The answer is ...Inverse square law ....
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Galasso <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2006 8:06 pm
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Re: [Boatanchors] AEA Moscow Muffler
WoodpeckerBlankerWB-1
To: Discussion of AM Radio <[email protected]>
>
> ----- 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
> environmentalrestrictions 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
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> AMRadio mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html
> Post: mailto:[email protected]
> AMfone Website: http://www.amfone.net
> AM List Admin: Brian Sherrod/w5ami, Paul Courson/wa3vjb
>
