[quote author=CDN_Cruiser link=board=2;threadid=10340;start=msg92578#msg92578 date=1074577347]
Wax:
Welcome - you sure know how to make an entrance, maybe you should try streaking next time?
I'm not quite sure what to do with you - on one side you are obviously a big radio enthusiast and are interested in long distance (DX) communications, etc. On the other, you are the kind of operator that gives CB a bad name and continues to encourage me not to use CB.
There are a few points of misinformation that you posted that I think need to be addressed (and are likely the source of people's frustration with you):
You (likely correct) pointed out "I can understand someone's concern if I were doing something harmful" and "FCC used to regulate...only way they do so now is if someone's causing serious mischief or harming their neighbours"
Well neighbour, I think every time you key the mike you are basically doing exactly that. Aside from the fact that you are causing radio interference and splatter across a huge geographic area and swath of freq (interfering with neighbours), you also pointed out a few cases where you have (purposefully?) interfered with others - including a guy that "slammed on his brakes" and when you shut down a VW bug.
Now, if it was just that, I would probably leave it. Paradise mentioned the harm you are likely causing to yourself running your rig - you should listen to him. I entered your 'stats' into a RF exposure calculator. You rig is producing something in the order of 36.4 mw/cm^2 estimated RF power. The maximum permisable exposure (MPE) in an uncontrolled environment is 0.24mw/cm^2 - you are operating approximately 150X over safe RF levels. Now if that was only harming you, that would be your decision, but you are also harming people that are anywhere near your rig when you transmit. In fact, to 'safely' operate your rig, you need to be 62' away from it. Put another way - you are affecting the health of others 62' in all directions from you - thanks neighbour. Cell towers, etc are also all designed to be within spec of the safety regs - your rig isn't.
Think about this for a second - would you be willing to tolerate exposures 150X the safe level of radiation/carbon monoxide/mercury/etc.?
Amateur radio operators are legally allowed to run high power (BTW - I believe the max in the US is 1,500W DC input - 1,000W below what you are running) is that (1) they have the proper training to do so (ie the safety calcs above) and - to run 1,500W - have actually passed TWO exams (2) they are running equipment designed to handle this power safely and to keep it focused on the right 'target' (ie stay on freq) and NOT to leak into every electronic gizmo. Most mobile operators will run nothing close to 1,500W - more like 25W - 100W.
Finally, the idea that some 2,500W CB Blowhorn is a useful 'safety' item is crazy. It's not that CB's can't be useful, but some huge distorted signal is of limited value ("...did he say he needs help...or was it smokey's on my tail..."). You could write a 35 question multiple choice exam and be able to legally run a 2M radio that has a far higher chance of getting help when you need it. A quick search of the area that you live in shows hundreds of repeaters that you could use and that are most likely monitored/have emergency power and may have phone patch capabilities.
Now back to the positive space - why not divert all of your energy and enthusiasm into amateur radio? You could run a nice clean HF signal, have a great emergency radio, etc.
PS, keep the 60 - a great truck.
Cheers, Hugh
[/quote]
I appreciate your concern Hugh, and the time you took to write that up. I have been toying with the idea of getting my amateur license for quite a while now. I like all the toys you get to play with, especially the handheld units. The technology you guys get to play around with makes CB radio look like stone age equipment.
That being said I really dont agree at all with your numbers. You and I both know that 1500w limit for hams is 1500w RMS. CB radio watts are usually measured in Peak watts.
1500 RMS watts = about 3900 peak watts.
And I'm talking about the type of RMS numbers you get off of a Bird meter, not one of those cheap Dosy's.
I usually put out 900-1.1kw RMS on my meters According to your calculations I'm still getting roughly 100x the recommended exposure. So lets drop that down to the wattage many ham's use, at 200 watts they are still getting about 20x the maximum exposure. Just because its a potentially cleaner signal makes no difference, RF is RF as far as the human body is concerned no matter how much is splatters over to other frequencies.
The reason I'm disputing this is because I dont want some dude with a 2-pill under his drivers seat to get all freaked out thinking he's gonna get cancer. Now I have done alot of research on what RF might be doing to my body, and have found no real evidence that it does much harm at these levels. We both know that the Ham community has done more experimenting and testing than we care to hear about, and I'm pretty sure that if 1500w RF was going to put you at 200x the safe levels then there would be a different restriction.
Now contrast 1500w RMS at 11 meters compared to what a Cell phone tower can do to you. Those cell towers ( and cell phones) for that matter osscilate at frequencies that scramble cells in the body in a way that an 11 meter transmission never could. 11 meter is about 27,000 cycles per second, compared to a cell phone signal which can be literally billions of cycles per second.
The real problem here is obviously the microwave signals at those frequencies, but compounding that exponentialy is the fact that these towers transmit 24/7. And they also operate at much higher wattage than a lower frequency would have to, those microwaves dont travel very far without a lot of help. The FCC approved these towers because there is enough filtering that you can place them in a neighborhood and not get too much bleedover at those high frequencies. These things havent been around long enough to know the long term consequences, 11 meter communication has. Here is a somewhat paranoid but I think accurate essay about the same thing I am talking about
http://www.rfsafe.com/article484.html?osCsid=33e6b155ab3ef8e3d6830bb5382000a9
Now as far as my 2kw mobile not being a useful safety device... do you think the US military uses little 200 watt transmitters in their vehicles? Have you ever turned on a CB radio in the daytime and heard all of the skip out there? In order to get above that you need a few hundred watts, a few thousand just ensures I will be heard much better. I want the best tool for the job period. And when I referred to a CB being a useful safety device I was talking about a 200 watt amplifier. I realize that not many people are going to put the effort into their radios like I did.
Now I'm not saying that 2kw peak RF watts is not harmless by any means, but I do know for a fact that it is a lesser of many evils. Alot of those transmitters are all around us every day, broadcasting 24/7 and we dont even know it unless we look.
I know that 2kw sounds like alot, but if you look around your gonna see alot more sources of radiation that you need to be much more concerned about. Besides, unless your on that hilltop with me, youll probably only get about 200 watts of evil from my small amplifer if I'm in town. I would be more worried about the cop car with the 1kw 800mhz repeater in his rig.
And I think I'm gonna keep my 60 even when I get an 80 series. I cant stand the thought of giving it up.
an mentions - I should be set for the streets in NYC.
