Why do so many mount vhf antenna near helm?

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Why do so many mount vhf antenna near helm?

Microwave ovens are carefully shielded to avoid RF leakage outside of the cabinet

This is partially true. Believe me, I've worked on several of these and while they are shielded, they are not 100 percent shielded. I saw one time on TV a guy with a gieger counter walking around a house. It pegged out on the TV and the microwave. What is a microwave? 600-1200 watts? It cooks food for God's sake!! A VHF radio is 25 watts, so even if a microwave was 95 percent shielded, you are still receiving more radiation from it than from your VHF radio. And that's pure cookin' radiation too, not just VHF signal. A microwave operates on the 2.4ghz frequency band. If you don't think it emits signal, walk up to one with a cordless 2.4 ghz phone. We have one and can't get within 6 feet before we lose the phone signal and get pure static. If the shielding was so great that wouldn't happen.<br /><br />Swist, I'm not sure, but I believe the maximum power of a VHF car radio station is 100k watts. I've never seen one more than that.<br /><br />It's like the global warming arguement, noone really knows yet.

 

[KRS]

Re: Why do so many mount vhf antenna near helm?

Originally posted by swist:<br /> ...That means most of us in urban area have been cooked by VHF most of our lives. I could be wrong, but I do not recall any study concluding this is a problem.

You're forgetting the inverse relationship that distance from the source plays. Most of us don't live on antenna hill next to the FM or VHF radio towers. By the time those waves get to us, there isn't a danger.