Technical Topics > The RF Workbench
High Powered Pirates
redhat:
I doubt you'd feel the RF from a 7 MHz TX at 10KW, unless you were right next to the antenna. FM is a different story. I've foolishly been within 3 feet or so of FM bays running 1KW on my parents roof. You can definitely feel that, it feels like a burning sensation. I also recall working on a few 50 KW AM's during which my knees and elbows would start to hurt after a while.
The power levels I play with these days, I don't feel a thing ;)
+-RH
audiokaos:
--- Quote from: redhat on May 29, 2014, 1858 UTC ---I doubt you'd feel the RF from a 7 MHz TX at 10KW, unless you were right next to the antenna. FM is a different story. I've foolishly been within 3 feet or so of FM bays running 1KW on my parents roof. You can definitely feel that, it feels like a burning sensation. I also recall working on a few 50 KW AM's during which my knees and elbows would start to hurt after a while.
The power levels I play with these days, I don't feel a thing ;)
+-RH
--- End quote ---
I had the opportunity to go up to the transmitter / combiner room of Toronto's CN Tower. It's got a whack of commercial FM & TV stations on it. In the combiner room, there is one section of coax that feeds the main antenna. Close too a million watts of VHF/UHF rf on it. You could feel a warm fuzz as you put your hand closer to it. Started about 2 foot away & got too strong at 1ft to go closer..:)
Stuck my head out of the 'roof' too. Wickedly neat.
Antennae:
I have a coworker that worked at a military radar station in Alaska. There was a fire alarm sounding inside and the door into the station was frozen shut. He went up to the roof and climbed in that way to find no fire. While on the roof he felt the radiation and said it was tingly. I think he said it was in the megawatts range. He is very quick and smart, weird, twitches, can't have children, and recently had his bladder removed. He thinks he's impotent from the radiation exposure. His thyroid had some problem after the exposure.
redhat:
Microwave radiation is another matter. One of my early mentors worked in the army's signal core during the cold war. He worked at several bizzarr sites, several were involved in the DEW-line project, probably similar to where Antennae's coworker worked. He did say several of the guys would stand in proximity of the antenna systems to stay warm. I'd hazard a guess and say most of them aren't on the planet anymore.
+-RH
OMCS:
I would guess that most SW pirate transmitters average about 100 watts or less. If the transmitter is rated at 100 watts, that's probably what it does under optimum conditions: no gassy tubes, perfect antenna match etc... is that a fair assessment or are there many pirates who use more than 100 watts?
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