Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ukma!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Message-ID: Date: 22 Oct 89 00:00:30 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 44 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 468, message 4 of 8 In article , asuvax!gtephx!bladder! wagnere@ncar.ucar.edu (Eric Wagner) writes: > Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer > cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that > hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) > have been responsible for brain/eye damage. Everything is harmful today if you ask the right (wrong) person. I have been working around high RF fields of every wavelength for a quarter century. As my posting should reveal, my brain is only moderately messed up, and as of this writing, I have yet to grow my third horn:-) > When I did some calculations, this damage didn't seem impossible. I > think the newer models operate on 800MHz (?). If that is true, then > the wavelength would be: > c / f = 186000 mi/sec / 800000000/sec x 5280 ft/mi = 1.2 feet > This results in a halfwave of about 7 inches (just about the size of > the skull). Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone > consider this before approving the 800MHz frequency? So if you had done a little more homework, you would have found that the minimal transfer of energy occurs when the transferee is exactly one wave length. The Federal government considers 100 MHz to be the most harmful frequency since the human body is just over 1/2 wavelength, where the most energy is transferred. Now, getting to reality. I work almost daily around FM transmitters of the 20KW variety and effective radiated powers of around 100,000 watts. Using inverse square law, the energy being absorbed by my body is enormously greater than anything you could get from a cellular phone at any distance and is at the more harmful frequency of 100 MHz. I also spend a lot of time in front of STL antennas that emit hundreds of watts ERP at 950 MHz. In short, those of us who have spent our adult life around megawatts of RF are somewhat amused by those that are so upset over the .6 watt from a handheld cellular phone. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !