U.S. RF Safety Rules in Effect Today

QST de W1AW 
ARRL Bulletin 37  ARLB037
From ARRL Headquarters 
Newington CT  September 1, 2000
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB037
ARLB037 RF safety rules now in force for all amateurs

Starting September 1, every US amateur is required to fully comply
with the FCC's RF exposure guidelines.

The regulations, which went into effect January 1, 1998, require US
Amateur Radio operators to read and understand the rules and, where
necessary, perform technical evaluations to determine that their
stations are compliant with the new regulations. Up until now, only
hams who have had to file an Amateur Radio application with the FCC
have had to certify compliance with the RF exposure rules. As of
September 1, all amateurs must comply.

Under the regulations, an amateur station must not exceed the
maximum permissible exposure limits for transmitter operation.

''These regulations are not a major burden on the Amateur Radio
Service,'' said ARRL Lab Supervisor Ed Hare, W1RFI. ''Most hams are
already in compliance with the MPE requirements; some hams will need
to conduct a simple station evaluation.''

A complete description of the rules is available on the ARRL Web
site at http://www.arrl.org/news/rfsafety/. The site also contains
resources to make your station evaluation quite painless.

Address questions about RF safety and the FCC exposure guidelines to
ARRL Lab Supervisor Ed Hare, W1RFI, ehare@arrl.org.

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