Hi Jon,
Although the field strength in close proximity to your
160 meter TX antenna will be quite high, your body is
fortunately a very inefficient transducer for 1.8 MHz energy.
According to the ARRL MPE (maximum permissible
exposure) guidelines, the minimum safe distance for
uncontrolled exposure to a 1.8 MHz TX antenna radiating
1500 Watts is only 3.8 feet. For a given field strength, the
minimum safe distance scales roughly with the inverse of the
wavelength. Thus at 18 MHz for the same ERP, the minimum
safe distance for uncontrolled exposure increases to roughly
40 feet, and so on (your body becomes a better antenna
as the wavelength decreases).
http://www.arrl.org/news/rfsafety/eval/table4-7.html
BTW, these are "conservative" numbers since they are based
on average power levels and don't include the benefit of duty
cycles which are <100% such as with CW and SSB. Bottom
line is that you have nothing to worry about [my operating
chair is about 8' from the base of my vertical :)]
Heard you a few months ago with good signals hear in the Los
Angeles noise jungle on my 27' high top loaded vertical. Hope
we can make it a two-way someday soon
73 de Mike,W4EF...............
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