RFI/TVI Trends in VE land

Fri Sep 9 01:47:24 EDT 1994

I have been reading the mail regarding the TVI/RFI complaints and though a
Canuck perspective may be of interest.

At the recent 1994 Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) convention, there was some
very heated discussion regarding a PROPOSED paper which the Canadian equivalent
of the FCC was in the process of releasing. This paper ( called EMCAB2) deals
with electromagnetic susceptability and the government's possible role in
achieving standards in this area. It is to be used mainly to resolve disputes
when they reach Critical Mass ( such as in civil or "Nuisance" type suits which
cannot be resolved peaceably and may end up in the courts). It is NOT to be
used for "everyday" complaints.

Some of you boys down south may not remember the Ravenscroft Case in which a
VE3 was literally shut down for running a KW and a 4 el Monobander. Poor chap
ended up dying just after the case was resolved in his favor (sort of).

The jist of it is that the Government stated that it does not have the
financial resources to:
	a: test each amateur station to see if emissions are kosher
	b: test each device coming into the country to make sure it is
	   bulletproof.

This is what they came up with as a compromise: ( Please forgive my lack of
technical specifics, I been known to submit entries in the TEAM MAYTAG
(appliance operators club) category.)

EMCAB2 states that in cases where significant disturbance to electrical devices
is occurring as a result of ANY RF transmission ( that includes commercial), a
Field strength measurement will be taken by IC (FCC equivalent) AT THE PROPERTY
LINE CLOSEST TO THE SIGNAL SOURCE. A guideline of 3 Volts/meter has been
determined to be the threshold. Anything less than that and the problem is your
neighbors'. Anything MORE than that and YOU must reduce power to the 3 v/m
level. Sample tests performed at 19 urban amateurs homes showed that at the
100 w level 90% of the emmisions passed the test. 10 % flunked and would result
in reduction in power levels if there was a complaint. 90 % of devices tested
passed the 3v/m test and 10% failed it.

Incidentally, when I asked if anyone was running a KW, they responded "No, that
would have meant that if the Field strength was OVER a certain level
(unspecified) we would have been legally obligated to inform those in the line
of fire regarding these high levels !!" ( Health Hazard !??)

The theory behind the Property line rule is that one can always move the
affected device and have the same problem again. In this way they take one
reading and the decision is made. To paraphrase the President of RAC, " The era
of the Urban KW in Canada is over". It seems that the attitude here is, "if you
run a KW (or more), better do it far far away from anyone."

My license has a restriction to 100w written right on it. This was an
accomodation made as the result of my problems with my neighbors. IC's attitude
was " We can reduce 90 % of our headache by having you run 100 w. At that level
the problem of those 10 % of the devices affected reverts back to the neighbors
and the manufacturers of their equipment."

I have difficulty with the recent threads regarding "Smoke". I get a real kick
out of the Italians running 14 KWs and UA9's using military 100 KW Xmitters.
I'd just like to run my pair of 3CX800A7s for more than a few seconds at a 
time. (Just a small "Toke", if you please).

Spokesman for EMCAB2 say that this problem will NEVER get fixed here in Canada.
" When the elephant (U.S.) rolls over, the mouse (Canada) will too, not the
other way around". The proposed European standard appears to be 3 v/m but seems
to have a very ominous side-effect. If you are in EU, all new products imported
into EU must be able to withstand 3v/m. If your neighbor has a problem with you
getting into one of these devices, I am told that you are AUTOMATICALLY at
fault since these devices are assumed to be resistant at that level. Perhaps
some Eu contest stations could comment on this. With NO standards in North
America, we all should brace for a flood of cheap electronics once the EU
market shuts the door.

To summarize, those of you lucky enough to run legal limit (or more :-) )
should consider yourselves fortunate. I would LOVE to have someone like the
FCC come to bat for me, but Canada, being the peacemaker to the world, has
gone the way of least resistance. That is the trend of the future. I am
convinced that the only way I can use high power in contests is to build a
contest station out in the country. (I'm workin on it). If that's what its
going to take to allow people into competitive "serious" contesting, then
most active contesters like myself will never make it into the "big leagues".

In the meantime, I will just have to settle for 100 or 200w in Sprints, CQWW
etc. It's not fun but it is the best that I can do.

73 Rob VE4GV
rkaufmn at cc.Umanitoba.ca

>From Wirzenius Jari <HATJWI at HATMAIL.HATFI1.msgw.kone.com>  Fri Sep  9 17:10:00 1994
From: Wirzenius Jari <HATJWI at HATMAIL.HATFI1.msgw.kone.com> (Wirzenius Jari)
Date: Fri, 09 Sep 94 09:10:00 PDT
Subject: MORE ON AC ARRESTER LOCATION
Message-ID: <2E708919 at msgw.kone.com>

There is also another thing to be considered, if the arrestors are assembled 
behind the main braker (and  not on line side). When the main breaker trips 
(due to arrestor shortage) on the first srtike, the breaker remains open and 
the minimal possibility of the second strike to the same location will cause 
even higher voltage across the main breaker contacs and create very hig 
voltage and strong arcing when the arrestors operate again. This will most 
certainly kill the main breaker, if the first strike didn't. This is 
ofcourse  extreme case where two strikes  hit same location and are almost 
the same strength.

Arrestors should always be connected to the line side. The power company at 
my home town will assemble the arrestors on the top of the pole which 
carries the power lines to my house. From the pole, the line will go 
underground, about 15 meters, in to the house. I must provide them a 
grounding to which they connect the arrestors. Minimum requirement for that 
ground wire in my location is 20 meters of 16 square mm's copper wire buried 
underground in a depth of 70 cm so that the freezing of the ground, will not 
effect the conductivity of the ground anymore.

73's Jari, OH2BVE
jari.wirzenius at hat-fi.kone.com