Can you hear me now?

[hollyking]

Last night I collected all the various parts and setup my amateur station again. This involved cleaning off the top of my desk, plugging in the power supply, connecting the radio to the antenna, connecting the radio to the power supply and finally turning on the power. Everything worked and the magic smoke is still inside the radio. Yay!

I didn't actually transmit yesterday because I wanted to evaulate the RF exposure I might receive. According to the information provided by the FCC's OET Bulletin #65 I don't have to perform a formal evaluation. I went ahead and performed an evaluation just to see what the results would be. The result is:

	2m (144 Mhz)		70cm (440 Mhz)
Power	Controlled	Uncontrolled	Controlled	Uncontrolled
5 W	1.46'	3.21'	1.84'	4.04'
10 W	2.05'	4.52'	2.58'	5.70'
20 W	2.87'	6.37'	3.62'	8.04'
35 W	3.79'	8.41'	4.77'	10.61'
50 W	4.52'	10.40'	5.70'	12.68'

My radio, a Yaesu FT-8800R, can transmit on the two meter (144 MHz) and seventy centimeter (440 MHz) band. The transmission power can be adjusted to one of four levels. The controlled column is the distance, in feet, from the center of the antenna it is safe for people who are aware of the transmission source. The uncontrolled column is the distance, in feet, from the center of the antenna for people who are not aware of the transmission source, for example my next door neighbors.

So I've learned that I can't transmit on full power in my apartment because there is no way that I could place an antenna that would be 10.4' or 10.61' feet from a neighbor. So when we move I'll have to try for an upstairs apartment that's on the outside edge of the building.

Comments

[notorious-oit.livejournal.com]

baloo_ursidae and I are working on getting our amateur radio licenses.

My head hurts from all the studying.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

Studying? I just went to qrz.com and took their online tests until I passed. Memorization for the win! ;)