Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules Become Effective on May 3

The FCC has announced that rule changes detailed in a lengthy 2019
Report and Order governing RF exposure standards go into effect on May
3, 2021. The new rules do not change existing RF exposure (RFE) limits
but do require that stations in all services, including amateur radio,
be evaluated against existing limits, unless they are exempted. 

For stations already in place, that evaluation must be completed by May
3, 2023. After May 3 of this year, any new station, or any existing
station modified in a way that’s likely to change its RFE profile —
such as different antenna or placement or greater power — will need to
conduct an evaluation by the date of activation or change.

“In the RF Report and Order, the Commission anticipated that few
parties would have to conduct reevaluations under the new rules and that
such evaluations will be relatively straightforward,” the FCC said in
an April 2 Public Notice. “It nevertheless adopted a 2-year period for
parties to verify and ensure compliance under the new rules.”

The Amateur Service is no longer categorically excluded from certain
aspects of the rules, as amended, and licensees can no longer avoid
performing an exposure assessment simply because they are transmitting
below a given power level.

“For most amateurs, the major difference is the removal of the
categorical exclusion for amateur radio, which means that ham station
owners must determine if they either qualify for an exemption or must
perform a routine environmental evaluation,” said Greg Lapin, N9GL,
chair of the ARRL RF Safety Committee and a member of the FCC
Technological Advisory Council (TAC).

“Ham stations previously excluded from performing environmental
evaluations will have until May 3, 2023, to perform these. After May 3,
2021, any new stations or those modified in a way that affects RF
exposure must comply before being put into service,” Lapin said.

The December 2019 RF Report and Order changes the methods that many
radio services use to determine and achieve compliance with FCC limits
on human exposure to RF electromagnetic fields. 

The FCC also modified the process for determining whether a particular
device or deployment is exempt from a more thorough analysis by
replacing a service-specific list of transmitters, facilities, and
operations for which evaluation is required with new streamlined
formula-based criteria. The R&O also addressed how to perform
evaluations where the exemption does not apply, and how to mitigate
exposure.

Amateur radio licensees will have to determine whether any existing
facilities previously excluded under the old rules now qualify for an
exemption under the new rules. Most will, but some may not.

The ARRL Laboratory staff is available to help amateurs to make these
determinations and, if needed, perform the necessary calculations to
ensure their stations comply. ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI,
who helped prepare ARRL’s RF Exposure and You book, explained it this
way. “The FCC did not change any of the underlying rules applicable to
amateur station evaluations,” he said. “The sections of the book on
how to perform routine station evaluations are still valid and usable,
especially the many charts of common antennas at different heights.”
Hare said ARRL Lab staff also would be available to help amateurs
understand the rules and evaluate their stations.”

RF Exposure and You is available for free download from ARRL. ARRL also
has an RF Safety page on its website.

The ARRL RF Safety Committee is working with the FCC to update the
FCC’s aids for following human exposure rules — OET Bulletin 65 and
OET Bulletin 65 Supplement B for Radio Amateurs. In addition, ARRL is
developing tools that all hams can use to perform exposure assessments.


Handy RF Exposure Safety Link

http://hintlink.com/power_density.htm