I have developed several analysis tools to help my amateur radio and professional applications. These tools are offered “as is” with no warranty. I have done my best to verify their results with applications. As always, mistakes can happen. Please email me if you wish to have a copy of the current spreadsheets or suggest a change.
Both the FCC and industry groups such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have concerns about RF safety and how close a user can be to an RF emitter. I developed this spreadsheet to estimate the safe distance from an RF emitter. Generally, the user should look at the “general public” distance for safe operating separation.
The FCC requires that amateur radio stations operate in a safe manner for the license holders and the general public. This presentation covers the FCC safety evaluation process for simple amateur stations. This should get the user a good feel for the RF status of their stations. This analysis should be verified using a calibrated RF power meter if there are safety questions.
The RF link analyst usually computes a “link budget” to determine if the transmitter and receiver components are appropriate for the type of link, atmospheric conditions, data rate, and required bit error rate performance. The textbook Introduction to PCM Telemetering Systems on the Publications page discusses the details for making this computation. This spread sheet is used in the analysis.
Radio Adventures 