Electromagnetic Radiation -- Cell Phone Tower

[Jack Hogoboom]

My wife and I are considering buying a new house recently built in our town. It is about 500 feet down slope from a large Verizon cell phone tower disguised as a clock tower. The house is approximately 100-150 feet below the top of the tower, where I assume most of the electronic systems are.

Two questions:

1. Does anyone have any thoughts about the safety of being this close to a cell tower?

2. Is there any simple way, using readily available equipment, to test the electromagnetic radiation in the house?

Any thoughts would be gladly welcomed. The house is really great, but the tower gives us a little pause.

Thanks,

Jack

[Joe Pelonio]

In our area there's a lot of controversy over this, with the city trying to cooperate with the cell carriers but the residents upset. From what has been reported the radiation travels horizontally with some downward scatter. The long term effects of constant exposure to low levels of
this are unknown, because the technology has not been around that
long. The biggest complaint here is a constant hum from the cell tower base, whatever equipment is in there is noisy.

We once passed on a really nice house that was 75' from a high voltage power line, just based on potential future re-sale problems. We figured that if we were hesitant, others would be too when we sold it, and if more dangers became known we could be stuck with it.

I'd agree that an EMF test should be done, but where do you find someone to do it? Your local ghost hunters have the equipment but probably wouldn't be interested. Maybe an electrical engineering firm?

Here's a place that sells a wide variety of meters:

http://www.lessemf.com/gauss.html

[tod evans]

jack, if it where me i`d look elsewhere. no good scientific reason but common sence says that when you go to sell it won`t be a plus being under a cell tower, not to mention whatever problems it may cause with your home electronics..02 tod

[Ken Fitzgerald]

If I were in your shoes...........I'd pass for all the reasons above ............However..........I can go onto my carport.....and see my local cell phone tower some 2 blocks away. It wasn't there when I bought this place 24 years ago. The city sure has been accomodating!

[Rob Bourgeois]

Get a RF meter from Radio shack..

I bet you get Rf from your TV, cordelss phone, wireless internet connection and computer where you are living now than there with the cell tower.

[Mike Evertsen]

there a cell tower to the east one to the west and one on the south side of me just use tin foil hats you'll be alright

[skip coyne]

I wouldnt chose to be close to one . Just curios is the place cheaper becouse of it ?

[Jack Hogoboom]

Guys,

Thanks for all of the replies. I will stop and pick up an RF meter today. If someone could tell me what an acceptable level is, that would really help.

The house is a "steal" because of the location, plus the tower isn't really that close to the house and it is up on a hill above the house. The tower has been disguised as a clock tower, so it's not really an eyesore. Lots of people are having the same visceral reaction as some of you, which is why it is so cheap. But everything I read indicates it's not a health hazard. It is so high up, it's hard to believe anything reaches the house.

Keep the comments coming.

Thanks,

Jack

[Art Mulder]

We once passed on a really nice house that was 75' from a high voltage power line, just based on potential future re-sale problems. We figured that if we were hesitant, others would be too when we sold it, and if more dangers became known we could be stuck with it.

In the end, you need to be able to sleep at night with the decision you made. That applies to many, many things in life, from investing, to home purchase, to college choices, and so on.

But just to share an opposite experience... Our friends in MI have, for almost 17 years now, owned a house that is right next to a high voltage power line corridor. One very large positive for them is that they have no neighbour on that side. And, since the lot is unfenced, they basically got a much larger yard for free, which was a bonus when their kids were growing up. The trampoline and play structure were all placed on the "bonus" land. Power company didn't care. The negative, is that in the hot/humid summer the lines hum. They're not looking to sell, so resale isn't (yet) an issue for them.

