Verizon installed cellular antennas on the roof of my apartment building, directly above my apartmen

My wife and I moved into our current apartment last summer (We live in NYC). Soon after moving in (we live on the top floor of a seven story building) Verizon installed cellular antennas on the roof, directly above our apartment. They look like this

I found a thread on Straightdope from 2011 that states that cell towers/antennas are directional, low power and am also seeing online that there’s no evidence of any ill effects from being near them, but I am hoping someone on the forum who knows more about this specific type of antenna can tell me more (as the thread is from 4 years ago). Anything I should know or did I basically sum it up already? Thanks in advance!

As far as we know, there’s no way this can hurt you. Unless it falls on you.

There is a small subset of people who sincerely believe that this radiation is harmful. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that they are correct.

Yes, the reason they are so long vertically is so that power doesn’t spill out below or above the beam. And the reason you can walk up to them on the roof is that they are low power.

How strong is the Verizon cell signal inside your apartment? They sell detectors, though do your research to make sure they will detect the Vz cell towers (not just the phones). If it is harmful or not is one thing, but knowing lets say your apartment is not receiving a high level of radiation from them could give you peace of mind. Or if it seems abnormally high it might give you a direction to go in if you are worried(moving, relocating to a lower apartment or contacting Vz).

Peace of mind vs worried does seem to be health related, even if the EM radiation is not.

You’d get a lot more peace of mind from understanding how radiation works.

The only way microwave radiation can hurt you is by cooking you. Fortunately, the human body has evolved very effective ways to detect and avoid things that cook it. Do you feel hot? If not, then you’re not being harmed.

Do you have a Verizon phone? If so, how many bars did you have before the antenna was installed vs how many bars you get now?

As has been said, the only danger from radio frequencies is if you stand close to a transmitter powerful enough to physically cook you. The frequencies used for mobile phones (roughly 800-2500 MHz) are too low in energy (note I did not say power) to be harmful. Yes, I know microwave ovens use about 2400 MHz radio frequency, but they cook shit by concentrating a thousand watts of it into a tiny box. Electromagnetic radiation doesn’t become ionizing (the radiation poisoning, cancer causing kind) until into the UV spectrum which starts at 800 THz.

Thanks. I guess the thing that prompted this post is the fact that my wife and I have a 6 month old daughter and I think the antennae is literally above our bedroom. We will probably only be in this apartment for another six months or so.

I did notice that the sign on the door to the roof says that:
1.) All personnel should have electromagentic energy awareness training
2.) Maintain minimum of 3 feet clearance from antennae
3.)Do not stop in front of antennae
4.) Use personal RF monitors while working near antennaes

There are dangers from the RF radiation, even in the band used by cellular phones, if the intensity is high enough. Hence, the warnings and use of detection devices by those who work near them. The antenna array both receives and transmits RF radiation. The reception is not a concern, but the transmission can be dangerous. The danger, however, decreases with the square of the distance. The sign seems to indicate that a distance of 3 feet is adequate to be sure the intensity is below dangerous levels.

You say the antenna is directly above your apartment. Is any part of your apartment within 3 feet of the antenna? The distance, and shielding provided by the antenna and building structure itself, should be more than adequate to keep the levels low enough. If you have a concern, you should probably contact Verizon. As stated above, the radiation emitted is not ionizing radiation, so there really is no increased risk of cancer, brain tumors, or birth defects (no comment on the increased risks caused by living on the top floor or living in NYC).

I wonder how close you need to be to the antenna for its radiation to be stronger than the radiation from the phone in your pocket?

The antennae is literally above my bedroom. The ceiling in the room is aprox 8 1/2 ft high. So 3 feet from the ceiling is roughly eye level. No idea how thick the materials is between my ceiling and the surface of the roof… maybe a foot or more? That plus the actual height of the antennae and/or transmitting components…? I would guess it’s more than three feet above the surface of the roof?

