This year as you fill out your license renewal form (radio) or next year as you fill out your license renewal form (TV) the FCC will ask you on the form if your station is a radiation hazard.
No, not the kind of radiation that makes things glow in the dark or makes Geiger Counters click, but the kind of radiation that cooks food in your microwave oven.
Question 6 on page 4 of the FCC license renewal form states that “Licensee certifies that the specified facility complies with the maximum permissible radio frequency electromagnetic exposure limits for controlled and uncontrolled environments. Unless the licensee can determine compliance through the use of the RF worksheets in the Instructions to this Form, an Exhibit is required.”
How would you know that? The easiest way is simply measure the strength of your station’s radio or TV wave close to the antenna anywhere that anyone might encounter it. Especially if your station is one of multiple stations on one tower, or if there are multiple stations and towers in one “electronic site,” measurements are almost always the best and least-cost way to go!
The NMBA has a meter that takes these measurements with the greatest of ease. Using it is a little like walking around looking for coins or other treasure in the dirt with a metal detector, except that you wave it in the air since it’s a radio wave detector. Technically it’s a “non-ionizing radiation meter.”
Good news: in areas off-limits to the public – that is, fenced and with controlled access – the radiation limits aren’t nearly as stringent as they are in public access areas.
At the time of the last license renewal, a number of stations either borrowed the NMBA’s meter or as part of their ABIP participation asked Mike Langner to come measure their radio wave strength in the vicinity of their tower and certify it as compliant if it was, or determine where a bit of fencing might be required to keep the public away from “hot spots.”
How dangerous is this radio wave – this “non-ionizing radiation?” At levels anywhere close to or under FCC limits, it’s considered harmless. If it’s really, really overly strong, well, think about what happens inside a microwave oven.
So particularly if you’ve made changes to your tower or antenna or increased power in any way that might cause more radiation where people might be exposed to it do use the worksheets provided with this license renewal’s round of FCC license application forms. If measurements are needed, your NMBA can provide you with access to the equipment that’ll allow your engineer to make measurements so you can to certify in good faith that areas near your tower are safe for employees, contractors, and the general public.
Mike/