Thanks Jim for you better description of non-ionizing vs ionizing radiation.
Seems to me us v/u and uv hams should be aware of all this. I plead guilty to
not paying attention when bench testing transmitters all the way
to 10ghz.
73's
Steve HF-10ghz
Greetings to All,
Perhaps something should be said about "radiation". It comes in two kinds :
ionizing and non-ionizing. Their difference has to do with the wavelength of
the signal and what those signals do to our bodies when they strike us.
Ionizing energy causes electrons to be stripped from the atoms they strike.
That destroys our tissue and organs. We call it radiation poisoning, and it
will indeed kill you as it did to many people living in Nagasaki and Hiroshima
, Japan. The sun and nuclear explosions are sources of ionizing energy.
Non-ionizing energy does not strip electrons off the atoms in our body. It does
however cause those atoms [and cells] to vibrate back and forth rapidly. As the
cells vibrate they take energy from the signal. This causes the cells and
tissues of our body to heat. If the cell over heat they are damaged...…..or it
could be said we are "cooked". Microwave ovens use this vibration phenomime to
heat food.
Not being cooked is controlled by a number of factors. Here are the most
important:
1 If our body is small compared to the wavelength of the signal's energy, it
will not absorb much of the signal.
2. Your body has a blood circulatory system which will carry the heat to your
outer skin surface and lungs where it is conducted out or off of the body.
Therefore, little or no damage results. You will sense "heat" if you are being
exposed to a signal level your body is having trouble cooling down from Eyes,
which have little blood circulation, are the most easily damaged organ of our
body from the heating situation. And thus the old saying "never look down a
waveguide" is still true today.
Therefore, we can conclude that the danger to the human body from non-ionizing
radiation sources exists when the signal wavelength compares to or is smaller
than our bodies. That would be signals in the VHF, UHF, and microwave
wavelengths/frequencies.
OSHA has established required maximum radiation levels standards for people
working in both ionizing and non-ionizing areas. People working around large
active microwave antennas or on broadcast towers, which have FM and television
installations, need to pay close attention to OSHA standards which are intended
to keep them from harm.
Recovery from radiation energy injuries is a slow process without happy
outcomes guaranteed. The reason is that the radiation damage tends to go deep
into our tissues and organs. Our bodies will have a rather serious up hill
climb to recovery the function of those important organs.
Regards to All
Jim Heck, W7JVH
retired director of engineering of radio HCJB-Ecuador, S.A.
Virus-free. www.avg.com
On Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 6:19 AM Steve(K1IIG) <stephen.tripp@snet.net> wrote:
I too saw that show and question why they did not have RF detector devices
if they suspect China or Russia was using Hi Pwr RF causing health issues.
They spoke about the possibilities that the same freq as Microwave ovens
(2ghz) being used.
If the RF was so intense a simple microwave oven detector would have picked
up the signal. I happen to have one of these devices used to detect leakage
from a microwave oven. When I was a cellular tech we were issued Narda RF
detector badges. When
the techs were exposed to hi RF fields the Narda would warn us at 50% unsafe
levels. When I was on a bank building in Springfield MA the alarm would
always go off if I stayed on the roof near the antennas. The roof top was
loaded with hi power
pagers and cell antennas. If I stayed for any length I would get a nasty
headache. The headache would not last when I left the roof top and I was
told RF exposure did not stay in your body once out of the field. I can not
think of the technical term for this. Cell companies must do an RF Density
test at various distances and of course always passed this test. At one time
early in the cell business we had to shut down the site or a particular face
when climbers were on the tower. I do not believe this is today's standard
practice.
I have no clue if there are any long term health affects but for sure being
exposed to high power can give you a headache.
Steve
K1IIG
Cell tech/engineer 1984-2001
> A “60 Minutes” story on 17march19 discussed various physical (cranial)
> maladies experienced by USA government employees & their families,
> POSSIBLY inspired by microwave RF energy directed at their residences or
> offices. No mention was made of any RF field strength measurements!
> Does anyone have ‘educated/learned’ comments on this report?? I have a few
> empiric thoughts
> on this, but am definitely not an expert.
>
> Bt73
> Pete, n6ze: with qrp on 70, 33, & 23 cm bands
> Sent from my iPhone
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting@contesting.com
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>
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