Patrick Martin wrote: > Scott, > > I have known a lot of engineers through the years that worked around a > lot of high power AM, FM, & TV transmitters and quite a few passed on > with some kind of cancer, but also a lot of other people die of cancer > too. But I have always wondered, being around a lot of high RF, how > healthy is it?
That's a tough question to answer. I don't think there's ever been a study that's looked specifically at RF engineers and cancer. It would be hard to do scientifically - what do you use as a control group? Anecdotally, I haven't seen much evidence that long-term exposure to RF correlates to an increased cancer risk. I've known some engineers who have died young, but plenty who've lived very long, very healthy lives, too. Today's engineers certainly get less high-level RF exposure than engineers did a generation or two ago. It used to be common to work on AM towers that were energized, or near FM/TV antennas that were energized. Current RF exposure standards have made those practices obsolete. There's more attention paid nowadays to ground-level exposure, too. For myself, I'm much more cautious in close proximity to VHF and especially UHF and microwave than I am in the near field of MW stations. I suspect most people - most engineers, even - end up getting much more ionizing radiation exposure from cell phones held up close to their ears (or on belt clips) than they ever do from the much higher powered, but much more distant, broadcast antennas. s _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com