Hi,
I got this message yesterday in my inbox. I am not a RSGB member, so I
wonder what the RSGB and/or the UK amateur radio community, if such a
thing exists, are going to do about it:
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Dear Licence Holder,
We are writing to make you aware of some important changes that we are proposing to make to your Wireless Telegraphy Act licence(s) issued by
Ofcom.
In February and October last year, we issued two public consultations on
our proposal to formally require licensees to comply with the
internationally agreed levels in the International Commission on
Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines for the protection
of the general public from electromagnetic fields (EMF). We refer to
these levels as the ICNIRP general public limits. In October, we also
issued a Statement setting out our decision to formally require
licensees to comply with the ICNIRP general public limits and we
recently published an update on how we propose to implement that decision.
We are now writing to you to inform you of our proposal to vary the
terms and conditions of your licence(s) to require you to comply with
the ICNIRP general public limits. In accordance with the Wireless
Telegraphy Act and your licence(s), we are giving you notice of our
proposal by publishing a General Notice on our website.
We’ve put all the relevant information about our proposal including the General Notice on a dedicated EMF webpage ofcom.org.uk/emf. Here you
will find details of the licence variation process alongside the
background to the changes and lots of FAQs to help you understand what
our proposal means for you.
If, after reading the above information, you wish to make a
representation to Ofcom in relation to our proposal to vary your
licence(s), you have up until the 18 April 2021 to do so. However, if
you do not wish to make a representation you do not need to take any
action at this time. More information on the representation process can
be found by visiting the Ofcom EMF webpage.
We will consider all representations before coming to a final decision
on the variation of your licence(s). We will publish our final decision
on the EMF page of our website by 18 May 2021. We will explain whether
we have decided to vary your licence(s) to include the EMF condition. If
your licence(s) has been varied we will send you an update of it or information on where a new version can be obtained from.
In future we intend to make greater use of General Notices published on
our website and may not individually contact you to inform you that we
have published one. We would therefore urge all licensees to regularly
check the Ofcom website or subscribe to email spectrum updates by going
to the following page on our website ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/email-updates.
If you have any questions about this change and what it means for you, further information can be found on the dedicated EMF webpage using the address provided above.
Yours faithfully,
Ofcom
Hi,
I got this message yesterday in my inbox. I am not a RSGB member, so I
wonder what the RSGB and/or the UK amateur radio community, if such a
thing exists, are going to do about it:
Hi,
I got this message yesterday in my inbox. I am not a RSGB member, so I
wonder what the RSGB and/or the UK amateur radio community, if such a
thing exists, are going to do about it:
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Dear Licence Holder,
We are writing to make you aware of some important changes that we are >proposing to make to your Wireless Telegraphy Act licence(s) issued by
Ofcom.
In February and October last year, we issued two public consultations
on our proposal to formally require licensees to comply with the >internationally agreed levels in the International Commission on
Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines for the
protection of the general public from electromagnetic fields (EMF). We
refer to these levels as the ICNIRP general public limits. In October,
we also issued a Statement setting out our decision to formally require >licensees to comply with the ICNIRP general public limits and we
recently published an update on how we propose to implement that decision.
We are now writing to you to inform you of our proposal to vary the
terms and conditions of your licence(s) to require you to comply with
the ICNIRP general public limits. In accordance with the Wireless
Telegraphy Act and your licence(s), we are giving you notice of our
proposal by publishing a General Notice on our website.
We’ve put all the relevant information about our proposal including
the General Notice on a dedicated EMF webpage ofcom.org.uk/emf. Here
you will find details of the licence variation process alongside the >background to the changes and lots of FAQs to help you understand what
our proposal means for you.
If, after reading the above information, you wish to make a
representation to Ofcom in relation to our proposal to vary your
licence(s), you have up until the 18 April 2021 to do so. However, if
you do not wish to make a representation you do not need to take any
action at this time. More information on the representation process can
be found by visiting the Ofcom EMF webpage.
We will consider all representations before coming to a final decision
on the variation of your licence(s). We will publish our final decision
on the EMF page of our website by 18 May 2021. We will explain whether
we have decided to vary your licence(s) to include the EMF condition.
