[TowerTalk] radiation

[Earl Bailley]

Back in the 60's I worked closely with a scientist who was THE consultant to
Motorola on Intrinsic Safety especially as applied to the Motorola Handy
Talkies. He and I often spoke about that safety as well as the suspected
radiation from the HTs in the human brain (almost all work done in 170- mHz
range).  One consensus shared by many in the HT  manufacture who were concerned
was that VHF radiation probably (accent) was equally as cumulative as X Ray and
Sunlight and ordinary Heat.  All sources of radiation were considered
cumulative. So maybe with higher frequency and extended use you will die in 1000
years from a current HT's radation..

In the late 70's I went back to sea as an  RO.  I suggested that the 10 cm radar
which revolved 4 ft above the mates heads in the center of the bridge was no
problem as the steel overhead shielded them.  But an excursion out on the bridge
wings was dangerous, much like putting back a cup of water into the Microwave
oven several times until you get the rise in temperature you want.  Tell me you
are different from a cup of tea. Home micros cook water to boiling with a KW CW
in 2 minutes. 50KW radars are known to injure and kill people.  The mates
didn't listen to me on this score and got a letter from ITT on the company
letterhead saying that their radars were not dangerous  They, to a man stopped
hand holding their 450 HTs and used lapel speaker mikes with a PTT..

Go figure. I stayed away from the bridge wings  and plan to die from plain old
age!

Earl   W7TK


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