I don't doubt that high levels of RF can be dangerous. The first two chief
engineers I worked with both died of cancer in their 50s.

Wouldn't FM broadcast antennas be an even greater concern? The height of
most adults would make them resonant somewhere near, or in, the FM broadcast
band.

Comparing wavelengths of "people" based on their height is ridiculous.
Microwaves are a much shorter wavelength and cause much more damage to the human
body, so the wavelength of people based on their height theory needs to be
thrown out right away.

I'd expect energy transfer to be more effiecnt from the FM broadcast
antenna to the human body than it is in the AM broadcast band.

This is like the argument that you should vote for the lesser of two evils,
rather than vote for a good candidate.

Why choose to live near an AM or FM broadcast antenna? I would not want to
live next to either. What is more annoying is how cellular telephone
antennas are getting to be impossible to avoid, and new ones are being put up
every week.

Anyway, there's been over 80 years of kW+ levels of AM broadcasting, and it
seems strange this leukemia concern has gone unnoticed until now.

80 years is only one generation of people. Give it time. Old time radio
commercials have doctors endorsing cigarettes that are healthy and good for you
and your throat.

Cell phones have not been in use long enough for the evidence to exist to
convince those that don't have the radio background to know how dangerous they
are now, without needing to see several generations of people suffer from them
first.

Aspartame is only now starting to get the attention that I was aware of decades
ago.

Now we have Sucralose (not sucrose) and Ace K, and again, we will have to wait
around 20 years or longer before enough people have suffered to start to
consider them a health threat.

"Truth" wrote in message ...

80 years is only one generation of people. Give it time. Old time
radio
commercials have doctors endorsing cigarettes that are healthy and good
for you
and your throat.


Definition time:

"Generation, interval of time between the birth of parents and the birth of
their offspring. This is usually taken to be approximately 30 years. All
children of one set of parents are members of the same generation although
they may be years apart in age
© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

In rec.radio.shortwave Truth wrote:
I don't doubt that high levels of RF can be dangerous. The first two chief
engineers I worked with both died of cancer in their 50s.

Wouldn't FM broadcast antennas be an even greater concern? The height of
most adults would make them resonant somewhere near, or in, the FM broadcast
band.

Comparing wavelengths of "people" based on their height is ridiculous.
Microwaves are a much shorter wavelength and cause much more damage to the human
body, so the wavelength of people based on their height theory needs to be
thrown out right away.

To oversimplify a bit: Low frequencies (like AM broadcast) pass through
the body without being absorbed. Microwave frequencies bounce off the body
without being absorbed. It's the frequency range between 30 and 300 MHz
where maximum absorption takes place.

Art H.

To oversimplify a bit: Low frequencies (like AM broadcast) pass through
the body without being absorbed. Microwave frequencies bounce off the body
without being absorbed.

ROTFFL!!!

Why not PROVE your ridiculous theory by putting your head into a microwave oven!

........yeah. I didn't think so.

Within these hallowed halls, Truth of added the
following to the collective conscience:
To oversimplify a bit: Low frequencies (like AM broadcast) pass
through the body without being absorbed. Microwave frequencies
bounce off the body without being absorbed.

ROTFFL!!!

Why not PROVE your ridiculous theory by putting your head into a
microwave oven!

.......yeah. I didn't think so.

I was actually wondering what this post of yours had to do with
broadcasting. Even if
it was off topic but informative or entertaining, it would have been better
than just
being a post about being rude to someone.

Truth wrote:
Harris wrote:
To oversimplify a bit: Low frequencies (like AM broadcast) pass through
the body without being absorbed. Microwave frequencies bounce off the body
without being absorbed.

ROTFFL!!!

Why not PROVE your ridiculous theory by putting your head into a microwave oven!

I said this was a simplification. The point is that maximum absorption
occurs in the 30 to 300 MHz range. Microwave frequencies are used for
cooking because they are more practical to produce, not because they
are more effective at heating.

See the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) exposure limits
curve below:

http://www-training.llnl.gov/wbt/hc/.../slide34lg.gif

Greatest rf absorption (minimum allowable exposure) is in the 30 to
300 MHz range.

Art H.

Truth wrote:

To oversimplify a bit: Low frequencies (like AM broadcast) pass through
the body without being absorbed. Microwave frequencies bounce off the body
without being absorbed.


ROTFFL!!!

Why not PROVE your ridiculous theory by putting your head into a microwave oven!

.......yeah. I didn't think so.


.....or by leaning against a 50,000 watt AM antenna while standing on the
ground.

"lsmyer" wrote in message
...
This is a link to an article investigating leukemia rates in areas near AM
transmitters.

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,64579,00.html

I don't doubt that high levels of RF can be dangerous. The first two chief
engineers I worked with both died of cancer in their 50s.

Maybe they got cancer from some other cause (both smoked), but I still
feel
like I'm inside a microwave oven anytime I'm around an AM transmitter
site.

The thoroughly undocumented cases (no studies of groundwater contamination,
etc.) was based on the effects of stations with twice the power allowed in
the US on AMs.

Low levels of AM as experienced in the US would be very different.

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

The thoroughly undocumented cases (no studies of groundwater
contamination,
etc.) was based on the effects of stations with twice the power allowed in
the US on AMs.

Low levels of AM as experienced in the US would be very different.

While I think this whole thing is just another pseudo-science scare.... It
is NOT true that US stations have much lower field strength on AM. AFAIK,
very few foreign stations are directional at any power. Some US 50 kW
stations have pretty potent ERP in their beam. Not a megawatt, but quite a
bit nevertheless.

I'm a lot more worried about teens and others I see wandering around with a
cell-phone permanently attached less than an inch from their brain.

Is AM radio harmful ??

Only if you believe half the crap
they promulgate on the talk/opinion shows.


rj