The RF Spectrum – Living among the waves series (part 1)

Living among the Waves  – a multipart series focusing on the electromagnetic environment and what that means for our health and well being.

Living among the waves series will heighten your awareness of the invisible, but real, affects of radio frequency radiation (RF).  We pass through countless electromagnetic fields (EMF) daily and perceive nothing.  Does that mean RF has no effect on our bodies and the bodies of our children either born or developing?  Is there a causal link between RF, EMF and illness?  If we want to make lifestyle changes to limit exposure, what should those changes be?

To answer these questions and more, it behooves us to understand what Electricity, RF and EMF are and how they came to be so prevalent in our lives.  In the process we will encounter colorful characters who really were jumping into the unknown and discovering principles and methods of something that would be called electricity and eventually RF and EMF.

The term “electricity” has its origins in the ancient Greek language. The word “ēlektron” (ἤλεκτρον) in Greek referred to amber, a yellowish fossilized resin that has the property of attracting lightweight objects when rubbed with certain materials like fur.

The Greek  philosopher Thales of Miletus (600 BC) observed this phenomenon and gave it the name “ēlektron.”

Jumping forward a few centuries, Pliny the Elder (100 AD) described various electric phenomena including the properties of certain fish.  It would take 7 centuries before the Parthians, in what is now Iraq, were believed to have created a device known as the Bagdad Battery.  The exact purpose of this artifact is still debated, but some suggest it was used for early electroplating.

History is quiet regarding any significant activity pertaining to electricity or related devices.  It would be almost 9 centuries before recorded history would once again begin to divulge activities related to elektron.

On or about 1600 history reveals scientists William Gilbert and Otto von Guericke establishing the foundation for the understanding of electricity.

Gilbert’s book, “De Magnete” (1600) published in Latin, introduced the term “electricity” to describe the various phenomena associated with the attractive and repulsive properties observed in objects like amber and lodestone (a naturally occurring magnetic rock).

Gilbert derived the term “electricity” from the Greek word “ēlektron,” connecting it to the concept of the attractive properties displayed by substances like amber.

Over time, the term “electricity” became widely used to describe the phenomenon of the flow of electric charge, as well as the related phenomena of electrical currents, fields, and effects.

It would take until 1745 for any notable advancement to be made.  The Leyden Jar was a notable advancement.  It was developed by Ewald George von Kleist and Peter van Musschenbroek.  The Leyden Jar was the first practical device for storing static electricity.  Within 10 years Mr. Benjamin Franklin would make additional experiments with the Leyden Jar including his relatively famous kite and key experiment.

The world, it seemed, had just sped up and there was no stopping what had started with a golden age of discovery which seemed to coincide with the founding of a new nation, under God, where all men were created equal.  Courageous words considering the signators to this document, penned by Mr. James Madison of Virginia, had just signed their death warrant with King George III of England.

Yet, courage, adventure, optimism, and discovery were the attributes of the day.  It is no wonder that discoveries were made.  It is also no wonder that one of those discoveries would be made by a man across the ocean in a little town of Como Italy.

It is here that a young man named Alessandro Volta was born and began his scientific investigations.  He trained at the University of Pavia and continued his experimentation until his retirement in 1819.  Pavia is where Mr. Volta first conceptualized and later created the the Voltaic Pile, a stack of zinc and copper discs separated by cardboard soaked in saltwater.  Mr. Volta had just invented the battery.

Mr. Volta would continue with his discoveries and develop the laws of capacitance which is fundamental to the study and design of electronic circuits today.  Many great thinkers will build upon Mr. Volta’s discoveries as we shall see.

Building upon Mr. Volta’s discoveries were two men Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, who in the 1830’s developed a telegraph system that used the inventions by Mr. Volta of the battery and switching.  Mr. Vail created an electromechanical device called a “sounder” or receiver.  The “sounder” would make a sound or click when a circuit was energized.  The sounder coupled with a Voltaic Pile (battery) and a switch (the key), would all be connected in a circuit so that when the key was depressed the sounder would make a noise.  Mr. Morse then created a code set that would equate the English alphabet to a series of sounds made by the sounder that corresponded with the depression of the key.

As time progressed, the invention by Morse and Vail was improved upon and the distances were increased from the 2 miles used initially to considerably longer distances.  The use of the telegraph quickly became indispensable to commerce.  In just 20 years the U.S. had telegraph networks spanning the nation and connecting major cities.

The next technological boom would come in the 1860’s.  In the North American continent, in the United States specifically, a civil war had broken out that would last four years from 1861 through 1865.  A conflict that would cost many lives and pit brother against brother over issues including slavery and states’ rights.

Just a year after the close of the Civil War in 1861 the first, of what would be many, transatlantic cables was laid to connect North America with Europe.  It would enable telegraphic communications between the continents and greatly reduce the time necessary to share information between them.

Commensurate with the outset of the Civil War Mr. James Clerk Maxwell, after photographing the Civil War with Mr. Matthew Brady, Was to perfect his processes of taking color photographs and present the first color photograph in 1861.  He pioneered and demonstrated the possibility of capturing and reproducing colors through photography.

In the geologic and botanical fields the discussions between scientists and touring lecturers were all about Natural Selection.  It seems the son of a theologian had made a voyage in 1831 on a ship named HMS Beagle with a British geologist named Charles Lyell.  Mr. Lyell developed a geological theory titled “Uniformitarianism” where geological processes that shaped the earth in the past could be explained by the same geological processes that operate in the present.  This idea of slow, gradual change over long time periods resonated with Mr. Darwin and formed the framework of Mr. Darwin’s theories pertaining to Natural Selection and the formation of biological species.  A book entitled “On the Origin of Species” was to come out of Mr. Darwin’s two decades of thought and subsequent lectures, it was all any reputable man of science and exploration could speak of in 1861.

