Is the antenna transmitting radio or TV are hazardous to health

[Pawelk198604]

I once read that people from one rural community here in Poland protested against the location of a transmitting antenna of the radio station in their village KRRiT Polish organization responsible for issuing licenses for radio or television stations (and delicate forms of censorship, even though the Polish constitution expressly prohibits censorship (unless it regards the promotion of or communist content)

It gave permission to build the transmitter and, allocated the station frequency. Residents protested that they do not want to live near the transmitter, because apparently can cause even cancer.

Such a small digression, I've heard that it is not health reasons were the cause of these protests, but moral. This radio station with which I write this youth radio station, which broadcasts Polish and foreign rock music and immoral conducts programs like talk show in which young poles (teens) talk about their sexual experiences, help you get in last straw was the episode in which one boy said as prolong during masturbation: D

Apparently, probably the priest persuaded the people that wrote protest to KRRiT and the Chief Inspector of nature, the transmitter creates radiological health risks for residents and wildlife, it is an open secret that was the real reason for the protest: D

But're asking me whether television and radio transmitters poses any danger, of course, beyond the demoralization of Polish teens: D

Edited July 21, 2014 by Pawelk198604

[szputnyik]

Unless the antenna is somehow broadcasting gamma rays, no.

X-rays and gamma rays are hazardous to health because their wavelenghts are short enough to interfere with the atoms that make up your body.

Radio waves have even longer wavelenghts than visible light. A bright street lamp has more of a chance to mess with your health, than any radio transmitter, but its wavelenghts are still too long for that.

I've heard that it is not health reasons were the cause of these protests, but moral. This radio station with which I write this youth radio station, which broadcasts Polish and foreign rock music and immoral conducts programs like talk show in which young poles (teens) talk about their sexual experiences, help you get in last straw was the episode in which one boy said as prolong during masturbation: D

Is Polish society still that conservative? Communist Hungary in the 1960s was much more liberal than this, at least according to what my parents and grandparents told me.

I've been to Poland two times, and it felt more or less like being in Hungary. Although I was in the relatively big city of Krakow, maybe rural areas are much different.

Edited July 20, 2014 by szputnyik

[NFUN]

A lot of people are also somewhat ignorant of various things, and can sometimes be unjustly afraid of them (not necessarily their fault). More importantly, large antennae are ugly and NIMBY attitudes are common.

<tangent> We now have very simple RC cockroaches. By placing an electrode where their antennae meet nerves scientists can make them think an obstacle is in the way, so they turn away from the impulse. Armies of cockroaches, oh the possibilities. </tangent>

[guto8797]

Its the same thing again. People are afraid of what they cannot understand.

Radio waves are harmless they swim right besides you.

Gamma rays have so much energy and tiny wavelenght that they can actually swim trough your cells and hit your DNA, basically changing it all. Cancer basically, these genetic mutations often mean the cell goes looney.

X rays usually can energise particles, forming Free radicals, particles that are so reactive they stick to anything, causing the cell in question to die or mutate.

UV just kills the cell.

Beyond that no much problem. Except maybe for microwaves, stand for too long ahead of one and the water in your body will start to boil

[Arran]

There are some antenna's that can be hazardous to your health, but these are mostly focused narrow beams that are aimed at the next tower, used only on high masts far up in where in normal circumstances no person can reach them, the antenna's of mobile phone towers that link the recievers to each other for roaming are operating on those frequencies (the round things on the towers as shown on this image)

But they have to be turned off if some maintance worker/egnineer has to do work on that mast, mostly due as the above poster said, these attennea transmits on frequencies that are near microwavelenght, and could potentionally boil the water that is in your body if your exposed to long directly in this beam.

But as you can see, putting yourself directly into this beam, would need you to do some crazy stuntwork even to do so

Not a sane normal person would even do so.

[Aghanim]

This: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/64785-Best-way-to-counter-radiation-scare

This thread contains most of the information needed to counter radiation scare

I really understand your rage on this

[Nao]

Is Polish society still that conservative? Communist Hungary in the 1960s was much more liberal than this, at least according to what my parents and grandparents told me.

I've been to Poland two times, and it felt more or less like being in Hungary. Although I was in the relatively big city of Krakow, maybe rural areas are much different.

Polish society in general? Nah, we are probably very much alike . Maybe not on the same page wallet or government wise but most of the Poland is pretty liberal in general (but with a good dose of stubbornness and quarrelsome nature that makes us fight for silly things like that). My family is building a house in rural area and people there are even more forward thinking than the ones in some larger cites . The problems described are only common in specific areas like close to the eastern border or, in general places with high/invasive church influences. Edited July 21, 2014 by Nao

[jwenting]

yes, those antennae are very bad for your health. If one falls down and hits you you get seriously crushed, you can even die.

