[BC] Neighbors fear radio tower near Utica, NY is making them ill

[gRAdy Moates]

Uh, 

> Three kilowatts at EIGHTY FEET?  
> and within 300 feet of a HOUSE?
> 
> How did THAT get approved?

    Just for another data point. . . 

    I built a 760 Watt ERP FM at 91.9 MHz that is 
20 meters (65 feet) off the ground.  It's a two-bay, 
half-wave, Circular-Polarization antenna on a 4-inch 
O.D. metal pipe attached to the top of a wooden 
utility pole.  http://shively.com/6810-hw-2.pdf 

    The broadband NIR field at this site, measured 
with a Narda meter, reaches about 60% of the limit 
for human exposure in an "uncontrolled" (public) 
environment about 50 feet from the bottom of the 
pole, and stays at about that level out to 65-feet-
or-so, then drops off.  

    So, if that 3 kW station is using a 2-bay, Full-Wave 
antenna, I'd guess it's substantially above the limit
from about 70 feet from the base of the tower to about 
90 feet away, due to the minor lobe that peaks at 50% 
of the energy in the horizontal beam at about 55 
degrees depression.  http://shively.com/6810-fw-2.pdf 
I highly doubt there are health issues or RF burns 
from it, but it PROBABLY IS over the limit.  

    Two-bay Full-Wave antennas are - in general, 
in my humble opinion - a bad choice.  

    I'm just sayin'. . . and now I'm duckin' !

Grady