Ham radio vs. Medical Equipment and HOA

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AK9R

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These are immunity specs for a medtronics device. Curious that the HF immunity does not apply, however, it could be because it has no line power cord for signal to travel.
Which makes me wonder how this consultant determined that the ham's HF transmissions could be causing interference to the pump.
 

AK9R

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But stuff like this is exactly where the ARRL should step in with their high powered attorneys...Unfortunately, this isn't EMCOMM or WINLINK, so they don't care.
The ARRL has a Volunteer Counsel program which tries to match up hams with attorneys versed in communications and land use primarily to get involved in antenna restriction cases. However, based on a recent experience with a ham who was getting grief from a neighbor about his antenna, I think most hams don't even know that the ARRL Volunteer Counsel program exists.
 

alcahuete

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The ARRL has a Volunteer Counsel program which tries to match up hams with attorneys versed in communications and land use primarily to get involved in antenna restriction cases. However, based on a recent experience with a ham who was getting grief from a neighbor about his antenna, I think most hams don't even know that the ARRL Volunteer Counsel program exists.

I would agree that most probably aren't aware of that program. But I'm not talking about just matching hams and attorneys. Personally, I think these are the exact types of cases the ARRL should take on themselves, as the League. This is a real attack on amateur radio. She is attempting (under ADA) to shut this ham's station down completely. A win here would open the floodgates across the US for lawsuits just like this. The ARRL has the money to fight this, the ham might not.
 

bharvey2

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Ran across the following Youtube video about this topic. The comment section appears to have comments by the woman making the claims against the ham radio operator. May or may not be real.

 

AK9R

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I've seen some comments online about the insulin pump used by this woman being recalled by the manufacturer.

Can anybody identify the pump in the video? Can anybody verify that that model has been recalled?
 

AK9R

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I think a lot of people would like to read the consultant's report. But, if he was hired by On Top of the World, the community's developer, then we are not likely to ever see it unless On Top of the World releases it. They are privately owned and the founder's son is president, so I doubt it ever becomes public.
 

trentbob

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I've been reading this thread all week, besides being a retired newspaper man I'm also a registered nurse with my public health degree, I'm fully retired now but was a certified diabetic instructor for many many years and I'm very familiar with insulin pumps.

As a newspaperman, yes, this is a poorly written article oh, nothing new there, as a RN, an insulin pump simply monitors blood sugar, has a small vial of insulin in it and inserted in the patient is a 25 gauge small rubber catheter to their right or left lower quadrant. It actually injects insulin in accordance with blood sugar.

If they actually made insulin pumps that were affected by ham radio or any kind of RF interference we would have people dropping like flies from either diabetic coma or insulin shock, especially in metropolitan areas.

Karen says she has an issue for a year. Karen is still alive?. Most issues with insulin pumps are user related.

Don't get me wrong, I have seen insulin pump models recalled... Immediately.

Of course we don't have a follow-up on the story and I'm sure we don't have all of the facts.
 

N4GIX

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The most recent comments in Eric's rant:
Ron Wolenski N8WCR
3 days ago
Update: After hearing this news I reached out to the fellow ham, David Birge ( WB9UYK). He wrote back that he is overwhelmed by the support, and Ed Hare at ARRL called him and taken an interest in this manner.

Paul Zap
3 days ago
David Birge, the ham radio operator in this story, contacted me. David received a call from Ed Hare from the ARRL! It looks like his story is going to get support from the ARRL! I’m confident they will get him the proper defense from the community and Karen. Clearly he is abiding to FCC rule part 97. He has top f the line up to date equipment and his amp is only able to run less than half the legal limit! Her device falls under FCC rule part 15 which states it must accept any interference even if objectionable.
 

Firekite

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On Top Of The World [the community] hired an independent consultant to investigate Smith’s complaints." What did the consultant investigate?
Whatever he was paid by them to investigate, to whatever extent they paid him. Was it $150 to write an opinion paper? As you pointed out later, we don’t have a copy of the report to review, though apparently the news station got an electronic copy (or a screenshot of it) from somewhere. We have no idea how long he spent on his report or (if any) investigation or analysis, nor why he concludes that a fellow ham transmitting on occasion at only ~half the legal HF limit could possibly have any effect whatsoever on a neighbor’s otherwise properly functioning insulin pump. It’s also not clear what if any remedies he may have suggested other than dictating the ham cease his fully legal operations.

Apparently the ARRL is now getting involved to some extent, which as a paying member I would expect (and demand). Hopefully they can help straighten it out. Detractors would probably frame it as some sort of poor innocent David up against a massive hobby Goliath, and that lady who “did research” (lol) will never accept it, but honestly it’s this kind of thing that I think the ARRL can do to show some legitimate value.

I’d be happy to never get another magazine in the mail if they used that money to successfully lobby the federal or individual state governments to forbid involuntary HOA membership from being able to ban otherwise fully legal and licensed radio operations and equipment. If an HOA can just pay someone to say that hams kill diabetics, we’re all doomed.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I've seen some comments online about the insulin pump used by this woman being recalled by the manufacturer.

Can anybody identify the pump in the video? Can anybody verify that that model has been recalled?
Medtronic has had a bunch of models recalled. The woman reportedly has a Medtronic Mini Med 770G which does not seem to be on the recall. However she said she changed pumps. The manual for this device indicates it has not been tested for RF Susceptibility in the HF band because it is battery operated! In reading the manual, this is a device that requires user input when you eat etc. It has a lot of warnings in the manual about operation. The possibility for a user error is high. It does not operate on a fully closed loop concept, even with the optional sensor.
 
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