  We discuss the radiation problem of total reflection for a time-harmonic
generalized Maxwell system in a non-smooth exterior domain with non-smooth
inhomogeneous, anisotropic coefficients converging near infinity with a certain
rate towards the identity. By means of the limiting absorption principle, a
Fredholm alternative holds true and the eigensolutions decay polynomially resp.
exponentially at infinity. We prove that the corresponding eigenvalues do not
accumulate even at zero. Next, we show the convergence of the time-harmonic
solutions to a solution of an electro-magneto static Maxwell system as the
frequency tends to zero. Finally we are able to generalize these results easily
to the corresponding Maxwell system with inhomogeneous boundary data. This
paper is thought of as the first and introductory one in a series of three
papers, which will completely discuss the low frequency behavior of the
solutions of the time-harmonic Maxwell equations.
