Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

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M3PIE
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Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by M3PIE »

Watch the Q&A on the video about CB11M users.

Update on new Ofcom EMF regulations
As part of the RSGB AGM held on April 24, John Rogers M0JAV provided an update on the new Ofcom EMF licence regulations, the video is now available on YouTube

His presentation, which is followed by a question and answer session, starts at 2:14:25 into the AGM video.

Watch The Radio Society of Great Britain 2021 AGM


You can download the latest version of the RSGB-Ofcom EMF Calculator from the RSGB EMF page at
https://rsgb.org/emf
paulears
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by paulears »

I have to admit to having a quiet smile about this, because OFCOM have made the assumption that the typical recent licensee has the background to actually understand the maths going on. To be fair, it's not that complex, but maths has become a tiny part of getting a ham licence, but to keep it, you now have to be able to do it. The calculator is great, assuming you input correct data, but without the maths, how will people ensure compliance. I got the ham radio letter, decided my own application meant there were no issues as I'm currently occasionally active on a hand held, but that is quite rare. However, I had nothing from my business radio and marine radio licences.

I have been selling radios for quite a few years and the level of understanding I see every week is ranging from really clever folk, way above my level to people who don't know the difference between 12V and mains. Some licensed folk cannot use computers, social media or use a scientific calculator - some cannot understand text in reading levels above 14-16. In short - lots of qualified, licensed amateurs are as thick as bricks. OFCOM I suspect won't ever check on the new system, but are just implementing it for box ticking. If it's a real danger, then the high powered folk should be first in line - irrespective of if it's ham, CB or business. So many hams only have a handful of Watts and a pretty poor antenna anyway. 5W into a Diamond at 7m up in the air doesn't make the calculator shout a warning.

As it's clear the new rule hasn't been advertised very much, I think it will just vanish after a few weeks, job done. Paperwork ticked.

The cynic in me does wonder that anyone caught working illegally high power can also be hit with a public endangerment offence on top of the usual licence infringements. Courts historically don't hot having no driving licence that hard, but they do hit the driving without due care and attention and dangerous driving??
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by g1xgm »

A gimmick.Needs abolishing.G1-XGM.
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by Alan Pilot »

g1xgm wrote: 09 May 2021, 12:51 A gimmick.Needs abolishing.G1-XGM.
Well said Michael.
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by 26mb04 »

This is only an issue because too many hams know everything about the latest black box and nothing about the actual R.F. energy that comes out of it. It's a side effect of getting one's licence from a cereal packet (as I did, ricycles btw). It does surprise me how many people suddenly are totally confused by the idea of high-level R.F. being potentially dangerous. To me it's pretty obvious, but mostly pointless from my perspective (at the moment :twisted: )
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by Alan Pilot »

Not saying it's not important RF that is but to me it gave somebody a job writing it all up.
When was the last time you caught your head on a "ham's" aerial you didn't as they are way up in the air.
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by Andy »

Alan Pilot wrote: 10 May 2021, 06:21 Not saying it's not important RF that is but to me it gave somebody a job writing it all up.
When was the last time you caught your head on a "ham's" aerial you didn't as they are way up in the air.
Horizontal dipoles and VHF beams etc might be, but low-frequency verticals tend to be fed at or near ground level. My topband vertical is fed at about 3 feet above ground. Of course no-one can touch it as it on our own property, but people can pass within a few feet of it as they enter/exit the rear of their houses. But I agree that all this is probably just to cover their backsides and no-one will ever get a surprise check.
BTW I agree about many amateurs being totally thick. Many years ago I was up a local hill operating on 70 cm with a horizontal yagi mounted on a pole. A golfer wandered across and introduced himself as G0xxx and asked if I was operating on 20 metres. Er no, it's an effing UHF yagi you thick t**t.
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Re: Ofcom EMF regulations CB/11M users

Post by 5973Laterz »

When I studied for my exams at first the maths side was a little bit daunting but I got right into it and in the end actually enjoyed it. I pushed myself a bit and now am proud I bothered to. You have the formulas for the full exam sitting beside you on a sheet as permitted materials for the exam, you just need to know how to manipulate them a little and plumb in some numbers and know what the formulas relate to. It is a part of the wide range of knowledge and info you need for the full. As the youth of today say today I "smashed it".

I guess you could swerve almost all the maths, commit all the rest to memory and manage a pass. I did not want to do that and took all chapters seriously.. This can all help you in the hobby later on and give you the confidence to try and work out more complex aspects of radio and enhance your understanding of the hobby practically it can help you advance and get more out of it. As far as the EMF calcs, as long as you have the excel doc working it is easy to pop your numbers in and print and have awareness of roughly what you need to do to follow the exclusion zone.

Even someone who has forgotten all the maths in the exams can type a few numbers into a spreadsheet, surely. :roll:
I worked the world at the 11 year cycle low on a snapped PL-259 center pin and 0.01W so neh neh ne ne neh
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