Report: Wireless signals aren’t hazardous

I have been exposed to wireless signals from the age of eight, sometimes to KiloWatts of ERP, hours in an row. In spite of that, I never experienced any side effects, I didn’t get ill and my brain is still functioning. Am I special? Am I alone?

There appears to be a breed of people that would die instantly if they would ever visit my shack. Individuals with Idiopathic Environmental Illness with attribution to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) believe they suffer negative health effects when exposed to electromagnetic fields from everyday objects, such as mobile phone base stations. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services put these claims to the test.

The scientific evidence leads to the conclusion that short-term rf-emf exposure from mobile phone technology is not related to levels of well-being or physical symptoms in IEI-EMF individuals. Furthermore, IEI-EMF individuals were unable to detect the presence of rf-emf under double-blind conditions. It remains the case however, that IEI-EMF individuals present a range of distressing and serious symptoms and often have a very poor quality of life.

The complete report: iei-emf.pdf

You’re on the wrong frequency!

Yesterday I spent some time on 20 meters. I called “CQ” a few times and, within a minute or so, an amateur from a former Russian republic answered to my call. “You’re on the wrong frequency”, a heavily distorted voice yelled at me. The audio was terrible. Connect an amplified microphone to a tranceiver (any tranceiver), put the mike gain at maximum, add a lot of compression and you’ll get the idea.

“Wrong frequency?” I asked, “what do you mean?” As it turned out, he expected me to be exactly on 14.180.000 and not, as was the case, somewhere in the neighborhood of that frequency. I use old ham gear, such as a Yaesu FT-7B, FT-101 and a FT-901. Tuning is not very accurate and somewhat of an art. I tune in to a voice, or I pick a clear frequency. That’s it. I don’t care what the display at the other end says.

I gave him a report, 2/9+20, which was a bit on the positive side. It pi**ed him off big time. “I own a FTDX-9000, he yelled. Very expensive! It can never be bad!”.

I rest my case.

Wireless mayhem

Being a HAM operator, I should love wireless stuff. This is true in most cases, but not always. Some new wireless keyboards (and mouses) work in the 11 meter band. Quite frequently, these devices stop working. Any reasonable signal from a CB operator in the neighborhood is enough to make these (micro Watt) devices worthless.

A wireless door bell, one block away, works in “our” 70 cm band (on 433.920 MHz, to be exact). It’s not surprising that this door bell fails when we are having our daily QSO’s. Guess who gets blaimed for the interference?

Some car keys work on the same frequency. A month ago, I did an experiment. While being parked at a gas station, I set my tranceiver to 433.920 and kept the PTT button down for a while. My signal did the trick: three out of ten car owners had to open their vehicle manually.

When will manufacturers stop using frequencies which are intended for HAM- or CB use?

QRP ain’t too bad. Sometimes.

I dream of a great sunspot cycle, something like we had in the eighties. Today I got a preview of things to come: just 25 Watts into a dipole proved to be enough for a few 5/7 QSO’s with Japanese HAM operators.

Let’s keep an eye on Spaceweather.com!

DNAT 2007

Last weekend I visited DNAT 2007, where Dutch and German radio amateurs flocked together. We had a great time! For a full report see my (Dutch) weblog.