[Carl Eyman]

Jack: You might look up your local ham radio club and talk to them. They might have a member who has rf detection equipment and knows how to use it. I certainly do not claim to be an expert on this subject, but have always thought the perceived danger from electronic radiation was more in the mind of the "beholder" than in reality. For example, the strength of a radiated signal varies with the third power of the distance from the source. Based on that fact you can see the radiation from your cell phone on transmit just inches away from your brain can be much stronger than the strength of a signal from the tower thousands of feet away. This even though the power of the phone's signal is milliwatts and that of the tower Kilowatts. Yet we use the phone without a second thought and go to town meetings to raise hell about the tower. Humans - can't figure them out!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well, the local cell guys here want to put on on my rooftop, where I store the wood right now.

They will pay me $10,000 a year to keep it there, minimum for 10 years

Can you see why we are very seriously considering it?

We have asked these questions, and they have provided us with about 400 pages of research from here in Japan, and from Europe and the US, all saying it is harmless. I'd scan it all and post it here, but it is in Japanese

Their bigger concern, and ours, is that the unit weighs 5000 Kg (11,000 lbs).

We have our building architects and an independent company looking at the building's design and blueprints to decide if the building can handle the weight.

Am I nuts?

(10,000 a year x 10 years = $1,000,000) that will basically pay most of my mortgage.

Cheers!

[Carl Eyman]

OH! A PS

If you get a meter, how will you know how much radiation is from the cell phone tower and how much from the TV Statio, Radio Station, The CBer with an illegal amplifier that is driving by, or the neighbor's microwave that is a little leaky?

[Andy Fox]

When you sell the property in the future, will you be able to sell it fast enough that you aren't trapped for years waiting for another buyer who's willing to take the same risk.

Logic says that that the risk doesn't seem all that bad. Unless maybe some new study comes out next year which shows a clear link between cell phone towers and cancer. Then you might as well have swampland.

But people don't buy houses based on logic. All that's needed to turn a buyer away is a little fear, uncertainty, or doubt.

Here's what seems to be a decent summary of the scientific findings:
http://vvv.dph.state.ct.us/Publicati...ell_phones.pdf

If it's really a steal, I might consider buying it though.

[Rob Bourgeois]

The meter will have accpetable limits in it instructions or thr meter itself. At least the ones I have used when I was doing microwave digestions of sediments and plant material at my lab tech job in school.

Its fun to watch it go offscale when you put it next to a old cordless phone. I am betting you wont find any above the safe limit( or any at all above back ground) unless you stick it near the electric meter or a point source like a cell/cordelss phone.

Much like bird flu...much ado about reallly nothing.

[Joe Pelonio]

Stu,

That's a lot of money. I make "land use" signs for an engineer that does towers for the cell carriers, and they often pay people to put them on their property. Where they have problems is putting them on city owner right-of-ways that are close to homes so the people get nothing for it.

Just for fun I did some research. Basically it depends on who you listen to, some say it's not an issue others say it is. Here's a quote from one:

"The leading researcher in this field, Henry Lai, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle, has published a number of studies indicating that radiation emitted by cell phones may pose a health hazard. However, in a presentation one year ago he concluded that the health risks, if any, due to exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cell towers are not clear. One question yet to be answered is whether<!-- Begin ad --> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 align=right bgColor=#ffffff border=0 valign="bottom" hspace="10"><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End ad -->the impact of exposure to low-intensity RFR from cell towers is cumulative. Dr. Lai also points out that current US guidelines for RFR exposure are not up-to-date and are based on research data only up to 1985. (For the record, Dr. Lai has said he wouldn't live next to a cell tower.)
Given the lack of research in this area, it’s impossible to reach any objective conclusion at this time on whether or not exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cell towers presents a health hazard and, if so, what the risks might be. To keep up with the debate on this issue and emerging research in the field, I suggest that you visit the website of the EMR Network, Citizens and Professionals for the Responsible Use of Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR), at www.emrnetwork.org. This group is lobbying for more research as well as tracking EMR issues worldwide."


<TABLE style="HEIGHT: 54px" width=518 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD>Also found this interesting, a computer generated graphic showing the RF radiation from a single cellular antenna that is mounted on the side of a concrete block building. The antenna is supposed to send the radiation from the front of the antenna (to the left). However, this shows RF energy is also coming off of the back of the antenna and penetrating through the block wall into the building.
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