More On Cellphone Masts

Martin Kimber , top boss in the Planning Dept., has said publicly that he thinks enough is enough on the Standish Water Tower on Green Lane according to the Wigan Evening Post.  We wait to hear the decision on that one. No-one can argue it's become an eyesore.

Meanwhile, another mast has appeared on planers lists, (17th January), at Potters Farm Boundary Lane Standish where the existing 20 m mast is being changed for one with more on the top.

Those who have looked through this website will know that one of the worst Standish masts is the one at St. Wilfrids. Masts are odd things because people mix up why they are objecting to them.

There are those who object to their appearance as "pylons" in the countryside or as "tatty metal tangle" on building tops. There are those who think caution is required over the long term health risks. Finally there are those who worry house prices are affected because potential purchasers will be put off by the potential health risks.

Speaking as an engineer who has designed antennas, the best way to avoid putting people in strong radio fields is to use a large number of visually obtrusive sites, and place all antenna as high as possible. If you start from the position that nearly everyone (except me) carries one of these phones the masts have to go somewhere. Do we chose to site them for precautionary health reasons or do we hide them away for aesthetic reasons?  Do we put all four networks on the same mast to reduce the numbers of masts or get the operators to use different masts to reduce the peak radiation levels by a factor of 4? The government have arranged that councils can't object on potential heath grounds so planners concentrate on the aesthetic side, and minimisation of the numbers of masts.

The government is reviewing the siting of masts near schools and hopefully St. Wilfrids Golf Club mast will eventually be on a hit list. If you've never noticed this mast it is a triumph for the followers of good mast aesthetics and a disaster from the 'precautionary safety' point of view.

If you want to know more about a mast near you then you need to click on the hyperlink at the page base. Before you do that, think about the lie of the land. Beams will typically come out horizontally. Look at the masts power levels and frequency. The power levels are in units called decibels or more specifically 'dBW'.

dBW


For every 3dB increase the mast is twice as powerful. For every 10dB increase the mast is ten times as powerful. Even more confusing is a 0dBW mast radiates 1 Watt of power, not nothing. A 20dBW mast radiates 100 Watts of power.

If it's health risks that bother you then a mast radiating at 900MHz frequencies penetrates body tissue roughly twice as badly as 1800MHz frequencies. So 20dBW at 900MHz poses about the same health risk as 23dBW at 1800MHz. 

At the risk of totally confusing you, if you are 100m or more from a mast and double your distance from it then the radiation effects are reduced to a quarter, or the equivalent of 6dB lower.

These units may seem confusing but are very useful to radio engineers who need to compute the vast power differences between what is transmitted and what is received.

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