----- Original Message ----- > > " whereas the Russians apparently fired part of theirs through Finland, > supposedly causing an elevated number of cases of a certain type of cancer > due to the huge power used"
If high RF fields in the HF bands caused cancer, most of us would have been in the oncology ward years ago and I wouldn't be here to write this. The same goes for people working in broadcast engineering, especially at high power shortwave stations such as the Voice of America and Radio Moscow (now the Voice of Russia). A lot of that cancer scare crap came from a book published about 25 or 30 years ago called "The Zapping of America" by Paul Brodeur. Much of what was written in that book was pure speculation, but the politicians picked up on it and saddled us with all kinds of environmental restrictions related to RF energy. Who was this Paul Brodeur? He was neither an engineer nor a physician. He was a staff writer for "The New Yorker", a LITERARY magazine! What is indisputable is that high RF fields will cause tissue heating. That's how a microwave oven cooks your food! Years ago, tower climbers working at FM or TV sites would report a sensation of warmth if they got too close to the antenna. THAT could be dangerous, due to the overheating of tissues and body fluids, resulting in thermal injuries. Current FCC and OSHA regulations require such stations to greatly reduce power, switch to an auxiliary antenna, or leave the air if someone is climbing the tower. And working in a tuning house of an AM station running 50 kW or higher can be dangerous, unless the transmitter is powered down, as the RF can arc to someone who gets too close to "hot" components, causing a potentially lethal burn. But it is highly unlikely that any harm came to Finns who lived maybe 100 or more miles away from the Soviet radar. One of the Soviet sites was believed to be in Minsk, which is in Belarus, at least 600 miles from Finland. The "Russian Woodpecker" was a terrible nuisance, especially on 15 and 20 meters. I certainly don't miss it! Phil K2PG
