Re:What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jump...
by jacquesm on Thursday February 11, 2016 @11:00AM
(#11080875)
I've accidentally fried small birds at ~1KW around 100MHz. It all depends on where they sit and how the power is radiated. Near the end on a Yagi is not a good spot.
Re:What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jump...
by sathackr on Thursday February 11, 2016 @12:59PM
(#11081726)
Why are you pointing your yagi at small birds? :-)
Re:What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jump...
by jacquesm on Thursday February 11, 2016 @06:43PM
(#11084247)
I know, it's sad.
I made a point of swishing the rotor side-to-side a couple of degrees after I figured out where the dead sparrows came from. That caused them to fly off and once the transmitter was on they'd stay away from the antenna.
How do you think the human standing right next to the tower is not getting fried?
Humans climb live radio towers routinely.
The tissue absorption of RF energy at common AM station frequencies(below 2mhz) is negligible. Maximum absorption happens around the frequencies commonly used by FM stations (about 100mhz)
I have climbed near an live FM antenna. You can feel the heat(well, radiation, converted to heat by your body tissue) from the antenna, it feels like a heat lamp. Your eyes are the most sensitive parts as they have the least ability to dissipate excess heat. The old rule-of-thumb is, if your eyes are watering, you're too close to the antenna. But like most things 'the way they use to do it' -- by that point damage is already being done. Cataracts are one of the first signs of RF induced tissue damage.
It would take many thousands watts, transmitted at frequencies well above common AM frequencies to cause any sort of instant damage. I have never seen a field of dead birds near even major FM stations broadcasting with 50kw+ power.