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.

Both cell phone and WiFi radiation [B]are[/B] microwave radiation. There are no known molecular dissociative resonances for biologically important molecules in this region. There is a broad, weak rotational resonance for polar molecules, mainly water, at these frequencies. This is why your microwave oven works. However, since it's an omni-directional antenna, the power drops quickly with distance. This radiation will be absorbed by the water in the outer layers of your skin, warming it up a bit. And by a bit, I mean much, much less than the sun does when you go outside on a clear day. So no, no need to worry.

[quote=retina;228007]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.[/quote]Oh, I agree completely.

My disagreement is with the widely stated, widely believed and yet completely false notion that because a microwave photon is not of sufficient energy to ionize an atom or molecule, microwaves can not cause ionization.


Paul

I get headaches from EM sources.

Mainly 802.11(a|b|g|n) wireless and 2G GSM mobile phone wireless. Never been game to try phone calls on a 3G mobile. I can't use a persistent 802.11 connection. I can use it for adhoc usage say sub 10mins.

My phone calls on a 2G mobile are very short sub 5mins. I think at about 3mins-10mins the headaches start and get worse.

I tried playing with a new mobile - I think it had both a 3g antena and 802.11 antena. Nothing major - just going through the features checking out the menus. After say 15mis+ looking at it - it was enough to give me headaches.

Even though I'm happily playing on my pc for hours+ - and no dramas.

It may not be ionizing but it definately has an effect on me.

-- Craig

[QUOTE=nucleon;228270]I get headaches from EM sources.[/QUOTE]

I'd love to see a double-blind of that.

[QUOTE=nucleon;228270]I get headaches from EM sources. [snip] Even though I'm happily playing on my pc for hours+ - and no dramas.[/QUOTE]

So EM at 60/50 Hz caused by the electrical mains has no effect, even though it's a much larger amount of energy absorbed by your body. (You can actually measure this with a sensitive volt meter connected between you and a true earth/ground.)

[QUOTE=nucleon;228270]After say 15mis+ looking at it - it was enough to give me headaches.[/QUOTE]

Are you sure your headaches are not caused because of bad eyesight, rather than EM?

more
 

Here's an interesting article:

[url]http://www.emf-health.com/articles-celltower.htm[/url]

Here's a search to help locate antennas:

[url]http://www.antennasearch.com/[/url]

Rick

[QUOTE=RickC;228718]Here's an interesting article:[/QUOTE]

Looks cherrypicked. No surprise, given that their business model appears to rely on consumer fear of antennas.

[QUOTE=CRGreathouse;228272]I'd love to see a double-blind of that.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I'd like to be able to test myself to whether it's psychological. As there's a lot of articles about EM sensitivity, and they tend to make out the person that has EM sensitivity as "crazy" or a loon.

But for it's quite consistent. Just on Friday I was working with someone on a 3g phone setting up IPSEC VPNs details. After 10mins, I could feel the headache coming on.

-- Craig

If you ever set something up to test that, be sure to tell us! I, at least, would be interested.

I've got some gold dental fillings and I 'feel' in in the teeth if I enable my WiFi net. As for the risks - keep cool another factors (smoking, ...) are more significant.

antenna specs
 

This is the antenna they put in.

[url]http://cellmax.se/UploadFiles/Files/CMA_TRI_6515_A.pdf[/url]