This is from Reuters.
"The Vatican, in a last-ditch effort to stop Italy from cutting off
electricity to its radio station over a dispute centering on
electromagnetic radiation, said Monday it would eliminate some
transmissions after Easter.
..
The [Italian] minister of health has accused Vatican Radio of
exceeding Italian laws on radiation and of being a health hazard.
...
The .. broadcaster would shutdown its medium wave (AM) transmissions
on the 1530 KHz band for seven hours a day ...
...
A Vatican Radio spokesman said broadcasts on shortwave and FM would
continue normally.
...
The statement said it was "presumed" that the AM antennae whose
broadcasts are sent in horizontal waves, were the reason why the
broadcaster exceeded Italian limits."
--------------------
This is really interesting. Without details, it seems to go against
the type of RF exposure limits in a number of ways and the report
seems technically inaccurate.
1) The FCC exposure limit is huge at Broadcast band frequencies. 50Kw
US stations have no trouble meeting it. On 160M one can be within
inches of the antenna at 1.5KW and not exceed the limit.
2) The shortwave and FM bands with lower exposure limits don't have a
problem. Power is less? or limit is actually higher ?
3) Most AM broadcasting is vertically polarized.
This all came about because of "cluster" lukemia deaths in areas
surrounding the Vatican.
Italy has the EU's toughest limits on exposure.
Measurements of Vatican radio exceeded the limits by a factor of 3.
The Vatican is not part of Italy but Italy is imposing their limits on
them.
I wonder what the limits are for amateur radio frequencies. Are they
met by our fellow Italian hams?
73 de Brian/K3KO
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