Other than that, the only health hazard would be a malfunction causing them to push out far beyond their designed amount of energy, which would within seconds cause the electrical and electronic systems feeding them to fail catastrophically.

[YNM]

For me, radiation is almost fully harmless - unless they're ionizing in some way. Radio and TV masts uses antennas which are suited for the frequencies used - mostly radio frequencies which don't really interact with human body, as other frequencies (such as microwaves and infrared) are absorbed more strongly by the atmosphere. Microwave frequency is only used for communicating with satellites - so there's not much usage on ground level. Look at the scheme here - there's only the L (telecommunications),S (wireless) and C band which are used relatively frequent on ground. A good reminder not to sleep beside/near you phone anyway.

So, my answer to the question : you can be afraid of it, but of course you already live with it, so why afraid ?

[lajoswinkler]

Is Polish society still that conservative? Communist Hungary in the 1960s was much more liberal than this, at least according to what my parents and grandparents told me.

I've been to Poland two times, and it felt more or less like being in Hungary. Although I was in the relatively big city of Krakow, maybe rural areas are much different.

An interesting thing is happening with postsocialist countries. (I wouldn't call them communist because they werent near it.)

Transition from socialism into capitalism happened with lots of apathy involved, and lots of crime. All those street rats that were held down by the oppressive government in the past are now oligarchs, mafia. They hold plenty of stocks, they own construction companies, security companies, basically the things where rats like to hide.

The youth raised in the transition period has witnessed a society where education and secular, humanist morality is not something you want to embrace if you want to succeed.

There's a high increase in society interest in both occult, pseudoscience and organized religion. What was the communist party, today is Roman Catholic or Orthodox national churches.

Second generation has those apathic parents and the effect is cemented for at least several decades. Levels of secularity are low, corruption is sky high, nationalism is high to the point that neofascist parties are starting to take over. Morality diverged: one side is what the public shares publicly is religious (strong opposition to abortion, opposition to human rights of various kinds of minorities, glorification of creationism, opposition to public broadcast of "indecent music", etc.), and other side, which is a public secret, is an increase in basic immoral behaviour, high number of divorces, high number of illegal abortions. Alcoholism (chronic and binge drinking) among the youth has skyrocketed beyond any prediction, drug abuse is insane.

I'm witnessing it at this very moment at my place and chances are high that horrible future is ahead.

The earlier system was horrible, but there was hope, things were slowly getting better and there was a feeling of publicly accepted secularity. After the system failed, all hell broke loose.

The worst situation is probably in Russia, though.

[Sky_walker]

Is Polish society still that conservative? Communist Hungary in the 1960s was much more liberal than this, at least according to what my parents and grandparents told me.

I've been to Poland two times, and it felt more or less like being in Hungary. Although I was in the relatively big city of Krakow, maybe rural areas are much different.

As far as I'm aware - Pawelk198604 just picks some extremely unusual cases or curiosities and makes posts about them injecting his own twisted views on the matter. Just look at his posts history.

What you are trying to do is like judging intelligence of Americans based on this video:

An interesting thing is happening with postsocialist countries.

(...)

Second generation has those apathic parents and the effect is cemented for at least several decades. Levels of secularity are low, corruption is sky high, nationalism is high to the point that neofascist parties are starting to take over.

(...)

There's a high increase in society interest in both occult, pseudoscience and organized religion.

(...)

Alcoholism (chronic and binge drinking) among the youth has skyrocketed beyond any prediction, drug abuse is insane.

Dude, you're talking out of your arse.

Nothing you said in this entire post got anything to deal with reality.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Sky_walker

[PakledHostage]

Dude, you're talking out of your arse.

Nothing you said in this entire post got anything to deal with reality.

Lajoswinkler lives in one. What are your credentials to judge the validity of his remarks?

[Sky_walker]

Lajoswinkler lives in one. What are your credentials to judge the validity of his remarks?

20 years living in post-communist country during it's transformation period.

Sorry, but BS he says is a clear display of a total ignorance, bordering with stupidity.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Sky_walker

[StuntMax]

In Italy, people living near Vatican's radio MW antennae just had 4 of them taken down. A 2010 study stated that the high-power MW emissions were related to an higher leukemia risk in the area.

The study is disputed (mainly because of the number of cases analyzed, which is way too small - 19 deaths over a 30 years timespan).

People living in towns nearby also stated that they could hear Vatican Radio interferences in things like telephones, doorphones, intercoms, baby monitors...

[PakledHostage]

20 years living in post-communist country during it's transformation period.

Oh, I see. Thank you. Bombastic rebuttals that don't contain any context or references are easily dismissed.

