ARRL RF Safety Committee Develops New Guidelines to Communicate RF Safety
12/01/2023
Radio amateurs now have a new tool from ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® to help answer questions about their stations. Neighbors of amateur radio operators are sometimes concerned about transmissions and radio frequency exposure from amateur stations. The ARRL RF Safety Committee, with their international counterparts at the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS), and the Swedish Society of Radio Amateurs (SSA), has developed a new set of guidelines to help amateurs interact with and talk to their neighbors about RF exposure.
Chairman of the ARRL RF Safety Committee Greg Lapin, N9GL, said the new informational PDF found on the ARRL RF Exposure page, Helping Amateurs Interact with Neighbors Asking About Radio Transmissions, was developed after a year of discussions about RF safety.
“Neighbors may be alarmed by some of the misinformation about RF safety that is available from a variety of sources. By following the exposure regulations from the Federal Communications Commission, we can be confident that our families and neighbors are safe,” Lapin said.
Lapin added that RF exposure regulations are based on decades of trustworthy research. He also encouraged all amateur radio operators to perform exposure assessments for their stations to make sure they meet those regulations.