Nearing the end of the decade in 1869 a Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, was to assemble and present his periodic table of elements.  The table organized elements based on their atomic properties and arranged them in a way that revealed patterns and relationships.  Mendeleev’s periodic table formed the foundation of modern chemistry and provided a comprehensive framework for understanding the elements.

In keeping with other pioneers in the 1860’s a Scottish physicist by the name of James Clerk Maxwell formulated a set of equations which mathematically described the behavior of electromagnetic waves, including radio waves.  These formulated equations would later bear his name as “Maxwell’s equations”.  The equations Maxwell developed would lay the foundation for understanding radio frequency propagation and electromagnetic radiation.

It would be 20 years later that a German physicist named Heinrich Hertz conducted experiments to verify Mr. Maxwell’s equations.  Hertz successfully demonstrated the existence and properties of radio waves, including their generation, propagation, and reflection.  He used oscillating electrical circuits to generate and detect these waves travelling at the speed of light, paving the way for the practical application of radio frequency technology.

About the same time Mr. Nikola Tesla began to famously entertain gatherings of people with his ability to use electromagnetic energy to transfer power from his electrical oscillator to a receiving coil both tuned to the same resonant frequency.  By energizing the oscillator, Tesla could transmit electrical energy through the air and power devices connected to the receiving coil, without the need for traditional wired connections.  This demonstration showcased the potential for wireless power transfer, which was considered a remarkable feat at the time.

Building upon Mr. Hertz’ understanding of radio frequency technology, and Mr. Tesla’s proven ability to transmit radio frequency energy across a room, an Italian inventor and engineer by the name of Guglielmo Marconi would conduct research and development to eventually build a device to transmit and receive radio signals over increasing distances.  His work led to the establishment of long-distance wireless communication, marking the birth of radio technology.

It would take a floating iceberg, a pressured captain of a ship to make a deadline in New York, an arrogant ship builder placing too few lifeboats on the ship,  and 1,500 deaths to cause fundamental changes in the world’s use of radio frequencies.

The “unsinkable” Titanic left on April 19, 1912 from Southampton, UK on its’ maiden voyage to New York, USA.  Four days into the voyage in the early hours of the morning on April 14th the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean.  As compartments below the waterline began flooding the captain ordered “abandon ship” and instructed the radio room to notify ships in close proximity to come to their assistance.

It was later discovered the lack of regulated frequencies and communications protocols hindered rescue efforts and contributed materially to the loss of life experienced by the sinking of the ship.  This discovery led to the Radio Act of 1912 which established the authority of the government of the United States to regulate radio communication and assign frequencies to different users.  The U.S. government now began to allocate and manage the RF spectrum to ensure interference-free communication and prevent chaotic usage of the limited frequency resources.

International agreements and organizations, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), were also established to coordinate spectrum management between countries.  Over the years, the regulation of the RF spectrum has become more sophisticated and complex as technology has advanced and the demand for wireless communication has grown.  Governments continue to play a crucial role in allocating frequencies, setting technical standards, and enforcing regulations to ensure the optimal and coordinated use of the RF spectrum for various applications, including radio broadcasting, telecommunications, satellite communication, and wireless devices.

It is difficult to fully understand the scope of radio frequency use without seeing the full spectrum and the allocations that have been made.  Keep in mind that allocations are changing all the time.  unused frequencies are auctioned off to organizations for specific purposes.  older frequencies are abandoned for newer technologies that use less spectrum.  Older frequencies can be sold or re-used for other purposes.

The frequency bands and their allocations are continually changing.  These are some of the major frequency bands and their allocation purposes in the United States:

1. AM Radio: The AM (Amplitude Modulation) band occupies frequencies from approximately 530 kHz to 1700 kHz and is used for commercial and non-commercial AM radio broadcasting.
2. FM Radio: The FM (Frequency Modulation) band ranges from approximately 88 MHz to 108 MHz and is used for FM radio broadcasting.
3. Television Broadcasting: Television broadcasting in the United States uses VHF (Very High Frequency) and UHF (Ultra High Frequency) bands. The VHF band covers channels 2-13 (54 MHz to 216 MHz), and the UHF band covers channels 14-83 (470 MHz to 890 MHz).
4. Cellular and Mobile Communications: Frequencies for cellular and mobile communications are allocated in various bands, including the 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 1900 MHz, and 2100 MHz bands, among others.
5. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies operate in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands.

These frequencies are in constant use with varying intensities. Depending on where someone is geographically locate they will be exposed to any number of carrier frequencies at varying power levels.  The entire U.S. population is continually bathed in a wide range of energy sources.  The radio frequency spectrum is a starting place to identify energy sources and their proximity to our living environment.

The environment in which we work and play is literally full of radio frequency energy.  The number of transmitters and receivers is staggering.  In addition to the devices that are purposed to be transmitters, there are sources of radio frequency energy that are not purposed to be transmitters.  Items like light bulbs, power cables, hair dryers, clothes irons, furnaces, air conditioners, electronic devices, clocks, solar cells, electric vehicles, radios, battery chargers, electric tooth brushes, etc.   Each of these devices generates radio frequency energy.

These are items that we come into contact with in our homes, that we have control over  We can, generally,  choose to turn on or off these devices.  There are even more devices that we come into contact with when we leave our homes and perform daily activities.  So, it is a reasonable question to ask if there are negative affects associated with all of the radio frequency energy that we encounter every day.

The Living Among the Waves series will continue with an exploration of microwaves and their impact on our lives.