[Pawelk198604]

I wonder if the Brits or Americans are the agencies responsible for the transmission and reception of radio and television license (and discreet censorship) as the Polish National Broadcasting Counci KRRITl (even though the Polish constitution expressly prohibits any form of censorship (except for the promotion of or Communist content, or content which harms the children or young people (mainly pedophile content) of such a form of "artistic expression" Polish constitution does not protect. do not know how it is in the UK, but I know that the U.S. has a clear prohibition of censorship, the famous 1 Amendment, which was partly inspired by the laws of our Constitution, regarding freedom of speech and of the press, the Germans copied the constitutional restrictions on the promotion of totalitarian regimes. Germans have a ban on the promotion of Nazism, we Apart from this we added communism :-)

Once the matter was loud as one "artist" wrote a pornographic novel, there would be nothing wrong with that, if not for the fact that one of the main characters was minor, the autor has ben hailed as a pervert, and he said that his novel is protected by the constitutions of the Republic of Poland , our right-wing politician quickly prepared law which recognizes "pornographic novels, bearing signs of pedophile acts, presenting computer-generated minors in sexual situations, as well as all similar content" (this was PR stunt no doubt about that the conservatives drop down, but it was right thing, even leftist support it, i thing that that they think that if they vote it down, they will be branded as defenders of perverts during elections by right-wings party like "PIS - Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and justice) (btw the was often mocked by left and called Psiuary (pisurar - is polsih word for urinal) - Urunals by left (becuase of their aberration PIS) the case went to the Polish constitutional Court, the judges said that the welfare of children as well as good RP political foundations require every possible protection that although konsytucja not say so explicitly that MPs and senators Republic have the right and duty to protect the welfare of Polish children, and dismissed the constitutional complaint. As for me, I agree our judges of the Constitutional Court, according to me, every pervert even if he (rarely she) has not yet molested any boy or girl, should be prophylactically deprived of a possible "crime weapon": D

Returning to the topic, I wonder if Americans have some agencies responsible for the discrete "censor" content on the radio or television, similar to the sliding National Broadcasting Council KRRIT

[Arran]

do not know how it is in the UK, but I know that the U.S. has a clear prohibition of censorship, the famous 1 Amendment, which was partly inspired by the laws of our Constitution, regarding freedom of speech and of the press, the Germans copied the constitutional restrictions on the promotion of totalitarian regimes. Germans have a ban on the promotion of Nazism, we Apart from this we added communism :-)

Sorry to burst you're bubble, but nearly every country in the world has some form of censorship and propaganda in the mainstream media, in many western countries this censorship isnt directly noticable, while in other countries (IE China/Russia) its pretty obvious as soon you have acces to unrestricted acces to the internet, and are able to watch as far as possible uncensored reports.

My country allways was proud on its freedom of speech and liberal laws, but of late we notice more and more signs of censorship and propaganda, some newsites if you are too critical at some hot news topics, you postings get erased or your account gets banned and at some topics you notice that bring the news at such manner that you can speak of pure propaganda and moodmaking.

Some newspapers here grab every opportunity to twist around any reporting into some form of moodmaking, even happens last few days in the Airplance dissaster in the Ukraine.. Its everywhere, and if you want unbiased news, you have to go out yourself to find it and make your own conclusions..

And this happens nowerdays everywhere, without exception.

Sadly its the world we live in atm..

[magnemoe]

In Italy, people living near Vatican's radio MW antennae just had 4 of them taken down. A 2010 study stated that the high-power MW emissions were related to an higher leukemia risk in the area.

The study is disputed (mainly because of the number of cases analyzed, which is way too small - 19 deaths over a 30 years timespan).

People living in towns nearby also stated that they could hear Vatican Radio interferences in things like telephones, doorphones, intercoms, baby monitors...

Stuff who tend to absorb static like mad, especially if its the cheap stuff you buy on mail order or outdoor markets, and yes they tend to be illegal to use as they send out lots of static too.

[magnemoe]

20 years living in post-communist country during it's transformation period.

Sorry, but BS he says is a clear display of a total ignorance, bordering with stupidity.

Found that RF radiation scare is common in two groups who are pretty opposite, one is the liberal alternative, typical vegan and the other stuff. Other is far more rednecks and often paranoid.

UV light an up is dangerous, that includes sunlight, lower frequency especially microwaves is dangerous over a high threshold, sunlight through a magnifying glass is also harmful even if it stop UV.

You don't run into that unless you 1) disassemble an microwave oven, climb up in transmission towers or radars.

Some military radars is know to kill birds in the air, this could potentially been used as a weapon however an M2 is cheaper easier and more fun to use. (yes F22 has an option to use it radar as a weapon but then mostly to disturb electronic.)

