On 5/22/2013 1:13 AM, David Ryeburn wrote:
In article ,
"Irv Finkleman" wrote:

I've had a pacemaker for years and have operated using open wire feeder, and
often end fed antennas with a counterpoise ground in my suite. Never had a
problem. From what I understand, most pacemakers will not be bothered, and
if they are,
you would soon feel the difference -- quick enough to key up. At QRP levels
it's
highly unlikely you will notice anything.

That's good to know. But I'd still be worried. I'd hate to be 10 km up a
steep trail and after supper find that my pacemaker was acting up when I
fired up the rig.

In article , John S
wrote:

How many V/M can your pacemaker tolerate?

I have no idea. And I suspect if I asked my cardiologist he'd ask "why
do you want to know" and if I told him I wanted to operate a ham radio
transmitter while many km away from other people up in the mountains,
he'd just say "don't do that".

Anyway, I'd still like to know how well or how badly my triangular
antenna idea (closed loop for 40, 20, 15, or 10 and open loop for 80 or
30) would work. I'll probably get an Elecraft KX3 which has a very wide
range antenna tuner option, so I'm sure it would match such an antenna
system, but I wonder how much stress would be put on the current balun,
and what sort of patterns I'd get on the different bands. The latter
might have some influence on how I oriented the antenna at installation,
assuming there were enough trees around that I'd have a choice. I
suspect it's a pretty good, and certainly simple, multi-band antenna
setup, with relatively low feedpoint impedance on all bands, but it
would be nice to know that I'm right about that.

David, who just found out that he's now VE7EZM

I am a loop fanboy. I admit it. I do not know how well you triangular
loop would work. I have only used horizontal 4 point square loops.
However, I would advise that it seems to me to not make enough sense to
be using a loop out in the wilderness. I only use a loop because I live
right in the middle of town and I need to suppress the local qrn. There
is plenty of it. I would think that a dipole fed with coax or open wire
line (for multi-band use) would work just as well.

If you are able to feel your heartbeat and can tell if there is some
sort of problem with the key down, of course you know that your
pacemaker is sensitive to RFI. My own heart was exposed to 20,000 volts
with RF riding on it when I was young. I have always been able to feel
my own heart beat after that event. BTW, it took me a year to recover
from this exposure to high voltage. The good news is that I can tell
whenever I am doing something that is effecting my heart rate or rhythm.
This is pretty important when trying a new drug.

I also think that running much power where you cannot call an ambulance
might be a risky thing to do. If you are the only who would be effected
by your death, than you have the right to experiment. If you are married
and have children, I believe you must consider their welfare. None of us
has the right to be cavalier with our safety if our death would
negatively impact someone. Just my opinion of course.

Michael