Hello, folks,
I wanted to share with with the RFI reflector, both as a heads up and to
find out if anyone else has heard of manufacurers responding this way. I
just wish that consumer equipment was made well enough to stand up to the
several hundred volts/meter that are allowed on some bands. :-)
Speaking of RF exposure, the "RF Exposure and You" book is available for
sale. (At 320 pages and$15, it is a bargain, but this is the author
bragging!.) It has chapters on the rules, EMF fundamentals, a large chapter
on station evaluations, ARRL and FCC worksheets, reprints of OET Bulletin 65
and Supplment B and about 87 pages of antenna tables from which to choose.
If you call HQ (888-277-5289 toll free for orders), tell them the Lab sent
you. :-)
73 from ARRL HQ,
Ed Hare, W1RFI
ARRL Lab
>>I have to share this information with you. I purchased a GE telephone
>>for the kitchen. One of those phones with the memory and speaker
>>phone options. Sure enough, RF gets into the phone as sure as water
>>runs downhill. Seventy-five watts and I block out any conversation
>>on the phone. No problem, I can learn to live with that except if a P5
>>comes on the air.
>>I call Thomson Consumer Electronics in Indianapolis, IN, and they
>>send out a survey form. I fill it out and they return it because I
>>missed some questions which I thought related to the hook-up with
>>an answering machine. I don't have an answering machine, but they
>>wanted some questions answered. They also asked me, on the cover
>>of my second go-around with the returned survey, the following
>>questions:
>>"Please confirm that your antenna has a proper "standing wave ratios"
>>(SWR), and is properly grounded. Lastly confirm that it is meeting
>t>he new FCC RF guidelines."
>>My reply to the first two questions is that I have low SWR and the
>>grounding system is proper. I didn't know how to be polite on the
>>Third question about RF guidelines, so I only responded that I was
>>only aware that the FCC RF Exposure Regulations were designed
>>specifically for people and not for equipment.
>>I know that I was correct in my assumption that the RF exposure
>>situation deals only with humans, but I wanted to show you what the
>>consumer industry is trying to make up believe.
>>Is the consumer electronic industry going to use this RF exposure
>>regulation to skirt their responsibility and try to shove the problem
>>back to me the consumer and the ham radio operator? We are only
>>several months into the implementation of the new FCC RF Exposure
>>Regulation and already there are uninformed and/or misinformed
>>people in the consumer electronic industry. Will this same industry
>>respond the same way to all my neighbors and all the neighbors of all
>>the ham radio operators around the country who use their telephones?
>>Will the industry try to hide behind these RF Exposure Guidelines?
>>I should be interesting to see what happens after I mail this
>>re-written survey back to Thomson Consumer Electronics.
>>Again, I only sent this information to you so that you may see what is
>>really happening in the industry. Let?s hope that this is the only such
>>case and is an exception rather that the rule.
>>BTW, I followed the guideline in the January, 1998 QST, and my station
meets
>>the requirements for RF exposure.Ed, you might want to send this along to
Chris Imlay. Interesting stuff.
>>73. Gene
----------
>From: Hare, Ed, W1RFI
>To:
To: <rfi@contesting.com>
>Date: Monday, March 02, 1998 3:32PM
>Hello, Gene,
>I should have seen this one coming. :-) Actually, you are correct; the
guidelines are for exposure to humans, not >for RFI immunity. I tend to
agree; the manufacturer is, at least to some extent, hiding behind the new
rules.
>That is not nearly as bad as it sounds! If you answer "yes," and most hams
will, where does that leave the >manufacturer? The current voluntary
industry standards call for immunity of 3 volts per meter; the RF exposure
>guidelines permit 27.5 v / m on 30 - 300 MHz, as much as 614 v / m on lower
HF! If the manufacturers do indeed >start tying their immunity to these
levels, this could be a Good Thing for RFI. Of course, they certainly are
not >doing so.
>Perhaps one way to turn this around is to ask THEM the question, and ask if
the level of immunity of their >products is equivalent to the levels in the
new guidelines. That would, at least, put the burden of immunity
>responsibility back on them.
>This one does bear some watching, and I, and the ARRL RFI Task Group, will
certainly do so.
>73 from ARRL HQ,
>Ed Hare, W1RFI
>ARRL Lab
--
Submissions: rfi@contesting.com
Administrative requests: rfi-REQUEST@contesting.com
WWW: http://www.contesting.com/rfi-faq.html
Questions: owner-rfi@contesting.com
|