[TowerTalk] QST SEP 2000

[Ian White, G3SEK]

Ken Barber wrote:
>
>I saw an article about W5UN with 1.5 million watts ERP on 2 meters into
>a 30 dbd array.  How far does he have to move his house (shown on the
>cover next to the antenna) to be in compliance with the new radiation
>rules?  (you wouldn't expect him to lower his power would you?)

ERP is irrelevant - repeat, irrelevant - to RF hazards. It's just a way
of generating large and frightening numbers.

What matters is power density, watts per square meter. The available RF
power is still just 1.5kW, but spreading that power over a huge array
(lots of square meters) makes the power density LESS in most places.
It's only in the main beam where you need to worry, but moonbouncers
tend to point upwards where there's nobody to be exposed.

73 from Ian G3SEK          Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
                          'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
                           http://www.ifwtech.com/g3sek

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