Ok , so I live in this building which has decided to loan a part of the builiding to this telecom giant which plans to start mobile services in Bombay.
They have attached a pipe kind of thing on which they are going to attach the dish. This pipe is right ouside my window. They have done something similar exactly opposite on the other side of the buliding!
Should I just wait for cancer or a tumor to get me , Or am I watching two much of Discovery & NGC
I guess it depends if the dish is a receiver or transmitter. If it’s a receiver you have nothing to worry about. It’s only collecting radio waves that already saturate everything around you so no worries.
If it’s a transmitter you still likely have nothing to worry about if it is a dish. The dish will focus its broadcast directly in front of and away from you. So unless the thing is pointed at you I wouldn’t worry.
However, if a transmission tower went up right next to you and planned to broadcast 150,000 watts of radio programming I would be worried as the signal is ‘sprayed’ in all directions.
Here’s the thing: The telecom company wants radio waves to go to certain places, like their satellites. They don’t want them going anywhere else, because that’s be wasteful: They’d need to use more power, for no particular benefit to them. So, they want some sort of antenna which will send concentrated radio waves exactly where they want them, but not anywhere else. The best sort of antenna for this purpose is one with a parabolic dish.
So in other words, as long as it’s not pointing at you, you should be fine.
Radio waves are non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation. Despite the hype, they won’t knock apart your dna and make you grow an extra eye. They don’t have the energy required to cause mutations (i.e. cancer).
Your only worry is if it is a microwave transmitter and there’s any chance of you accidentally walking in front of it. Not likely, since it’ll be on a pole and pointed away from your building.
Microwaves can cook things, remember.
Fools! That’s exactly what we want you to believe. Ha ha ha ha heh…
Seriously, there doesn’t seem to be any concern according to the Health Physics Society[sup]Specialists in Radiation Safety[/sup]
See here.
You’ll note in that link that they do not say that being exposed to RF radiation is harmless. They say that the chances of being exposed to ERF radiation from a dish antenna is extremely unlikely and even if you were most transmitters operate below dnager levels. Even the more powerful transmitters aren’t terribly dangerous because their beam is quite large so the energy is more spread out.
That is not the same as saying that being exposed to high levels of RF radiation is harmless. I believe some of the larger radio stations in the US broadcast up to 150,000 watts of power. I wouldn’t willingly stand next to that antenna while it’s in operation till someone showed me unequivocal evidence that it is harmless (and maybe not even then).
This is true for the most part. But it should be remembered that all parabolic transmitting antennas have sidelobes. (I measured microwave antenna patterns as a co-op.) The locations of the sidelobes (in degrees off-axis) is a function of geometry and frequency, and are usually around 10 dB to 20 dB lower than the peak “on-axis” frequency. If you’re transmitting a lot of power, the sidelobe energy can be significant. And unless you have a spec sheet or have measured the pattern first hand, you really don’t know the locations of the sidelobes. Suffice to say, we were careful not to get any closer than 45 degrees when transmitting…
From the same site RadioWave linked comes this tidbit from another page:
So, while they agree RF radiation is non-ionizing and does not have a cumulative effect it suggests that at sufficient power levels it can be dangerous. Your cell phone is safe to use but strapping yourself to a broadcast tower is probably unwise.
Yes, you are going to die sooner or later. I am willing to bet 100 years from now you will most surely be dead.