On 08/15/17 13:51, Paul Andrews wrote:
Zach,
Interesting that you mention high power RF safety. The FCC will require all hams to submit an RF safety certification with license renewals. Hams will need to submit documentation supporting the safety of their stations and possibly keep field strength monitoring equipment at the QTH.
The strictest limits will be placed in 50 MHz to 500 MHz range since the human body absorbs RFI energy efficiently in this frequency range.
This should affect small satellite stations but will affect EME class station nestled in neighborhoods.
Paul,
I suspect you meant "should not" in that last sentence.
For those of you not familiar with these regulations:
http://www.arrl.org/fcc-rf-exposure-regulations-the-station-evaluation
At 70cm, stations are assumed, by the FCC, to be meeting the exposure guidelines with up to 70 watts of power input to the antenna. There is no language about EIRP, which, strangely, is what really matters.
I'd much rather stand next to a horizontal dipole radiating 1.5kW than be in the boresight of an EME array at 70W.
An interesting NIH paper which summarizes the effects of RF exposure:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208983/
I think I'll stick to limiting my extra-crispy bacon intake to the weekends. ;-)
73,
--- Zach N0ZGO