OT freq question

[420TEE]

My wife had a Pacemaker implanted yesterday. She's doing OK and is scheduled to come home tomorrow. I know they use a remote like a TV remote to program the thing and test the batteries in the hospital. Does anyone have any idea what frequencies those remotes might use? My boats are 75 Mhz and soon 2.4 Ghz. I don't want to turn one on till I'm sure it's OK. We'll try to find out from the cardiologist but he's a doc not an engr. Thanks for any info.
Ed

[Brooks]

Some information and links that might answer your questions:
https://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pacemaker.html

Also:
http://sss-mag.com/rfsafety_bkg.html
"It is recommended that any amateur (HAM) who has a pacemaker or is being considered for one discuss this matter with his or her physician. The physician will probably put the amateur into contact with the technical representative of the pacemaker manufacturer. These representatives are generally excellent resources and may have data from laboratory or "in the field" studies with pacemaker units of the type the amateur needs to know about. "

[avidjeepr]

Here is the patent,
http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/4550370.html

[mfr02]

All the TV remotes that I have seen have been infra-red, not radio, thus not a problem. If it has a LED that does not seem to light up, or a red or black "window" at the business end, it is almost certainly IR and not RF.

[LtDoc]

Take this with a HUGE grain of salt!
I'm not aware of any pacemaker that uses RF for programing. Just too many possible interactions with that. My knowledge of pacemakers is VERY dated, so this isn't anything I'd bet money on...much less a life! Best advice so far is to talk to a representative of the company that makes the thing.
- 'Doc

[420TEE]

Thanks for all the info. I haven't had a chance to go over it in depth yet but I did find a paper on Google that said maufactuers of the devices use frequencies in the low Khz range, KILOhz, 10-150, nowhere near our ranges. I'll still pursue it from the horse's mouth though.
Obviously, since the device being programmed is totally implanted inside, IR won't work.