If your licence(s) has been varied we will send you an update of it or >information on where a new version can be obtained from.
In future we intend to make greater use of General Notices published on
our website and may not individually contact you to inform you that we
have published one. We would therefore urge all licensees to regularly
check the Ofcom website or subscribe to email spectrum updates by going
to the following page on our website >ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/email-updates.
If you have any questions about this change and what it means for you, >further information can be found on the dedicated EMF webpage using the >address provided above.
Yours faithfully,
Ofcom
This applies to ALL holders of a radio transmitting licence, or those responsible for the operation of radio transmitting stations - and not
just radio amateurs (and certainly not only to RSGB members).
In realty, it's probably only something that users of the higher VHF frequencies and above should need to take precautions about - but it looks like we'll all have to do the required calculations and complete the red tape in order to operate legally.
Now that consultation is over and it is going to happen.
On 04/03/2021 12:22, Ian Jackson wrote:
In realty, it's probably only something that users of the higher VHF
frequencies and above should need to take precautions about - but it
looks like we'll all have to do the required calculations and complete
the red tape in order to operate legally.
I'm not convinced that this is the case. Near field levels can be quite high and neighbours can get quite close to HF antenna sections.
On 04/03/2021 11:52, Jeff wrote:
Now that consultation is over and it is going to happen.
I think the consultation deadline has been extended to some time in May, because of Covid, but you can assume that any changes will only be tweaks.
On 04/03/2021 15:26, David Woolley wrote:
On 04/03/2021 12:22, Ian Jackson wrote:I wonder if this can be used to help get planning permission for higher >antennas or just get planning in general?
I'm not convinced that this is the case. Near field levels can be
In realty, it's probably only something that users of the higher VHF >>>frequencies and above should need to take precautions about - but it >>>looks like we'll all have to do the required calculations and
complete the red tape in order to operate legally.
quite high and neighbours can get quite close to HF antenna sections.
On 04/03/2021 15:26, David Woolley wrote:
On 04/03/2021 12:22, Ian Jackson wrote:
In realty, it's probably only something that users of the higher VHF
frequencies and above should need to take precautions about - but it
looks like we'll all have to do the required calculations and
complete the red tape in order to operate legally.
I'm not convinced that this is the case. Near field levels can be
quite high and neighbours can get quite close to HF antenna sections.
I wonder if this can be used to help get planning permission for higher antennas or just get planning in general?
Here, I doubt that I shall be able to continue using my 420ft.
horizontal loop, which runs close to the edge of the garden at around
12ft. AGL.; the near field limits will firmly put paid to that.
I should be just about OK on 10m and 12m using the vertical dipole on
the South Mast at about 25ft. AGL.
VHF and UHF look OK to me provided I give up using the 6m 4-element on
the North Mast at 20ft. AGL - it's pretty useless anyway these days,
because of the S7 to S9+ interference from domestic electronics in neighbouring houses.
Mobile will be difficult, though; I'll probably set the maximum power
down to 5w on all bands on the FT-8900, and not transmit when there are people less than the separation distance away, whatever that turns out
to be. On the move, all should be OK due to the minimal time for which
any one person is exposed.
Don't forget that the Ofcom calculator does not take polar diagram into account
On 05/03/2021 17:20, Jeff wrote:
Don't forget that the Ofcom calculator does not take polar diagram
into account
As the RSGB response points out, polar diagrams are far field effects
but most HF amateurs have the public well inside the near field, where
there may be hotspots, completely unrelated to the far field polar
diagram, and intensities increase much faster with reducing distance.
The Ofcom spreadsheet uses inverse square law, so is only fully valid at distances significantly greater than the larger of wavelength or
effective aperture.
Near field covers two concepts. One is the close in, induction field,
where the fields are more like those for capacitors and inductors, and
where I suspect it could underestimate. The other applies to beams, and
is the part from where the beam starts to be treated as a cone, rather
than a cylinder, back to the induction field. In the latter, it will overestimate.
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