I actually looked at some of the material suggested and found it interesting
but way too much reading (most of your audience will not like to read, or
will not be good at it) and way too technical for your basic neighbor who
doesn't want your big antennas and will use any pseudo science to fight you.
I have done a lot of public speaking to city councils, neighborhood groups,
etc., not regarding ham radio or RF radiation, but the topic almost doesn't
matter. The most effective presentation is very short, uses PowerPoint to
hit on key points, and you later make copies of your PowerPoint available in
hardcopy for distribution to those who are interested. (Of course it doesn't
hurt if you can privately educate a few "champions" for your cause among the
local government officials, neighbors, and community members.)
You need to boil down all the research and technobabble into the most basic
bullet points. Never lie or exaggerate. Provide references to back your
claims and to allow those who are interested to do their own research. In
the case of that 14 minute video on nukes, if you chose to show it, you'd
need to edit it down to under 60 seconds of perhaps the last summary video
on the YouTube. On the article from the NYT, you'd need to extract maybe 3
or 4 summary sentences. (K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple, Stupid!)
I worked for Motorola for many years, and when 800 Mhz first was coming out
(both land mobile and cellular) there was a lot of RF radiation concern. You
can probably find a lot more research material (possibly biased, be careful)
from manufacturers and carriers (GOOGLE "Motorola", "Nokia", "Ericsson",
etc., in combination with words such as "radiation", "800 Mhz", "cellular",
"cancer", etc.).
The problem you have is that most of the research is cellular related. If
someone hired me as an expert witness to argue against your ham radio
position, I would confuse the issue by teaching that ham radio is not
cellular, the power levels & frequencies are very different, etc., etc. I
would not have to prove my point, I would only have to confuse the issue and
create doubt. That is where you are vulnerable...and in fact, there is very
little research available to prove or disprove the current theories about
amateur (or any HF) exposure.
I'd think your best position is the public service that amateur radio
provides in times of disaster, the back-up capabilities it provides for
homeland security in France, and the fact that it has been around since the
early days of radio and no scientific evidence links spikes in cancer
incidence to the presence of amateur radio. You might even offer free
aluminum-foil hats to those who don't believe you!
GL es 73
Dan
K0DAN
----- Original Message -----
From: "F5vjc" <foxfive.vjc@gmail.com>
To: "David Jordan" <Wa3gin@comcast.net>
Cc: <TowerTalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 12:55 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Radiation Hazard !
> Thanks all for the suggestions and interesting material.
>
> Clearly it's a tricky one, too much information can even raise the
> alarm level of these uninformed 'concerned' people.
> I would have to carefully choose extracts from the various sources to
> present to the uninformed for reading.
>
> Most of these 'concerned' have no real idea of what they are talking
> and seem to know only the words "Radiation Hazard".
> I like the video of the Nuclear impacts to give some perspective to
> this 'problem'.
>
> Thanks again for helpful material.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 17 May 2011 21:26, David Jordan <Wa3gin@comcast.net> wrote:
>> Here Deni,
>>
>> Play this video for the audience, before the next town hall or civic
>> association mtg. where the topic of discussion is radio frequency
>> radiation
>> hazards... so that the people concerned can get a grip!
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY
>>
>> 73,
>> Dave
>> Wa3gin
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
>> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of F5vjc
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:03 PM
>> To: TowerTalk@contesting.com
>> Subject: [TowerTalk] Radiation Hazard !
>>
>> Does anyone know of an online article or other easily read material
>> suitable for the lay person (Joe public) who is completely against all
>> visible antennas or masts used for radio transmission on the grounds
>> of harmful electromagnetic radiation?
>>
>> Naturally it should present Amateur Radio in a fair and favourable light.
>>
>> 73, Deni
>> F5VJC
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
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>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> 73 Deni,
>
> F5VJC
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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