OK, so at least twelve feet, probably significantly more (you probably need to climb a ladder to reach the antenna). That’s four times 3 feet, so you’d be getting 1/16 the exposure. And that’s assuming that the power is the same in all directions, which it won’t be: They have no reason to send any power at all straight down. And, of course, you’ve also got a ceiling in between you, which will also block most of it.

But again, we don’t even need to do any calculations, because we already know that you’re not feeling it, which you would be if it were powerful enough to hurt you.

Oh it’s certainly not 12 feet above the surface of the roof. It looks like THIS

So I spoke with Verizon. The issue is proximity to the antenna when you have no barrier between you and the antenna. The roof provides sufficient protection. The thing you don’t want to do is go on the roof and stand directly in front of the antenna less than three feet in front of it.

Check your lease.

What should I check for?

Most of the energy coming from a cell phone antenna is directed off to the side, angled slightly downward. Ironically, being directly under the antenna, you are probably getting a lot less RF energy beamed into your apartment than the folks who are across the street from you. Even without the roof in the way, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Unless it’s a metal roof, it probably doesn’t do much to block the signals. The Verizon guy was right, but for the wrong reason. You don’t want to stand directly in front of the antenna because that’s where all of the energy is focused. Whether there’s a roof there or not, there’s nothing to worry about directly under the antenna.

Cell phone antennas are low power anyway. They have to be.

Imagine two people talking. They move farther and farther away, until they can’t hear each other very well. Now, give one person a bullhorn. It doesn’t really help, does it? Sure, it allows the other person to hear their voice, but they still can’t hear the reply, so you don’t get two-way communication.

It’s the same thing with cell phones. You can boost the transmitting power of the antenna on your roof, but it doesn’t really help you because the antenna on the roof won’t be able to hear the quiet replies from cell phones that are further away.

So what you want is for your cell phones and your roof antennas to be fairly closely matched in power. That way, they each start losing the ability to hear each other at about the same time. And, when you reach that point where they are starting to have trouble hearing each other, that’s where you put another cell antenna. That’s why you need cell phone antennas all over the place. They are very low power and only cover a small area.

Your cell phone transmits less than a watt of RF energy. Off the top of my head I don’t know what power levels they use in cell towers these days, but I’m guessing it’s somewhere around 100 watts or so. That may seem a bit like the roof antenna has the bullhorn I mentioned above, but look at the size of your cell phone’s antenna and compare that to the size of the roof antenna. The roof antenna is a lot larger, so it has much better “ears”.

To put this in perspective though, your typical broadcast FM radio station puts out about 50,000 watts. That’s why it can reach an entire city with just one antenna, where puny cell towers with their tiny power levels can only go a few blocks.

And, to put the power levels in perspective, your typical microwave oven puts out somewhere between 600 and 1200 watts, with all of that energy focused into a tiny box.

You don’t want to be directly in front of the roof antenna, or it will start to cook you. That’s why it has that 3 foot warning. Your cell phone puts out less than 1 watt, so you can put it directly up against your head and it’s no biggie.

As far as cancer dangers and the like is concerned, it’s nonexistent. Cell phone radio signals are lower in frequency than visible light, so being blasted by cell phone radiation is safer for you than being blasted by visible light radiation from something like a table lamp. Just like you don’t want to stand in front of a high powered Hollywood spotlight or it will cook you, you don’t want to stand in front of a high powered radio antenna either. And again, just like it is safe to stand underneath the Hollywood spotlight as long as you don’t go in front of it, you are safe standing under your roof’s antenna as well, for basically the same reason. Directly under it isn’t where all of the energy is going.

You don’t have anything to worry about. If you have wifi in your apartment, you are probably getting blasted by as much or more radio wave radiation from that than you are from the cell antenna on your roof.

Cell phones, cell towers, and wifi are everywhere these days. If there was really some kind of danger from it all, we’d be dropping like flies.

Oh interesting- the person on the phone described the antenna as being omni-directional, both receiving and transmitting.

Ah thanks for this info. I didn’t consider the relationship to devices like wi-fi routers!