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Old February 13th 04, 10:32 PM
Dave Platt
 
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In article ,
Yuri Blanarovich wrote:

OK on the comments, it was my point that exposure to almost any reasonable
level of RF from antennas is not harmfull. If anything it is beneficial.
Microwaves are different story, yes, eyes and nuts are most sensitive. But the
recent bugaboo from FCC and ARRL about RF exposure levels is nuts and another
scary crap.


One thing I might be concerned about, in running a long-wire into the
house, is the possible presence of high RF voltages on the inside end
of the wire. If the wire happens to be near anti-resonance on a
particular band, and it's successfully tuned using an ATU or step-up
transformer, then there could be some very high voltages present.
There might be similar issues with the artificial-ground system or
indoor counterpoise. Running 100 watts of RF into the heating pipes,
household ground wire, etc. seems like maybe not the best of ideas.

RF burns hurt, and can be dangerous. Even a 100-watt barefoot system
packs quite a bit of punch at the high-voltage points on the antenna
system. A system of the sort that the OP plans to use, deserves
careful planning and installation to make sure that the high-voltage
points are safely insulated, and protected against casual and
accidental contact by the operator and by anyone else. Otherwise,
somebody might get "bitten".

As to the FCC regulations re RF exposure, and the ARRL's publicizing
of them, I'd make the following two comments:

[1] Like 'em or not, believe in 'em or not, they have the force of
law. They're part of what we agreed to comply with, when we
applied for our licenses.

[2] From what I've heard, the setup that the OP is considering using is
perhaps more likely to generate RFI/TVI than a system using a
balanced antenna located well clear of the building. Hence, it's
probably more likely to generate complaints from neighbors and
from the landlord, and questions about whether it's safe. It can
probably help to diffuse such complaints (and perhaps avoid a
"shut it down or lose your lease" warning from the landlord) if
you can demonstrate that the calculated RF exposure levels to
everyone concerned are below the FCC's published limits.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
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