table

Using these two forms you can quickly determine the following:
1. Do I need to perform an evaluation?  Refer also to Table 1 
2. If I do, is my station compliant?  Refer also to the distance and exposure tables from chapter 5 of Ed’s paper,

Lower power, use of a non-directional antenna and lower operating frequencies combined with a bit of distance to the antenna all work in your favor.  Mag loop antennas used for transmitting at power levels of 100 watts are now available.  If you are using one of these you may want to be familiar with Ed’s entire document.  Hopefully this will save you some time.

73
Cal – WA3CTZ


From: Anthony Wayne Hackenberg via TVARC
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2021 7:26 PM
To: MailList at QTH.net TVARC
Subject: [TVARC] ARRL Letter: Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules BecomeEffective May 3

Hi Members of TVARC’s MailList:

Today’s (April 15, 2021) “ARRL Letter” contains an important announcement about the FCC’s revised rules regarding radio frequency exposure (RFE), which go into effect on May 3, 2021. As far as amateur radio stations are concerned, these revised rules do NOT change the underlying RFE rules; but, they eliminate the previous “blanket exemption” for amateur radio stations.  So, now, every amateur radio station will need to determine if their station is exempt and/or perform an RFE evaluation/calculation.

The relevant article entitled “Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules Become Effective on May 3”: can be located in today’s “ARRL Letter,” which is available at this link:

http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2021-04-15

That article contains many useful references to help you quickly and easily perform the required RF exposure evaluation for your ham station.

Stay safe from COVID-19 by “Minding Your Ws”:


  Watch your distance 📏🚧
  Wash your hands 🚻🧼🚰
  Wear your masks 😷😷
  Wait for vaccines’ availability 
    & get yours ASAP thereafter 💉💉

73,
Tony/K4QR

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