electromagnetic radiation
 

Does anyone know about the risks of electromagnetic radiation on humans and on electronics equipment? Are there health risks to humans? Can it flip bits in RAM? Can it cause interference to household equipment like wifi?

An antenna is being installed on top of the utility pole which is only a few feet from my two story building and the top of the utility pole is only a couple feet above my roof. Below is what the company installing the system has to say about it. They are calling the antenna a CellMax Omni 22.9" H x 10" Dia. Do you think I should be concerned about this?

Thanks.

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Our objective is to install a multi-operator co-locatable Distributed Antenna Network that would involve deploying a number of discrete antennas mounted atop existing utility poles. The DAS system requires antenna and a control cabinet be attached to utility poles connected by a fiber optic cable back to a hub facility where our equipment is co-located with the cell providers. Such a network could serve any and all of the Cellular/PCS/AWS Wireless Operators on a common infrastructure, as well as providing E-911 service for the safety of residents and visitors.
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[QUOTE=RickC;227838]Does anyone know about the risks of electromagnetic radiation on humans and on electronics equipment? Are there health risks to humans? Can it flip bits in RAM? Can it cause interference to household equipment like wifi?

An antenna is being installed on top of the utility pole which is only a few feet from my two story building and the top of the utility pole is only a couple feet above my roof. Below is what the company installing the system has to say about it. They are calling the antenna a CellMax Omni 22.9" H x 10" Dia. Do you think I should be concerned about this?[/QUOTE]

Yes, not really, yes, rarely, no.

It's a radio antenna, so not a big deal to you. Health hazards are mostly from energetic EM like gammas, and similarly with bit-flipping.

You might want to check out this thread: [url]http://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=13561[/url]

[QUOTE=ixfd64;227843]You might want to check out this thread: [url]http://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=13561[/url][/QUOTE]

Sure. But of course cosmic rays are [i]vastly[/i] more energetic than radio...

As long as you don't climb the pole, or get within 10 feet of the actual antenna, you should be fine.



Read the FCC label on your WiFi device.

links
 

It looks like this is a worldwide issue of people not wanting cell towers in residential areas.

[url]http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/should-cell-phone-towers-be-put-on-residential-buildings.php[/url]
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/02/india.illegal.cellphone.towers/index.html[/url]
[url]http://www.mast-victims.org/index.php?content=news&action=view&type=newsitem&id=2014[/url]

WiFi 'radiation' is not strong enough to kick electrons out of their atom core orbits.

[QUOTE=joblack;227991]WiFi 'radiation' is not strong enough to kick electrons out of their atom core orbits.[/QUOTE]

Yes, making it what we in the trade call "non-ionizing". Visible light is similar.

[QUOTE=CRGreathouse;227995]Yes, making it what we in the trade call "non-ionizing". Visible light is similar.[/QUOTE]I think there is more to it than simply ionizing vs non-ionizing. Consider microwaves, they will happily cook you alive without ever causing an electron to jump out of its orbit.

[quote=retina;227996]I think there is more to it than simply ionizing vs non-ionizing. Consider microwaves, they will happily cook you alive without ever causing an electron to jump out of its orbit.[/quote]True, but that's not the whole story. Intense microwaves can cause ionization through multiphoton absorption. Pump enough energy into a small enough and thermally isolated enough body and the temperature will rise enough to form a plasma.

Ever seen sparks from metallic objects placed inside a powered-up microwave oven?

Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;228002]True, but that's not the whole story. Intense microwaves can cause ionization through multiphoton absorption. Pump enough energy into a small enough and thermally isolated enough body and the temperature will rise enough to form a plasma.[/QUOTE]Wildly out of the context of this thread, but yes of course, if you are getting to the plasma stage then you have already killed far too many people to be able to continue with that sort of transmitter.

In the context of the original question, proximity to the aerial is all that is really needed to consider. Staying continuously very close of an RF transmission (i.e. with the aerial taped to your head) and you are asking for problems. But keeping your distance, and combined with the low power WiFi, and the risks are as good as zero.