[Soda Popinski]

Found that RF radiation scare is common in two groups who are pretty opposite, one is the liberal alternative, typical vegan and the other stuff. Other is far more rednecks and often paranoid.

UV light an up is dangerous, that includes sunlight, lower frequency especially microwaves is dangerous over a high threshold, sunlight through a magnifying glass is also harmful even if it stop UV.

You don't run into that unless you 1) disassemble an microwave oven, climb up in transmission towers or radars.

Some military radars is know to kill birds in the air, this could potentially been used as a weapon however an M2 is cheaper easier and more fun to use. (yes F22 has an option to use it radar as a weapon but then mostly to disturb electronic.)

Conspiracy theorist types also have these issues - especially the Libertarian types worried about the "New World Order." I've had a number of conversations with a friend's family friend who is in this boat. He's worried about cell phone radiation, smart electrical meter radio signals (claims the signals are "bullet shaped") along with "chem-trails." I was explaining the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. He listened, but still seemed set in his ways. And this is in Los Angeles.

[christok]

Radio is a low-frequency analogue for laser light, with a resonating electrical current instead of the optical resonant cavity of a laser. A high-power radio antenna can certainly give you nasty radiation burns if you come too close and especially if you're stupid enough to touch it. This is true even in the higher power ranges used by HAMs.

However, it's non-ionising so not especially harmful as long as you don't get close enough to be heated by it.

[magnemoe]

Conspiracy theorist types also have these issues - especially the Libertarian types worried about the "New World Order." I've had a number of conversations with a friend's family friend who is in this boat. He's worried about cell phone radiation, smart electrical meter radio signals (claims the signals are "bullet shaped") along with "chem-trails." I was explaining the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. He listened, but still seemed set in his ways. And this is in Los Angeles.

True, you explained it better than me, and yes they are on both sides of the spectrum, Far left and far right.

Chem-trails however is the most absurd of them all. Its no problems getting all the commercial flights who leaves contrails, and yes its all the countries who operate long range flights.

Yes you have other freight, charter, private and military planes again from most countries, yes its an high chance an canadian F16 dump stuff in the atmosphere over US, espesialy then the plane is going to the US for service: that is expect vapor, CO2 and half burned hydrocarbons

And new world order was an phase used after the end of the cold war, supposed to be the end of war

Did not work that way, however the dynamic is totally different, during the cold war it was ramp up to Ragnarok, now its the great game, Ukraine is pretty much an template for future wars.

[SciMan]

The real dangerous part of high power radio transmission equipment is from working on it.

Yes, they can kill people, and have killed and injured people in the past, but the victim has always been a person working on the system when it was powered up.

Power to the system is supposed to be cut off and the circuit breakers locked in that position while work is being done to it, and only someone working on it is supposed to have the key. It's also supposed to have a tag on the power switch describing what work is being done that requires the power be cut off. That procedure is called Lock-out/Tag-out, and is standard for basically any dangerous equipment or machinery.

Quite frankly, the RF energy is less of a hazard than falling off the tower holding up the antenna.

Basically, if you're down on the ground, and outside the fence surrounding pretty much all antennas (at least here in the US) you are 100% safe from harm due to radio waves.

Here's another thought. The power lines in the walls of where you live probably account for more received radio wave energy than those antennas do, even if they transmit more absolute power out of the antenna. Because those antennas are so far away compared to the wires in the wall, the wires in the wall can transmit an absolutely miniscule amount of energy and yet still be "louder" to a radio receiver next to you than the radio antenna is.

The reason the wires in the wall don't drown out the radio transmitter that's kilometers away is because they are on frequencies that are very different. 50/60 Hertz for power-lines versus 600,000-1,600,000 Hertz for AM radio, 87,000,000 to 108,000,000 Hertz for FM radio (in the US). Television frequencies are usually higher than that.

[WestAir]

Non-Ionizing Radiation: Dangerous in large quantities in the form of burns. Effects are both immediate and obvious.

Ionizing Radiation: Dangerous in all quantities in the form of cancer, burns, or vaporization. Effects can be immediate or surface after decades.

Radio Waves = Non-Ionizing Radiation.

Therefor, the antenna transmitting radio waves are of no concern, unless you allow it to burn you.

[ZetaX]

That's also too much simplified: heating any inner part of your body for some time (say by 10K for some hours) will definitely cause harm due to denaturation of proteins and changed metabolic rates. Putting it more pragmatically and more extreme, you definitely can kill humans by heating their brain to 90°C for a day.

You could call this a burn, too, and that would be fine as it has the very same effects, but it should be made clear that even those can be problematic.